Phenomenological Study: The Perceived Impact Of The Intersectional Barriers Created By Gender And Race On African American Females’ Advancement To A Senior Executive Service Within The Federal Government, Nicole Oliver

Dissertations

Purpose. This phenomenological study aimed to investigate the perceived impact of intersectional barriers created by gender and ethnicity on the advancement of African American females to the Senior Executive Service (SES) corps of the United States federal civil service. Additionally, the study sought to identify strategies used by African American females to overcome these barriers because of intersectionality and advance to the SES corps of the United States federal civil service.

Methodology. This qualitative phenomenological study used a convenience sampling method to select eight African American females who have advanced to an SES position in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. …

Red, White, Blue & Black: A Phenomenological Analysis Of The African American Officer Experience Of Mentorship In The California Army National Guard, Larry B. Rankin Ii

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis is to explore the perception of mentorship through the experiences of African American Officers (in the ranks of O-4 and above), as it relates to their retention in the California Army National Guard.

Methodology: For this study, a qualitative design was used to conduct research to identify and describe the perception of mentorship through the experiences of African American Officers. The sample was composed of five African-American officers (rank O-4 and above) still serving in the California Army National Guard.

Findings: Analysis of the data collected from 10 semi structured interview questions …

Female African American Deans’ Rise To Success: Navigating And Conquering Self-Sabotaging Behaviors By Taking Back Their Power, Davina Bailey

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this explanatory mixed-method study was to identify and describe self-sabotaging behaviors experienced by female African American Deans in higher education and to explore the impact these behaviors had on their career development. A secondary purpose of this study was to identify strategies employed by female African American Deans in higher education to overcome self-sabotaging behaviors.

Methodology: This sequential explanatory mixed-method study explored the lived experiences of nine female African American deans who acknowledged they had experienced self-sabotaging behaviors throughout their careers. The researcher distributed an electronic Likert scale survey to the participants to identify the most …

Developing A Therapeutic Alliance In Counseling African American Women Experiencing Domestic Violence, Andrea Kenney

Dissertations

African American women victims of domestic violence (DV) present with unique experiences, requiring counselors to possess multicultural competencies that can cultivate an alliance in which this cultural group feels comfort and trust in the therapeutic process. While there is an awareness of the complexities in counseling African American women who experience DV, gaps in research reveal a need for counselors to improve cultural competency and gain a contextual understanding of the factors that influence this population’s help-seeking behaviors. The purpose of this research was to examine counselors’ experiences with and understanding of multicultural competence in developing a therapeutic alliance with …

Teacher Biases And Expectations: Impact On Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, Delinquent Behavior Among Black Grade School Students, Rhonda Lloyd

Dissertations

Black children and adolescents in today’s society face so many challenges that come about from the hands of authority figures in their life, their environment, the education system, and society as a whole. Through a critical review of literature, the author sought to answer three research questions: (1) What are the indications that teachers may be more biased toward Black students? (2) How do perceived teacher biases and discrimination impact the self-esteem and self-efficacy of Black students? (3) How are teacher bias and the school-to-prison pipeline connected? The literature review exposed a need for a teacher training model, which was …

Perceived Discrimination Within The Patient-Provider Relationship And Its Impact On Help-Seeking Behaviors, Lechey S. Hibbler

Dissertations

Racial and ethnic minorities have faced discrimination for hundreds of years. When patients experience discrimination in healthcare settings, help-seeking behaviors decrease. Many patients choose to refrain from seeking treatment until their psychological or physical health issues are unmanageable, often resulting in acute visits to the emergency department. Patients that have experienced previous discriminatory encounters with health care providers are more likely to choose not to seek help for physical or mental health concerns, resulting in overall poorer physical health and mental health outcomes. With the use of critical evaluation of previous studies, this paper has demonstrated that perceived discrimination negatively …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Counselors: An Exploration Of Their Reactions To Trauma Survivors, Zanovia P. Tucker

Dissertations

Nearly 83% of Americans are exposed to a traumatic event (Benjet et al., 2016). Given this, every counselor will more than likely work with trauma survivors (Trippany et al., 2004). Because of the high percentage of exposure to trauma, mental health professions who service individuals who experience trauma are at risk for secondary trauma (Ivicic & Motta, 2016), vicarious traumatization (Culver et al., 2011), and shared trauma (Hope & Edward, 2013). African American counselors have not been recognized in the counseling literature; thus their work with trauma survivors and their training experiences remain relatively unknown. Most of the research pertaining …

