Multicultural Psychology Commons^™

“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …

The Reflection And Reification Of Racialized Language In Popular Media, Kelly E. Wright

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

This work highlights specific lexical items that have become racialized in specific contextual applications and tests how these words are cognitively processed. This work presents the results of a visual world (Huettig et al 2011) eye-tracking study designed to determine the perception and application of racialized (Coates 2011) adjectives. To objectively select the racialized adjectives used, I developed a corpus comprised of popular media sources, designed specifically to suit my research question. I collected publications from digital media sources such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and Fortune by scraping articles featuring specific search terms from their websites. This experiment seeks …

The Mediating Role Of Cognitive Flexibility On The Relationship Between Cross-Race Interactions And Psychological Well-Being, Robert D. Cardom

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Counseling psychologists are tasked with understanding optimal psychological and cognitive functioning. Recent theoretical predictions (Crisp & Turner, 2011) and growing evidence suggest that cross-race interactions are important ways individuals might improve their cognitive and psychosocial functioning. However, the theoretical predictions from Crisp and Turner have not yet been tested in one model. Further, much of the empirical support for the theoretical predictions has been from studies using 1) undergraduate samples and 2) weak theory-measurement fit.

The present study used an online, community survey (N = 270) to test Crisp and Turner’s (2011) predictions that cognitive flexibility would mediate the …

Awareness Of Privilege And Oppression Scale-2: Construction And Initial Validation, Michael J. Mcclellan

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to revise the Awareness of Privilege and Oppression Scale (Montross, 2003) and to improve upon the psychometric properties of the original instrument. The APOS-2 is a diversity training outcome measure that is designed to measure the social justice-related construct awareness of privilege and oppression. I retained 26 items from the original APOS (Montross, 2003) and utilized an expert focus group to generate new test items for the APOS-2. Feedback from an expert rater group was solicited and then incorporated into the APOS-2 to help reduce the number of items, improve item content, and evaluate …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Three Interventions Designed To Enhance Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Sexual Minorities, Jamye Banks

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Sexual minority students’ encounters with discrimination and harassment are increasing in school settings. Per the research, the discrimination and harassment they experience partly stems from teachers’ negative attitudes toward sexual minorities and a lack of understanding of the needs of these individuals, which can negatively impact students’ psychological well-being and create an unwelcoming environment (Dessel, 2010; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs, Rosenthal, & Smith-Bonahue, 2011). Teachers are responsible for ensuring a safe environment for students that promotes mental and physical health (Larrabee & Morehead, 20’10; Mudrey & Medina-Adams, 2006; Riggs et al., 2011). Therefore, it’s vital to determine ways to …

Predictors Of Academic Success Among African American College Students, La Toya Bianca Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

African American students are graduating from high school and enrolling in higher educational institutions at greater rates than in previous years (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). Yet, they have not achieved the same level of academic success as their racial counterparts (American Council on Education, 2010; Ross, 2012). Ultimately, this disparity has resulted in only 17.7% of the African American population 25 years of age and older having at least a Bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2012). Many researchers have employed comparative study designs to explore this disparity. Additionally, researchers commonly study academic success through the exploration of intrapsychic …

Examining The Influence Of Parents, Teachers, And Neighborhood Safety On African American Adolescents’ Motivation And Achievement, Clarissa R. Roan-Belle

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Guided by the theoretical frameworks of Baumrind’s parenting style theory, interpersonal expectations, Self Determination Theory, and self-efficacy, this study examines factors that influence African American students’ GPA and motivation, specifically associations between parents’ and teachers’ control, warmth, and educational expectations and African American adolescents’ GPA, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation were examined. The moderating effects of neighborhood safety on the aforementioned associations were also assessed. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study found that parents’ warmth and expectations were positive predictors of all educational variables, while parents control was a negative predictor of GPA and intrinsic motivation. …