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Northeastern Illinois University: Identifying Characteristics Associated With Low African American Student Retention And Persistence, Laural E. Johnson

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Although a recent study found that college student retention and persistence rates are on the rise, there continues to be significant differences between African American and White students at predominately white institutions (PWIs). Institutional factors such as unwelcoming campus climates, racial stereotypes, and faculty relationships have been found to be viable factors as to why the disparities between African American and other students continue to exist. This Case Study explored some of the key issues/factors/questions related to the retention and persistence of African American students at a Midwest PWI. This study found that university resources and financial support, inclusion, comfortability …

Mentoring Urban African American Male Students In Secondary School, David Jacoby Collins

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This narrative inquiry evaluated how a school-based mentorship program called The Chamber of Scholars: African American Male Mentoring Intervention, which served exclusively African American male students in high school, impacted the participants’ identification with academics, perception of mattering to their school, and academic performance. The program was evaluated using a pre-interview and a post-interview of all participants, daily field notes of activities, and weekly journals. The study found that participants who regularly attended daily intervention sessions for ten weeks increased their identification with academics (value of school). The study also found that participants who regularly attended daily intervention sessions for …

The Plan Starts Now: A Study Of Juvenile Delinquency And A Re-Entry Program Back Into The Community, Lynell Porch

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

African American youth are five times as likely as whites to be detained or committed to youth facilities; 1 out of 10 high school dropouts are institutionalized. $8–21 billion is spent locking up juvenile delinquents. The educational system has failed many African American youth, which can lead them into delinquency. These youth are disregarded in the educational system, placed in overcrowded classrooms, and often dismissed as unable to learn. The results of this are school to prison pipeline. Many youths have learning disabilities that are not addressed by teachers, so youth began acting out. These are acts of attention and …

Tracking And Experiences Of Black Students Following The Inception Of No Child Left Behind, Gwenda Walters

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Academic placement in high school classes is an important decision that can have long-term effects on student success. Research indicates that students most often remain in high or low tracks year after year. However, the precision of placements relative to real achievement disparities in the grouping of students into homogenous groups remains a petulant area of debate. Many scholars consider placement judgments to be dubious, marginal, or incorrect in terms of performance gaps, notwithstanding the assumption that these placements are deemed accurate in representing a student's academic ability. Researchers argue that the process of comparing, sorting, and classifying students has …

Living And Loving: A Qualitative Exploration Of The Dating And Sexual Relationships Of Hiv-Positive Young Black Gay, Bisexual, And Other Men Who Have Sex With Men, Darnell N. Motley

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Infection with HIV is a global pandemic that continues to have particular impacts on Black men who have sex with men. Accordingly, researchers have examined risk behaviors in order to inform interventions that seek to decrease transmission. However, there has been relatively little research that has examined the dating and sexual experiences of Black GBMSM living with HIV absent a particular focus on sexual risk and potential transmission. The present study seeks to better understand the dating and sexual experiences of a sample of young Black GBMSM living with HIV. Twenty young Black GBMSM living with HIV were interviewed using …

Sexy But Not Sexual: An Examination Of The Sexual Narratives Of African American Adolescent Females, April Timmons

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research on sexuality during adolescence has focused on the potential negative sequelae of adolescent sexual behavior such as STI acquisition or teenage pregnancy. Researchers have begun to advocate for examining adolescent sexuality as a normative aspect of adolescent development. One aspect of this examination would be to form a more complete understanding of how adolescents develop their sexual identity – their conceptualization of themselves as a sexual being. Erickson’s (1968) identity development theory asserts that identity is developed internally and shaped by the social environment.

Development of a healthy sexual identity may be particularly difficult for African …

African American Muslim Fathers And The Factors That Influence Their Notion Of Fatherhood, Usama M. Hussein

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative study that explores African American Muslim father notion of fatherhood. Sixteen African American Sunni Muslims participated in the study. Over 90 percent of the research respondents are converts to Islam. These men perceive their conversion as a reclaiming of their heritage stripped from them when their African ancestors were forcibly taken from Africa and brought to America as slave. While this group of father have been omitted from researchers attention, they are integral members of the African American community. By making Islam the center of their lives these African American Muslim fathers see an active relationship …

Striving For Excellence: Exploring The Experiences Of Economically Disadvantaged, African American, Middle School Students Making The Choice To Be An Exception, Tawanda Lawrence

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the lives of six, economically disadvantaged, African American, middle school students who are demonstrating school success to discover how their home, school, and community experiences influenced their academic achievement.

