Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Being Left Behind, Not Staying Behind: A Look At College-Aged African American Males, Lauren Fortune

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The purpose of this Ed.S. project is to examine the barriers African American males face and their resiliency factors. The information will be used to educate others about the issues faced by this group and what factors positively impact their success. The participants consisted of six African American Males who attend James Madison University and are between the ages of 18-22. A qualitative research design was used. The interviews were semi-structured with a five-question interview protocol. There were specific themes that emerged from the research that were barriers as well as resiliemcy factors. Barriers included the impact of fathers and …

Maternal Predictors Of School Readiness Among At-Risk Head Start Preschool Children, Rachel Chase

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Preschool has been identified as a critical period during which children who are at-risk for school difficulties are most responsive to intervention (National Institute of Mental Health, 2002; National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2001). Because of this, school readiness has recently become a prioritized area of interest for the educational system, the health care industry, and the federal government. However, many efforts to comprehensively prepare a child to begin school have not been successful because factors beyond the educational system (e.g., parenting/parent attributes, environmental stressors, and other demographic characteristics) have not been closely considered nor adequately researched. Therefore, …

Ethnic Differences In Self-Efficacy At Southern Adventist University, Seth L. Daly Stennis

Senior Research Projects

Valid concern has been expressed about the poor academic performance of African American students, in comparison to their other ethnic counterparts. The literature has attempted to explain this anomaly. A large portion of the studies show how socioeconomic standing and parental involvement play a role in this achievement gap. A more modest smattering used psychological factors to explain the deplorable academic achievement in African Americans. One such psychological factor, self-efficacy, was not well represented in the literature; few papers discussed the association of self-efficacy and African American academic success. The purpose of this study was to describe self-efficacy levels of …

Postemancipation Landscapes And Material Culture: The Bethel Community And The Benjamin W. Jackson Plantation, Sarah Elizabeth Loftus

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explores the history and archaeology of a postemancipation community that developed around the Benjamin W. Jackson Plantation in Bethel, Texas, particularly concentrating on the transformation of the landscape through the rise of black land ownership and material culture collected at two households occupied by generations of the Davis family. The Davises were tenant farmers whose ancestors were previously enslaved on the plantation and members of the family continued to occupy the lands through the 1950s. In the decades following emancipation the antebellum landscape of the Benjamin Jackson plantation and the Bethel community in East Texas were slowly transformed …

A Culturally-Sensitive Model Of The Development Of Child Anxiety., Jenny Marie Petrie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Explanatory models significantly enhance the understanding of etiological influences that place children at risk for anxiety, yet little is known about processes that promote resilient outcomes in children. While contextual factors influence risk and protective processes, cultural constructs have not been incorporated into existing models of anxiety and the role of culture remains obscure. The current study proposes a culturally sensitive model for understanding the etiological and mitigating processes underlying anxious symptoms in ethnic minority youth, and preliminarily tests basic components of the proposed model within a non-clinical community sample of 49 African American (AA) parent-child dyads who completed self-report …

The Effect Of Colorist Images On Appearance Concerns Of Black Women, Leah Boepple

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American culture supports a colorist system that values lighter skin tones in women of color, and these norms are communicated in some part by images present in our society. Previous research has not explored the impact that colorist images may have on the psychological health and appearance concerns of women of color. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether exposure to images of Black women who more closely meet colorist beauty standards (i.e., lighter skin) would negatively impact women’s psychological health and general appearance concerns. It was hypothesized that participants exposed to colorist images of Black women …

I Will Not Wear A Muzzle, Tiarra L. Riggins

SURGE

Students are sent abroad to “become sensitive leaders in our changing world,” states the Gettysburg College Center for Global Education’s mission statement. We are asked to “foster global thinking and to instill a compassionate respect for others and our world.” Many students use this time to explore their true selves with hopes of not having to think too deeply about the life that they’ve left behind. [excerpt]

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

Amber A Hewitt

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 …

Critically Examining Black Students’ Preparation To Counsel White Clients, Natoya Hill Haskins, Rosemary E. Phelps, Candice Crowell

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Abstract

This study explored how Black students are prepared to counsel White clients in two predominantly White universities. Data analysis revealed five themes, which exposed Black students’ preparation experiences: (a) relevant content excluded, (b) stereotyping experienced, (c) authenticity challenged, (d) counter spaces should be included, and (e) cultural sensitivity of faculty warrants increase. The authors discuss implications of the study’s findings for educators as well as limitations and recommendations for future research.

Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts For An Era Of Criminal Justice Transformation, Matthew W. Epperson, Carrie Pettus-Davis

Center for Social Development Research

The era of mass incarceration, which made the United States the world’s leading jailer, appears to be coming to an end. What is likely to follow is an era of decarceration, aimed at reducing the incarcerated population. In this working paper, we discuss the problems associated with mass incarceration and the current climate that is likely to make decarceration a reality. We discuss the importance of developing a “smart decarceration” approach—one that is effective, sustainable, and socially just. We then articulate interrelated goals for the era of decarceration, and offer guiding concepts that will help to meet these goals through …

Building Collaboratives With Southern Rural African American Churches Through The Integration Of The Interorganizational Collaborative Framework, Alex D. Colvin, Angela Burdock

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The rural Black church often plays an important role in the lives of many African Americans and frequently functions as an informal helping network in meeting emergency service needs for this group. This article provides a review of the constructs of the Bailey and McNalley-Koney Interorganizational Community-Based Collaborative Framework. Additionally, this paper explores action-oriented measures for integrating constructs into practice to build interorganizational collaboratives with southern rural African American churches.

The Social Environmental Elements Of Resilience Among Vulnerable African American/Black Men Who Have Sex With Men, Mance E. Buttram

CAHSS Faculty Articles

Resilience theory has been suggested as a strong framework for research on HIV prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM). Among this population, literature indicates that African American/Black MSM are particularly vulnerable to health and social disparities associated with HIV transmission risk. Conceptualizing resilience as a part of one’s social environment, this qualitative study investigates the specific elements of resilience, and the associated contexts and relationships, among a sample of 21 substance-using African American/Black MSM. Data indicate that (1) elements contributing to resilience are multiple and co-occurring, including inner strengths, social relationships, diversity of experience, religion/spirituality, altruism, and …

Hope Among Resilient African American Adolescents, Jessica Briana Mcclintock

Dissertations (1934 -)

African American youth have historically been disproportionately affected by an array of environmental stressors that have put them at higher risk for poor adjustment outcomes (Adams III et al., 2003; Mcloyd, 1990). Despite their hardships, not all of these youth fall victim to negative environmental influences (Miller & MacIntosh, 1999). Many exceed expectations and their lives take positive trajectories that lead to positive adaptation (Hunter, 2012; Miller & MacIntosh, 1999). This positive adaptation in spite of significant risk is referred to as resilience (Cicchetti, 2010). While the importance of resilience has been well documented in European Americans, the majority of …

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 …

Swamp Surburbia And Rebellion Against A Culture Of Crime: The Birth Of Black Skateboarding In The Big Easy, Aubrey Edwards

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research addresses a significant gap in previous work on the formation of urban and suburban black skateboarding subcultures. By using data generated through oral histories, photographs, mapping, and literature review, this study explores why black youth initially began skateboarding in New Orleans in the mid-2000s. In contrast to the scholarly literature and local popular perception, this visual anthropological study aims to provide an alternative origin story of black skateboarding in Post-Katrina New Orleans, and to examine the continuing popularity of the sport within the young black community.

Trauma Of The Heart: Augmenting The Family Paradigm To Stem The Spread Of Hiv/Aids And To Facilitate Healing And Recovery In The Wake Of Hiv/Aids, Gibson Danjuma

CTS Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

This article briefly reflects on the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American community. The article suggests an alternative paradigm that views the high-risk behaviors that contribute to the spread of the virus as a reaction to ‘trauma of the heart’ as opposed to viewing the epidemic solely in terms of a lack of HIV and sexually transmitted disease awareness. It further suggests a pastoral intervention of expanding the paradigm of family beyond the classical nuclear construct to family as a system of individuals committed to embracing and ‘adopting’ individuals who have experienced trauma of the heart. This augmented understanding of …

A Phenomenological Study: African American Clergy Response To Violence Against Women, Milicia Antoinette Tedder

Doctoral Dissertations

Violence against women and religious participation are two phenomena that are pervasive across many African American communities. African American women experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at a rate higher than the majority of racial groups in the U.S. Although many African American women highly depend on their faith and church to navigate their experiences with IPV, scant attention has been given to the role that Black clergy have in responding to IPV against women. As a result, clergy leaders’ responses to IPV were examined in this study. This study utilized a phenomenological method to understand African American clergy leaders’ responses …

Examining African American And Caucasian Female Proteges' Perspectives About The Relationship Of Their Mentors' Performance Of Mentoring Functions And Race, Lisa D. Summerour

