Digital Commons Network^™

Why Now? Examining Antecedents For Substance Use Initiation Among African American Adolescents., Tamika Zapolski, Tianyi Yu, Gene Brody, Devin Banks, Allen Barton

Psychology Faculty Works

Current adolescent substance use risk models have inadequately predicted use for African Americans, with limited knowledge on differential predictability as a function of developmental period. Among a sample of 500 African American youth (ages 11–21), four risk indices (i.e., social, attitudinal, intrapersonal, and racial discrimination) were examined in the prediction of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette initiation during early (ages 11–13), mid (ages 16–18) and late (ages 19–21) adolescence. Results showed that when developmental periods were combined, racial discrimination was the only index that predicted initiation for all three substances. However, when risk models were stratified based on developmental period, variation …

Stress And Coping In Food-Insecure African Americans In Clark County, Nevada, Johanna Andrews

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African Americans have the highest rates of food insecurity than any other racial/ethnic group in the nation as a result of poverty, low household income, unemployment, food injustice, food mirages, and racial segregation. This consistent uncertainty in food access demonstrably results in poor mental health outcomes for food-insecure African Americans. Thus, the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping provides a theoretical framework to investigate how African Americans cope with food insecurity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate processes of coping with food insecurity and determine their impact on emotional well-being for African Americans in Clark County, Nevada. A …

'The Once Peaceful Little Town:' Edmondson, Arkansas, And The Decline Of African American Landownership, Samuel Morris Ownbey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the systematic dispossession of African American property by white planters in the Arkansas Delta. It argues white planters, backed by a legal system favorable to their interests, expropriated the black land in the once flourishing community of Edmondson, Arkansas. Founded in 1902 by African American business and political leaders, the Edmondson Home and Improvement Company purchased farmland and town lots and began to sell or rent the land to African Americans coming to the area. Located in Crittenden County, Edmondson represented black defiance in the face of Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. The town consisted of …

Greater Social Cohesion Is Associated With Lower Body Mass Index Among African American Adults, Adolfo G. Cuevas, Ichiro Kawachi, Kasim Ortiz, Mariam Pena, Lorraine R. Reitzel, Lorna H. Mcneill

Publications and Research

Obesity remains a public health issue, especially for Blacks (or African Americans). Obesity is thought to reflect a complex interaction of socioenvironmental, biological, and cognitive factors. Yet, insufficient attention has been given to psychosocial factors like social cohesion within the African American community. Using multivariable linear regression, we examined the association between social cohesion, measured by the Social Cohesion and Trust scale, and body mass index (BMI) with cross-sectional data (n = 1467) from a cohort study (2008–2009). Greater social cohesion was associated with lower BMI (b = -0.88; 95% CI: −1.45, −0.32) in an unadjusted model. The association was …

Towards A Transnational Critical Race Theory In Education: Proposing Critical Race Third World Approaches To Education Policy, Steven L. Nelson

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Scholars have applied Critical Race Theory in both domestic and international contexts; however, a theory on the transnational role of race and racism in education policy has not emerged. In this Article, I borrow from the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) to formulate Critical Race Third World Approaches to Education Policy (TWAEPCrit). In constructing this theory, I argue that Black Americans are in practice and lived experience treated as third world citizens, even as they reside in the United States. I prove the third world status of Black peoples in the …

Ua94/6/1 My Story: Wku Mens Basketball's Taveion Hollingsworth, Taveion Hollingsworth

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

My Story is a series of first-person feature articles written by WKU student-athletes. The student-athletes will be telling their own stories in their own words. This article written by men’s basketball junior guard Taveion Hollingsworth, whose mission of advancing to the NCAA Tournament with his teammates was halted when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

African American Disparities Within The Medical World, Claudia E. Mischler

Student Publications

There are many challenges that African Americans face and the lack of quality in care towards African Americans is an ongoing problem. Black men and women are not given the same care compared to their white counterparts. African Americans are faced with numerous disparities in the medical world. This can exist due to factors that are out of their control such as; failure of medical professionals recognizing the sociocultural differences, distrust in the health care system, cultural differences in understanding and explaining illness, history of hospital and medical office segregation, and knowledge of available services. It is very unlikely to …

Ua94/6/1 My Story: Wku Women's Basketball's Sandra Skinner, Sandra Skinner

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

My Story is a series of first-person feature articles written by WKU student-athletes. The student-athletes will be telling their own stories in their own words. This article written by women’s basketball redshirt senior Sandra Skinner, whose final season was cut short because of the cancellation of the Conference USA Tournament earlier this month.