The Lived Experiences Of African American Women Enrolled In Or Graduated From A Doctoral Program And Have Experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces): A Phenomenological Study, Alicia Williams

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this heuristic phenomenological study is to describe and understand the lived experiences of African American women who are enrolled in or graduated from a doctoral program and have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in regards to the supports received and barriers experienced in their life journey toward enrolling in a doctoral program. Methodology: The methodology used for this study was a heuristic phenomenological approach which explored the factors of supports received and barriers experienced during the childhood of African American women who experienced ACEs and still pursued a doctorate degree. The study revealed the commonalities among …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Conflict In African Immigrant And African American Marriages, Cornelius Ayodeji Osuntade

Dissertations

Problem

There has been a high level of marital conflict in immigrant families from patriarchal cultures. There are negative attitudes toward women that contribute to couple conflict. Coupled with this are issues relating to immigration challenges that confront marriage stability among immigrant couples in North America. In the same vein, African American couples experience conflicts that militate against the stability of their marriages. Most of these marital upheavals stem from historical antecedents relating to this ethnic group, as well as the societal dialectics confronting them. By and large, regarding couple conflict, a better understanding of the challenges facing African immigrant …

Community Violence, Protective Factors, And Resilience: Gender Differences In African American Youth, Kimberly Nelson-Arrington

Dissertations

African American youth are exposed to community violence in varying degrees. Over the last few decades, much research has focused on the negative implications of such exposure. While it is helpful to explore the detrimental effects of community violence on this population, the factors that promote resilience, leading to favorable outcomes, should be explored with just as much fervency. The present study sought to explore the protective factors that contribute to resilience in African American youth exposed to community violence. While resilience is a multidimensional construct, this study focused on the participants’ psychological outlook, namely their sense of hopefulness and …

What Role Does The African American Church Play When Meeting The Mental Health Needs Of Its African American Parishioners?, Lisa Sutton

Dissertations

Abstract

This study will focus on understanding the role played by the church in meeting the mental health needs of its African American parishioners. The goal is to understand the ways that African American communities hold faith, position themselves within the church, and the outside world, with a specific focus on issues of trust, which have emerged based on historical and structural violence that has debilitated the health of our community. The study examines attitudes and perceptions of church leadership and members around their caring for parishioners with mental health issues. The hope is that the data will help construct …

The Lived Experience Of Discharged And Readmitted African Americans With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease To A Safety-Net Hospital, Kiiyonna Jones

Dissertations

Background:Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a debilitating respiratory disease that negatively affects the quality of life of those affected and has been a major contributor to the continuous rise in healthcare cost in the Unites States (Guarascio, Ray, Finch, & Self, 2013; National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2009; Shavelle, Paculdo, Kush, Mannino, & Straus, 2009; Scott, Smith, Sullivan, & Mahajan, 2001). In 2014, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) identified COPD as an applicable condition to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which penalizes healthcare organizations having readmissions higher than the national average. COPD is the second …

Understanding And Describing The Impact Of Self-Concept On Weight Loss As Perceived By African American Women, Tchicaya Missamou

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to understand and describe the impact of Bracken’s (1992) six domains of self-concept (affect, academic, competence, family, physical, and social) on weight loss as perceived by African American women.

Methods. This study employed a sequential mixed-methods exploratory design. A web-based survey was administered with 66 respondents, followed by in-person interviews with 10 participants. Data were collected from African American women who participated in a fitness and weight loss challenge and lived in the greater Los Angeles Area.

Findings. The extent to which each domain affected participants’ ability to lose …

Religiosity And Ethnic Identity As Predictors Of Identity Orientation Among African American And Caucasian American Women, Helen N. Rolle

Dissertations

Problem

Research on the role of religion and ethnicity in the identity orientation of women has been largely neglected in psychology for many years. While previous identity studies have attempted to examine a range of variables as it relates to the general population, how women specifically experience identity based on their gender has not been included, resulting in gaps in the research literature. The present study is intended to add to the literature by focusing on the contributing factors of religiosity and ethnic identity to identity orientation and compare how they vary among African American and Caucasian American women.

