African American Studies Commons^™

Preincarceration Collaborative Religious Coping Strategies Of Black Males With A History Of A Criminal Offense, Pearlette E. Springer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are 56% of the incarcerated population in the United States. Black males spend an average of 13.4% of their working lives incarcerated and 82.6% of their working lives addressing the stigma and restrictions associated with incarceration. The purpose of this study was to address a gap in research by exploring the preincarceration collaborative religious coping strategy experiences of Black males with a history of criminal offenses. Pargament’s theory of collaborative religious coping strategy guided the research, interview questions, and data analysis. The qualitative narrative approach with purposeful and snowball sampling was used to recruit and collect data from …

Ambivalence Over Emotion Expression And The Effects Of Religious Coping In African American Christians, Anya Loraine Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are 10% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report having serious mental health issues from psychological stressors. Mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that arise from psychological stressors, are more than likely to go untreated in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to turn to religion- their church, their pastors, and fellow parishioners to address these concerns. Religion and religious coping has influenced African Americans’ attitudes regarding help-seeking and mental health treatment, with the “Black Church” historically being a source of many things, including mental health care. Pargament’s theory of religious coping served as a …

The Black Church: Using Social Capital To Reach The Unchurched And Community, Teresa Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractPrevious studies on the Black Church have focused on its history as an institutional hub, its ability to generate social capital, the decline in its membership, as well as the connection between attendance and associational life. However, it is unknown how the Black Church is using its social capital to re-engage inactive members and remain connected to the community. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how Black Churches in West Palm Beach, Florida are using their social capital to re-engage unchurched members, as well as engage their community. Robert Putnam’s social capital theory was used to …

Ambivalence Over Emotion Expression And The Effects Of Religious Coping In African American Christians, Anya Loraine Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are 10% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report having serious mental health issues from psychological stressors. Mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that arise from psychological stressors, are more than likely to go untreated in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to turn to religion- their church, their pastors, and fellow parishioners to address these concerns. Religion and religious coping has influenced African Americans’ attitudes regarding help-seeking and mental health treatment, with the “Black Church” historically being a source of many things, including mental health care. Pargament’s theory of religious coping served as a …

African American Women’S Use Of Spirituality To Cope With Intimate Partner Violence, Vanessa S. Barnes Bey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread public health problem in the United States (U.S.) linked to physical, mental, emotional, and psychological problems for women who experience it. Previous researchers indicated that African American (AA) women in the U.S. experience more severe effects from IPV than women in other ethnic groups in the U.S. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to identify and report AA women’s lived experiences of using spirituality to cope with IPV who were not actively engaged in organized religious practices during the time of the abuse. Semi-structured audiotaped phone and face-to-face interviews were used …

An Investigation Of The Help-Seeking Attitudes Of African American Christian Churchgoers, Kristi Madison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Black Church has been a powerful support system for African Americans, providing economic, and psychological support in addition to meeting spiritual and religious needs. African American church leaders continue to provide a multitude of services to the community; however, research has shown that African American Protestant Christian churchgoers'€™ preference for informal supports may exacerbate some symptoms of mental illness as people may postpone seeking formal help. Utilizing a nonexperimental, cross-€sectional design, this study examined the relationship between these churchgoers'€™ attitudes toward religious help-€seeking and attitudes toward professional help-€seeking. One hundred four African American Protestant Christian churchgoers in the mid-Atlantic …

The Influence Of Spiritual And Emotional Intelligence On Romantic Relationships Of African Americans, Wanda Raquel Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of religion-based spirituality was examined as a factor in strengthening and increasing emotional intelligence and regulation, facilitating relationship choices and maintenance, and as a key factor in the decision-making process of dating and partner selection among African Americans. The theoretical framework for this study included Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, on which both theories of spiritual and emotional intelligence stand, and Bowlby's theory of attachment. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze relationships between spiritual and emotional intelligences and attachment styles among African American adults. In a criterion-based purposeful sample of 98 African American participants aged 27 …

Strong Black Women, Depression, And The Pentecostal Church, Dawn E. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a global health concern and among the top two causes of disability

and disease. African-Americans often seek help from the Black church, but

Pentecostal churches may fail to provide effective support due to doctrinal beliefs.

African-American women with depression struggle due to psychosocial implications

of the diagnosis. This research study used social constructionism and the

biopsychosocial model of health to explore the lived experiences of African-

American women suffering from self-reported depression while attending

Pentecostal churches in the Northeast United States. Fourteen women, ages

20 to 76, participated in this qualitative, phenomenological study. Data obtained

from the semistructured, …

Religious Coping And Ptsd Symptom Management Among African Americans: A Clergy Perspective, Barbra Talley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Data indicated that although African Americans reported fewer occurrences of traumatic events than that of their racial/ethnic counterparts, however, the degree of traumatic events experienced by African Americans tends to be more serious and violent in nature. More so, lower recovery outcomes associated with PTSD among African Americans have been attributed to varying factors, such as financial restrictions, strained health care access, ineffective coping strategies as well as a mistrust of medical and clinical approaches, thus leading African Americans to seek faith-based approaches. This phenomenological study investigated clergy perspectives on religious coping constructs relative to the management of PTSD symptoms. …

Spiritual Leadership: Achieving Positive Health Outcomes In African-American Christian Churches, Cynthia Bracey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, African-American residents are an underserved population with evidence of higher health disparities than those associated with any other race, contributing to escalating health care costs. Despite the absence of health promotion and wellness training, pastors in predominately Black churches accept the responsibility for addressing more than the spiritual needs of their church members. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research study was to explore the perspectives of African-American Christian pastors on giving health guidance and their lived experiences as health promotion advocates. A total of 10 African-American Christian pastors were voluntarily recruited from 3 southern …

Spirituality Among African American Christian Women Who Have Contemplated, Marilyn Wiley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that African American women had the lowest recorded number of suicide completions among all ethnic and gender groups in the United States. In addition, the number of suicides among African American women continued to soar without a clear reason or understanding of their lowest completion rates. Further research in the area of spirituality among African American women may be critical in understanding why African American women's rates of completed suicides are statistically lower than other ethnic groups and how to prevent future rate increases. A phenomenological framework was used to examine the …

Spirituality And Hope As Influences On Family Cohesion Among African American Men, Jennifer Joan Desouza

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have found that African American men have a history of difficulty in maintaining family cohesion. Researchers have also found that, in comparison to European American men, African American men are more likely to populate the penal systems, are more abusive to their partners, are less supportive of their children, and are less likely to have stable cohesive relationships. Evidence suggests that African American men draw strength from spirituality and hope, which are the core values of their culture. Drawing from these previous findings, as well as the stages of faith theory, hope theory, and the circumflex model of marital …