Attributions For Racial Inequality Among Southern, Rural African Americans, Jamie Maclennan

The Journal of Public and Professional Sociology

Researchers have discovered that African Americans are more likely than whites to attribute poverty and racial inequality to a combination of structural factors (such as discrimination) and individualistic factors (such as motivation). However, the percentage of respondents who exhibit this “dual consciousness” has varied substantially across studies. This is likely due to the different ways that poverty and racial inequality attributions have been measured, whether by closed-ended survey or open-ended interview questions. The following study seeks to supplement the existing literature with findings from 38 in-depth interviews with Southern, rural African Americans who live in an environment of concentrated poverty. …

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

• How do prominent figures of black history impact you to do better today?
• SGA drafting new constitution after an election left the presidency vacant
• Student arrested for rape and aggravated assault at Cambridge apartments
• Hinesville adopts jail-free marijuana ordinance
• Gender and sexuality to be discussed at Courageous Conversations
• If you have an unpaid or low-paid internship, this scholarship is for you
• Black Women Empowerment Awards to honor eight Eagles
• Sexual Assault Response Team displays shirts around campus
• Know Your Health & Resources A Sex-Ed Learning Experience
• Choose Your Major
• What you missed in Georgia Southern Athletics The Weekend of Feb.21 …

Dubious Data And Difficult Conversations: Review Of No Bs (Bad Stats): Black People Need People Who Believe In Black People Enough Not To Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear About Black People, By Ivory A. Toldson., Joel Best

Numeracy

Ivory A. Toldson. 2019. No BS (Bad Stats): Black People Need People Who Believe in Black People Enough Not to Believe Every Bad Thing They Hear about Black People; (Boston, Brill). Paperback ISBN 978-90-04-39702-6. E-book ISBN 978-90-04-39704-0.

Ivory A. Toldson is a professor of Counseling Psychology at Howard University and the current editor-in-chief of the Journal of Negro Education (founded in 1932), and offers an unapologetic critique of how statistical malpractice has misrepresented the situation of Blacks in the United States. Readers of Numeracy should find his examples and analysis both interesting and thought-provoking.

Ua19/16/1 Wku Lady Topper Basketball Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Administration Documents

2020-21 women's basketball media guide produced by WKU Athletic Media Relations, includes athletic records and statistics, photographs, schedule and information regarding opponents.

Foreword, Sudha Setty

Western New England Law Review

In November 2019, the Western New England Law Review held its symposium, On Account of Sex: Women’s Suffrage and the Role of Gender in Politics Today. The symposium articles ask us to look at history to see what factors enabled path-breaking activists to secure the right to vote in a time of immense national turmoil. They also ask us to weigh how history should assess the strategic decisions that ultimately gained political rights for some women, but deliberately excluded Black women and other activists.

These historical accounts help us consider how the right to vote is faring, particularly after …

The Right To Be And Become: Black Home-Educators As Child Privacy Protectors, Najarian R. Peters

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The right to privacy is one of the most fundamental rights in American jurisprudence. In 1890, Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis conceptualized the right to privacy as the right to be let alone and inspired privacy jurisprudence that tracked their initial description. Warren and Brandeis conceptualized further that this right was not exclusively meant to protect one’s body or physical property. Privacy rights were protective of “the products and the processes of the mind” and the “inviolate personality.” Privacy was further understood to protect the ability to “live one’s life as one chooses, free from assault, intrusion or …

Culturally-Relevant Factors That Influence Healthy Eating Among African American College Students, Danyel Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a national epidemic in the US, disproportionately affecting African Americans, such that the obesity prevalence in African Americans (49.6%) surpassed the national prevalence (42.4%) in 2018. Those same disparities exist at the collegiate level, such that 27.4% of a sample of African Americans college students had obesity, surpassing the national prevalence of obesity (12.1%) in 2018. Diet, an important driver of obesity, is influenced by several psychological, social, and environmental factors. However, cultural factors influencing diet are understudied among African American college students. The overarching goal of the current study was to identify culturally-relevant factors that promote healthy …

Foreword, Sudha Setty

Faculty Scholarship

In November 2019, the Western New England Law Review held its symposium, On Account of Sex: Women’s Suffrage and the Role of Gender in Politics Today. The symposium articles ask us to look at history to see what factors enabled path-breaking activists to secure the right to vote in a time of immense national turmoil. They also ask us to weigh how history should assess the strategic decisions that ultimately gained political rights for some women, but deliberately excluded Black women and other activists.