Method …

Coping And Africultural Adolescents, Britne R. Amos

Dissertations

The present study explored approaches to coping among Africultural, college students between the ages of 18 and 22 years. Coping strategies applied to Africultural adolescents and young adults have been studied from a majority culture, adult lens. In this context, Africultural is used to refer to people of self-identified African descent including and not limited to people who identify as African American (e.g., parent(s) were born in America, individual was born in America), of African descent and living in America (e.g., parents were born in Africa, individual was born in Africa), mixed African American and another ethnic group including Latino/a, …

Impact Of Post-Secondary Correctional Education On Self-Efficacy And Personal Agency Of Formerly Incarcerated African American Men, David E. Jones

Dissertations

This study explored the impact of post-secondary correctional education (PSCE) on those released from prison, with special attention paid to individuals’ sense of self-efficacy and personal agency. A review of the literature indicates the vast majority of people who enter prison will one day return to society. These returning citizens face a number of hurdles as they work to reconstruct life outside of prison and avoid recidivism. Prior research suggests education is positively correlated with successful reentry into society. Unfortunately, there are few opportunities to pursue education past the secondary level in prison, which limits access to the corollary benefits …

Tongues Untied Truth Revealed: Body Image, Social Media, Identity Development, And Meaning-Making In Overweight And Obese Black Gay Msm, Amari Ja-Lynn Enam

Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the meanings attributed to internalized messages about body image within the context of identity development from the perspectives of overweight/obese men of African descent (OMAD) among a group of 6 men who have sex with men (MSM). I was interested in those messages that have been incorporated, adopted, or integrated into OMAD-MSM’s sense of self. Informants shared body image-related experiences from interactions with family, friends, dating/sex partners, and the media/social media.

Academic literature has explained identity development processes among African Americans through various lenses but research has not adequately explored the convergence of multiply oppressed social …

Profiles Of Protective Factors In Urban African American Youth Exposed To Community Violence: A Prospective Study Of Resilience, Devin Colleen Carey

Dissertations

The broad purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to community violence and adjustment in an urban sample of African American youth living in Chicago. After years of research on community violence, there has been a call to understand the influences of all levels and systems on child adjustment, as well as to use research to promote positive outcomes and prevention of future violence (Aisenberg & Herrenkohl, 2008). With this in mind, this project used latent profile analysis to create profiles of protection based on individual, family, peer, and community factors, as well as evaluate the …

Urban School Counseling Impact: An Aba Reversal Single Subject Time-Series Analysis Of Academic, Suspension, And Attendance Data, Katherine L. N. Colles

Dissertations

While there is a dearth of longitudinal outcome research on comprehensive school counseling program impact (Carey & Dimmitt, 2006; Carey, Dimmitt, Hatch, Lapan, & Whiston, 2008; Gysbers, 2001; Whiston, 2002) on indicators of importance to school systems (Borders, 2002; Lapan, 2001), school counseling research primarily studies program components (Borders, 2002; Herr, 1979; Whiston, 2002; Whiston & Sexton, 1998) and component outcomes (Hughes & James, 2001; Schmidt, 1984, 2000; Sink, 2002). Grounded in a historical review of the school counseling field and pertinent related research, this research investigated the school counseling program impact of one kindergarten through eighth grade urban school …

The Effects Of Racial Identity On African American Youths' Psychosocial Adjustment: A Conceptualization Of The Literature And Meta-Analytic Review, Corinn Elmore

Dissertations

There is a general assumption of the positive effect of racial identity on the psychosocial adjustment of African-American youth. Despite this assertion, research findings for racial identity are unclear. The disparate measures of racial identity were organized into a cohesive framework with eight categories. Using this conceptual framework, a meta-analytic review was conducted on the effects the components of racial identity on African-American adolescents' psychosocial adjustment. There were 58 independent samples from 34 published journal articles and 14 unpublished papers (dissertations) including a total of 14,209 youth included in the study. Results of study highlight the importance of racial pride …

Parenting Style Differences In Black American And White American Young Adults, Sarah Lynette Mcmurtry

Dissertations

Baumrind’s (1967) theory of parenting style influenced over 40 years of parenting research, which found authoritative parenting as the optimal parenting style. Authoritarian and parenting styles have been linked to worse adjustment and achievement for child outcomes (Baumrind, 1967; Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994) than children in authoritative-parented homes. In 1972, Baumrind described racial differences in parent-child relations and outcomes between authoritarian Black American and White American parents and preschoolers (1975). In comparison to White American parents, Black Americans exhibited authoritarian parenting that was less rejecting and associated with communication and warmth (Baumrind, 1975; Murry, Brody, & Simons, …