A phenomenological inquiry approach was applied in this qualitative study to investigate the lived experiences of the student participants and identify the factors that contributed to their academic achievements in spite of the various challenges they encountered. The qualitative data consisted of three individual interviews. Using a semi-structured protocol, questions focused on the students’ perceptions of the factors that contributed to their academic …

Ideal Dating And Sexual Partners For Low-Income Heterosexual African American Adolescents, Darnell Nathaniel Motley

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Dating and sexual relationships among adolescents have been identified as both normative and beneficial. However, the research examining the dating and sexual relationships of African American adolescents has been narrow in scope, focusing primarily on risks of intimate partner violence, pregnancy, and STI/HIV transmission. This myopic focus has left a gap in the literature as it relates to the normative aspects of dating and sexual relationships for these youth.

The present study sought to better understand the dating and sexual partner preferences of 51 African American adolescents (male = 32, female = 19) recruited from Chicago and San Francisco. The …

Individual And Community Factors Associated With Thriving Among African American Adolescents In The Context Of Stressors, Adia Shani Gooden

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation used the transactional-ecological framework along with principles from positive youth development literature to examine naturally occurring individual and contextual factors

that promote thriving among African American adolescents. Specifically, this study examined how religiosity, religious support, racial identity, and communalism relate to thriving. This study

also assessed the negative influence of stressors on thriving in order to understand how thriving manifests in the context of risk factors. This cross-sectional study included 152 youth

participants who were surveyed at five Black churches on the south side of Chicago. Structural equation modeling was used to assess whether the proposed model fit …

Interaction Effects Of Multiple Levels Of Disadvantage And Kinship Foster Care In African American Youth, Anne Rufa

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Child welfare services' current practice is to attempt to identify kinship foster settings first when removing a child from their home, a practice used disproportionately for African American youth. In this study, potential contextual factors of foster homes (i.e., community environment, caregiver's age, caregiver's physical health) were identified as possible moderators of the relationship between the type of out-of-home placement (i.e., kinship, other out-of-home placement) used and changes in internalizing and externalizing scores in African American youth. Results confirm a significant increase in internalizing and externalizing scores when youth are placed in kinship foster homes with caregivers who are older …

Parenting Patterns In Urban African American Families: Raising Healthy Adolescents In The Context Of Economic Hardship And Community Violence, Donald Hamilton Tyler

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The aims of the current study were to identify natural patterns of environmental risk conditions and parenting practices in African American families, assess the similarities and differences between the parenting patterns and mainstream parenting types, clarify the efficacy of each parenting pattern in reducing risk and promoting adolescent adjustment, consider key variables that may influence these processes, and thereby advance understanding of African American child rearing in social-ecological context. A case-centered approach featuring cluster analysis was utilized to permit exploration of multiple child rearing behaviors across the dimensions of parental warmth and control and to afford examination of multiple combinations …

Towards The Development Of Culturally And Contextually Relevant Model Of Coping For Low Income, Urban, African American Adolescents, Kristin Joy Carothers

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Low income, urban African American adolescents are exposed to disproportionately high rates of stressors in their everyday lives (Allison, Burton, Marshall, Perez-Febles, Yarrington, & Kirsh, 1999; Attar, Guerra & Tolan, 1994; Gaylord-Harden, Gipson, Mance & Grant, 2008). In order to succeed in their own context and beyond, these adolescents must learn to cope effectively with the stressors they face. Little of the extant coping intervention literature has incorporated low income, urban African American adolescents, even though these youth could benefit from such interventions. The following research develops a model of the culturally and contextually relevant factors that contribute to coping …

A Guest In Someone's House: Exploring The Role Of African-American Student-Faculty/Staff Interactions In A Community College Setting, Yolanda Isaacs

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

African-American students are enrolling in four-year universities and community colleges in the hope of receiving a degree; however, their rate of degree attainment at the latter institutions in particular continues to be troubling. Although community colleges are making efforts to improve the graduation rates of African-American students, more institutional strategies are needed to address this concern. The purpose of the study was to explore how the role of African-American faculty and staff can affect the success of African-American students in a community college setting. The researcher investigated African-American students’ perceptions and experiences regarding how African-American faculty and staff members have …

Help-Seeking Behaviors Of African American Men, Leslie D. Holley

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Given the prevalence of racism on African American men's psychological well-being and their high level of cultural mistrust, understanding factors that may have influenced their help-seeking behaviors and attitudes can be an important area of inquiry. If counselors and other professionals highlight factors that influence African American men's helping seeking behaviors they can develop outreach efforts to better serve this population and increase their counseling utilization rates. Existing literature has indicated that cultural mistrust, identity, and locus of control could play vital roles in the help-seeking behaviors and attitudes of African American men and has had implications for the counseling …