These historical accounts help us consider how the right to vote is faring, particularly after …

"No One Can Make That Choice For You": Exploring Power In The Sexual Narratives Of Black Collegians, Candice Hargons, Della V. Mosley, Carolyn Meiller, Jardin Dogan, Jennifer Stuck, Chesmore Montique, Natalie Malone, Joseph Oluokun, Carrie Bohmer, Queen-Ayanna Sullivan, Anyoliny Sanchez, Danelle Stevens-Watkins

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Power is enacted to oppress others, pursue wellness, or resist oppression. For Black people, societal and relational oppression influences racialized and gendered expressions of power within sexual encounters. The current study analyzed power dynamics within Black university students' first and most recent sexual encounters. Using narrative inquiry within a critical paradigm, five narrative strategies were identified within participants' interviews: 1) Offering a Peek into Powerlessness, 2) Detailing Disempowerment, 3) Privileging Stereotypical Power, 4) Reclaiming Power, and 5) Emphasizing Empowered Sex. Racialized, gendered sexual socialization among Black students is discussed. Counseling considerations to increase sexual wellness for Black people are explored.

Experiences Of African American Teachers In Desegregated Pk–12 Schools: A Systematic Literature Review, Yonghee Suh, Brian J. Daugherity, Jihea Maddamsetti, Angela Branyon

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This literature review reports findings from 19 empirical studies on the experiences of African American teachers in PK–12 desegregated schools. The research questions were: What do we know about the experiences of African American teachers in desegregated PK–12 schools? What are the challenges African American teachers experience in desegregated PK–12 schools? In response to these questions, the article first discusses school desegregation after the Brown v. Board of Education decision and its impact on African American teachers as a historical backdrop. Findings from 19 studies were analyzed through grounded theory. Two core themes were identified from our findings: persistent structural …

Barriers That Influence The Underuse Of Mental Health Services By African Americans Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Pamela Gail Stackhouse-Hinsey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans diagnosed with schizophrenia have longer wait times to be treated by mental health care professionals, resulting in their underuse of mental health services. This problem has motivated medical professionals to reexamine the ways in which services are rendered and then make appropriate improvements. The purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of African Americans diagnosed with schizophrenia and identify the reasons for their underuse of mental health services. A phenomenological research design was used to understand and explore the participants’ lived experiences of the phenomenon. Participants were recruited from an independent living facility. Purposive sampling …

Ua19/16/2 Womens' Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Administration Documents

Press releases, photos and game statistics related to WKU womens' basketball team from July to December 2019.

Ua19/16/2 Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Administration Documents

Press releases regarding WKU's basketball team from August to December 2019.

Disfavored For The Color Of Their Skin: Black Women Workers In The World War Ii Shipyards Of Portland And Vancouver, Tessara G. Dudley

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

World War II was a time of great flux for the United States. To take advantage of lucrative defense jobs, workers migrated to the cities and towns that grew around a wide array of defense industries across the country. For Black women migrants, the war represented an opportunity to escape private domestic service and find more fulfilling careers. While these women were able to make substantive gains in some parts of the country, migrants to other areas found little success. In the Pacific Northwest, a combination of community animosity and labor union obstructionism effectively blocked most Black women from accessing …

Understanding The Psychosocial And Physical Health Impacts Of Colorism: Discrimination Of African Americans Based On Skin Color, Latocia Keyes

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Colorism is a complex phenomenon which was birthed by racism and uses the observable human characteristic of skin color as a metric for worth in society. Colorism as practiced since its inception demonstrates intolerance for African features and promotes acceptance based on the approximate physiological similarity to a European standard. This social construct has served as a divisive wedge in the Black community. The issue is further complicated by the dynamics of interpersonal beliefs and group socialization in a variety of settings. Skin bleaching, tanning, and chemical hair straighteners all have the potential risk to impact physical health that causes …