Toward The Development Of The Stereotypical Roles Of Black Young Men Scale, Amber Hewitt

Dissertations

There is a significant amount of literature on identity development in general, but there is a dearth of research focusing on identity development in relation to how other processes and constructs influence the identity development of African American young men. One such construct is the presence of stereotypical roles. The primary purpose of this study was to create a reliable and valid measure of the stereotypical roles of African American young men. This study explored the relationship between the endorsement of stereotypical roles, stigma consciousness, and masculinity of African American young men. African American young men (n = 164) between …

Remembering The Cultural Trauma Legacies Of Slavery: African American Young Adult Perceptions On Racism, Ethnic Identity, And Racial Socialization, Kimya Pearl Barden

Dissertations

The purpose of this research investigation is to explore cultural trauma theory on African American young adult development. Cultural trauma theory asserts the adverse cross-cultural encounter, North American slavery, reproduces intergenerational psychosocial legacies for contemporary African Americans. Accordingly, cultural trauma theory is used to explore with African American young adults three "slave" legacies: ethnic identity formation, perceptions of racism, and racial socialization experiences. A qualitative case study approach is used for (N=26) participants enrolled in either college or a GED program. Each young adult participates in either an individual or focus group interview. To aid in data triangulation, older African …

School Counselors' Activities In Predominantly African American Urban Schools, Lacretia T. Dye

Dissertations

Urban school reform has begun to penetrate the school counseling profession in both theory and practice. The American School Counseling Association’s National Model (ASCA, 2005), as well as the Transforming School Counseling Initiatives component of the Education Trust (2007) are initiatives within the school profession promoted, in part, as responses to urban school reform. In particular, the ASCA National model is a “call to action” for school counselors to promote student success by closing the existing achievement gap whenever found between students of color, poor students, or underachieving students and their more advantaged peers (ASCA, 2005). However, little information is …

Stop Snitching: Hip Hop's Influence On Crime Reporting In The Inner City, Ladel Lewis

Dissertations

The “stop snitching” phenomenon is a social epidemic that is affecting inner cities from coast to coast. These street politics have an adverse effect on the way individuals in the inner city view cooperation with police. With hip hop culture claiming a larger stake on the global stage, and mainstream artists sparking attention by denouncing cooperation with authorities while reproving others that choose to do so, this research examines if a relationship exists between individuals that adhere to the “code of silence” and self-professed hip hoppers. While much has been written about the significance of hip hop culture on the …

In Their Own Words: The Lived Experiences Of Unemployed African American Men, Kenlana R. Ferguson

Dissertations

Due to staggering unemployment rates, African American men's experience with work in the U.S. has historically received widespread attention in the media and social science literature. Terms such as black male unemployment crisis, puzzle, epidemic and catastrophe have been used to describe the unemployment woes of black. Attempts at explaining why African American men are experiencing such difficulty in the world of work has been undertaken across the disciplines, however much of this work has amounted to nothing more than acknowledgement that isolating independent factors as causes does not suffice and that a more interdisciplinary framework is needed if we …

Towards A Multidimensional Model Of Adaptation For African American Adolescents Exposed To Racial Discrimination, Jamila Cunningham

Dissertations

The purposes of the current study were to 1) examine the associations of racial discrimination to internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms and perceived life satisfaction in African American adolescents, and 2) determine Africultural cluster profiles based on indicators of racial socialization, racial identity and culturally relevant coping strategies 3) examine whether cluster profile buffers stress exposed African American adolescents from increased internalizing symptoms, anger and decreased life satisfaction. One hundred-fifty-one African American adolescents (grades 9th - 12th) from four high schools and a community group from a major Midwest city and a major city from the Southeast reported on exposure to …

The Relations Among Parental Monitoring And Warmth, And Adolescent Externalizing And Internalizing Distress: The Effects Of Parent And Adolescent Perception Of Neighborhood Danger, Jonathan Goldner

Dissertations

Parental monitoring and warmth have traditionally been studied in the context of white, middle-class families. This paper adds to recent research that has begun to explore what levels of these parenting behaviors are optimal for the prevention of adolescent psychopathology in impoverished, urban high crime areas. It also takes into account parent and child perceptions of neighborhood danger. This study employs a longitudinal design, with data collected at two times points one year apart, among a sample of 240 African American young adolescents and their parents in urban, high crime neighborhoods. It aims to study parental monitoring, parental warmth, parent …