Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

College 101: Sharing Experiences And Stories For Transformative Change, Christine Robinson

Journal of College Access

College 101 is powerful Pre-College Opportunity Program (PCoP) designed to expose at-risk high school students to the benefits of post-secondary education, to motivate them to stay in school, and to help them envision a future that includes post-secondary education. The unique features of College 101 include that it is grounded in the pedagogical approach of Real Talk (Hernandez, 2015), and that it is led mainly by College Positive Volunteers (CPVs). The goal of this study was to explore the experiences of at-risk high school students who engaged in the program at a mid-sized research university located in the Midwest. An …

The Effects Of A Course Oriented In Critical Race Theory On White Counselor Trainees’ Multicultural Counseling Competence, White Privilege Attitudes, And Cross Racial Contact, Dawnielle D. Simmons

Dissertations

The current study examined the effects of a single and required Critical Race Theory (CRT)-oriented multicultural course on White, master-level counselor trainees with and without clinical experience. More specifically, the study examined differences in White counselor trainees’ responses to instruments that assessed White privilege attitudes, multicultural counseling competence, and cross-racial contact comparing trainees that had taken the required multicultural course with those who had not. Previous research suggests that when a single multicultural counseling course is a requirement of counselor training, multicultural counseling competence and White privilege awareness tend to increase. In the current study, a CRT-oriented course was used …

The Experiences Of African American Men At Predominantly White Institutions Of Higher Education, After Successfully Transferring From A Community College, Keenan King

Dissertations

African American men complete post-secondary education among the lowest rates of any other subgroup in higher education (Brooms & Davis, 2017; Farmer & Hope, 2015; Palmer, Wood, Dancy, & Strayhorn, 2014; Warde, 2008). This study focuses on addressing this problem by attempting to understand the experiences of African American men who successfully navigate a higher education pipeline from community college to a four-year, predominantly White institution (PWI). Half of all African American men enter higher education at the community college level (Villavicencio, Bhattacharya, & Guidry, 2013); therefore, community college plays a key role in shaping their experiences in higher education …

Ethnic Identity, Stress, And Anxiety In Latinx University Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Anel Arias

Dissertations

Research indicates that ethnic minority-related stressors contribute to poor mental health outcomes in Latinx university students. There are inconsistent results of the moderating role of ethnic identity in ethnic minority stress and mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ethnic identity moderates the relationship between ethnic minority stress and trait anxiety in Latinx university students attending predominantly White institutions (PWI). The secondary purpose of this study was to explore the effects of ethnic minority stress on trait anxiety symptoms.

Participants were 256 Latinx (67.6% women, n = 173; 31.3% men, n = 80) undergraduate and …

Between Two Worlds: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Experiences And Understandings Related To Race For Black Transracially Adopted Emerging Adults, Kyrai Antares

Dissertations

The current study provides a rich description of experiences and understandings related to race for transracially adopted Black emerging adults who were raised in Michigan or Ohio by White parents. Current adoption policy requires that race not be considered as a factor in foster and adoptive placements, and there is no required multicultural, race-focused training for White adoptive parents of children of color. This study begins a new line of research looking closely at the stories of transracial adoptees of a specific age group, racial identity, and geographical location of upbringing. The intention is to gain a better understanding of …

Politically And Historically Bound: Examining Whiteness And Intersectionality Among Self-Identified Feminists, Olivia M. Mclaughlin

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the perspectives and beliefs of 23 self-identified feminists who are White. Specifically, it explored whether—and if so, to what extent—Whites have adopted intersectionality. Intersectional feminism refers to the activism and scholarship that recognizes the multi-dimensional nature of power and privilege and stands in contrast to the white-centered feminism that has dominated most feminist spaces since the suffrage movement. Since Kimberlé Crenshaw’s seminal article where the concept of intersectionality was formally introduced to the academy, feminist scholars have characterized the most recent wave of feminism as the intersectional wave. This third, intersectional wave of feminist movement is believed …

Cancer Health Disparities Among African Americans: A Socioecological Approach, Seth M. Spitzley

The Hilltop Review

Research shows that health outcomes are influenced by race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education and literacy levels, and the physical environment (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). The health statuses of minority groups, such as African Americans, are adversely impacted by inequality (Randall, 2009). In Kalamazoo, Michigan, the leading cause of death for all residents in Kalamazoo County was cancer, where black individuals have the highest death rate among any other racial or ethnic group. That African Americans comprise less than 11% of the population in Kalamazoo County thus suggests that African Americans are disproportionately impacted by cancer …

Flawed Assumptions Of Welfare Participation: A Comparative Analysis Of Ohio And North Carolina Counties, Kasey Ray

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Welfare participation has been a longstanding issue of public debate for 50 years but remains largely understudied in welfare literature. The purpose of this research is to challenge the flawed assumptions of welfare participation by examining the varying spatial inequalities that influence U.S. welfare participation rates among eligible poor. This comparative analysis uses spatial inequality theory to examine welfare-to-work participation rates in all North Carolina and Ohio counties. I find that Ohio county welfare-to-work participation rates are most affected by region, race and gender while North Carolina county rates are most affected by politics, industry and race.

Physical Activity In Two Low-Income Detroit Neighborhoods: Disentangling Human Agency From Social Structure, Daniel J. Rose

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores strategies developed by African American residents in response to barriers to physical activity in two low-income Detroit neighborhoods. Using 47 in-depth, qualitative interviews, a grounded theory approach allowed the analysis to be reframed around the ways in which structural factors conditioned, but did not determine the human agency of residents seeking physical activity. Interviews revealed numerous responses to structural barriers such as devising home routines, cognitive mapping to avoid perceived threats, and leaving the neighborhood to access resources. Differences in neighborhood contexts, along with unique individual concerns, showed that agency was neither a constant nor independent force, …

The Social Construction Of Arab Identity In The U.S.: The Historical Complicity And The Modern Responsibility Of Social Work, Suhad Tabahi, Jacob Bucher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper presents the sociopolitical experiences of early Arab migrants in the United States (U.S.) and the process of contradictory and socially constructed racial categorizations favoring white supremacy. While there is much discourse of the racial formation of Arab immigrants since 9-11, the actual racial project started in the early twentieth century, through varies entities including the social work profession where the “othering” process of early Arabs Americans existed in social welfare practice. Examples of the pejorative attitudes towards Arab immigrants from the early social work discourse are examined through proceedings from the National Conference on Social Welfare (NCSW) in …

When Personal Raises Political: Experience Of Racial Discrimination And Distrust Of Authorities Among Children Of Immigrants, Luis Fernandez-Barutell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Substantial research has addressed the association between welcoming or hostile contexts and sociopolitical behavior among second generation immigrants. Previous analyses have conceptualized positive elements (e.g., group solidarity) and negative factors (e.g., anti-immigration bias) related to specific outcomes, such as voting or activism. This study examined factors associated with distrust of authorities and, in particular, whether experiencing personal discrimination based on race/ethnicity is related to distrust of government and police among second generation Latinos in the United States. Our results confirmed that experiencing discrimination in two contexts (school and police) is indeed related to distrust of authorities. Recommendations for practice and …