"They Think We’Re The Drama-Makers”: Examining Middle-Class African American Girl Perceptions Of School Discipline And Mistreatment, Asha M. Ralph

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Historically in the United States, African Americans have faced much adversity in the fight towards educational equality. Beginning with the complete denial of education during slavery, the struggle to attain an education continued following the Civil War, throughout Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. Their formal education remained segregated from white students and was often severely underfunded. Ultimately, Plessy v. Ferguson’s 1896 “separate but equal” decision was challenged and the Supreme Court justices unanimously voted that racial segregation of children in public-schools was unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Although major advances have been seen over …

"Courage 2 Test": An Evaluation Of A Social Media Marketing Campaign To Increase Hiv Testing Among Young Black Men, Jamal T. Jones, Laura F. Salazar, Richard A. Crosby

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a social media marketing (SMM) campaign designed to increase HIV testing among young Black men attending a public university in Atlanta, GA. “Courage 2 Test” was a three-month SMM campaign (launched from February 2017 to April 2017) that included targeted Facebook and Instagram advertisements to encourage HIV testing. Students completed an online survey via two cross-sectional samples (n=106 at baseline and n=98 post campaign). Campaign evaluation involved assessing the effects of campaign exposure and the pre/post-grouping variable on ever testing for HIV and testing for HIV in the previous six months via …

We Shall Overcome: The Association Between Family Of Origin Adversity, Coming To Terms, And Relationship Quality For African Americans, Kylee Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

Because adverse childhood and family of origin experiences may have implications for adult relationships, it is important to understand what can help buffer potential negative effects. The current study was designed to understand the relationship between childhood family of origin adversities, coming to terms with family of origin issues and events, and adult romantic relationship quality for African Americans (N = 1613). A path analysis was conducted using data from the RELATE assessment (see www.relate-institute.org). Results indicated that, taken together, coming to terms, self-esteem, and depression likely partially mediated the relationship between family of origin adversity and adult relationship quality. …

Social Work’S Contribution To Research Regarding Suicide Among African Americans, Darius Reed

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Suicide among African Americans has increased significantly in the past 15 years, yet it remains a neglected topic in social work research. Social workers are the largest direct provider of mental health services in the United States. However their valuable person-in-environment perspective has not been incorporated into research to provide insight on ways to decrease incidents of suicide among African Americans. This systematic review examines social work’s contribution to suicide research while focusing on the social context in which African Americans live. The systematic review also examines protective factors specific to African Americans that can be used to mitigate suicide …

Let The Church Say Amen! A Qualitative Study Exploring The Experiences Of African American Pastors Providing Mental Health Support, Tiffanie D. Sutherlin

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how African American Pastors experience their role as mental health supporters. Researchers are continuing to conduct research to better understand some of the challenges and barriers African Americans may experience that impacts their attitudes towards mental health services. Many African Americans identify as spiritual or religious and implement coping skills based on their spiritual or religious connection to a High Power. This researcher focused on four male and four female Pastors who identified as African American and were located in the Eastern Region of the United States. The participants engaged in …

Losing Louisiana: Race, Techno-Science, And The Disappearing Geographies Of The Lower Mississippi River Delta, Monica Patrice Barra

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on eighteen months of ethnographic and historical research in southeast coastal Louisiana (USA), this dissertation explores the racial histories, engineering and scientific practices, and geophysical processes that have shaped land loss and coastal restoration in the lower Mississippi River Delta. Rather than treating land loss simply as a natural process or matter of environmental restoration, this ethnography examines its cultural, material, and political dimensions, especially for communities of color that have already experienced long histories of loss — of property, livelihood, and political rights. A focus on the geophysical transformations of the river - dictating land growth, sinking, and …

An Analysis Of Major Issues For Culturally-Minded Professionals In Women's Health Care, Victoria Clark

Senior Honors Theses

Women's health care professionals, such as general physicians, obstetricians and gynecologists, midwives, nurses, and doulas, in the US need to be aware of cultural issues and disparities. Minorities and migrant women experience cultural challenges and disparities when receiving health care in the US. Without cultural sensitivity, patient care is compromised. Pregnancy and childbirth practices vary widely by culture, and potential differences in perspectives, beliefs, and treatment of these are critical issues for women’s health care professionals to study. Female genital cutting (FGC), obstetric fistulas (OF), and female cancer are also discussed in this paper.