Ed.D. Dissertations

This researcher examined the perspectives of African American and Caucasian female protégés regarding the five career development mentoring functions of sponsoring, coaching, protecting, challenging, and exposing; and the six psychosocial mentoring functions of role modeling, acceptance, counseling, friendship, socializing, and parenting to examine African American and Caucasian female protégés’ perspectives on their mentors’ mentoring behaviors. The researcher also examined the perspectives of African American and Caucasian female protégés regarding the importance of race in their mentoring dyads. The results indicated that no statistically significant differences existed between the African American and Caucasian female protégés within the five career development mentoring …

Assessing Reconstruction: Did The South Undergo Revolutionary Change?, Lauren H. Sobotka

Student Publications

With the end of the Civil War, came a number of unanswered questions Reconstruction would attempt to answer for the South. While the South underwent economic, political and social changes for a short period, old traditions continued to persist resulting in racist sentiment.

Beyond Ferguson: Empowering Low-Income People To Build The Future Of Their Communities, Dorothy Stoneman

Center for Social Development Research

Beyond Ferguson: Empowering Low-Income People to Build the Future of Their Communities

Increasing African American And Latino Parental Involvement In School, Timothy Allen

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Parental involvement is one of the leading indicators of a student’s academic achievement. The lack of parental support often found within the African American and Latino communities has often contributed to suspensions, expulsions, and truancy. This interactive seminar will provide participants with useful strategies that can be used to increase the level of parental involvement and also help parents understand the importance of their role in their children’s academic success.

Research Brief: "Disparities In The Consequences Of Sarcopenia: Implications For African American Veterans", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief shows why more research should be done on African American veterans who have sarcopenia. In policy and practice, African American veterans should tell their healthcare providers about their geriatric medical needs, and health professionals should inform their veteran patients about how to avoid muscle wasting that can lead to sarcopenia; the VA should provide criteria for diagnosing sarcopenia among aging veterans. Suggestions for future research include analysis of the relation between myosteatosis and diabetes, as well as focusing on understanding the effects of sarcopenia on African American veterans.

Link Racial Past To The Present, Jill Ogline Titus

Civil War Institute Faculty Publications

Americans have been putting a great deal of energy into commemorating the 50th anniversary of some of the key moments of the civil rights movement. This burst of memorialization has inspired one new museum in Atlanta and the redesign of another in Memphis. The Smithsonian and Library of Congress are launching a new oral-history initiative, and films like Selma bring the movement to life for those who rarely read a history book or visit a museum.

This year brings more anniversaries: the Selma-to-Montgomery March, the passage of the Voting Rights Act, and the Watts rebellion. And the commemorative stakes are …

Hispanic Ancestry And Racial Self-Identity: Empirical Effects Of Social Norms, Patrick Leon Mason

Patrick L. Mason

This paper empirically examines the effects on own-group racial identity norms on individual Hispanic racial identification. The percentage of all regional Hispanics self-identifying as white is this study’s measure of the racial identity norm. The rise in the fraction of Hispanic population self-identifying as white discourages individual respondents from self-identifying as non-white. We also find that increases in a region’s white Hispanic identity norm decrease the probability of individual Hispanic self-identification as Latino and reduces the probability of self-identifying as black.

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 …

African American Grandparents Residing In A Nursing Facility: Perceptions Of Influence With Their Grandchildren, Family, And Community, Monica Bester

Wayne State University Theses

African American older adults have historically been identified as vital members of the African American family and community (Hill, 1972; Cox, 2002; Waites, 2008). Unfortunately, research has shown an increasing number of older African Americans are being admitted into nursing facilities (Paul, 2004; Feng et al., 2011). Between the years of 1998-2008, it was projected African Americans living in nursing homes increased by 10.8% (Feng et al., 2011).

This study explores the intergenerational relationships of older African American adults with their grandchildren, family, and community through the lens of Intergenerational Family Systems Theory. By viewing this qualitative study through the …

A Cross-Cultural Qualitative Study: The Differences In Attitudes And Opinions On Advance Care Planning Among African, Caucasian, And Latino Americans, Jennifer Sims

International ResearchScape Journal

The purpose of this study is to identify African American and Latino Americans’ beliefs and attitudes about advance care planning (ACP) and compare these with beliefs held by Caucasian Americans. The objectives are to identify if there are differences in opinions between racial groups and to provide relevant information for health and social service providers. African American and Latino American participants in this study indicated many factors that affect their hesitation to utilize ACP services: spiritual and religious beliefs; family caregiving; and lack of knowledge about ACP services. Implications for practice include providing easy-to-understand information about ACP to clients of …

"Black Is, Black Ain't" : A Theoretical Exploration Of The Impact Of Systemic Racism On African American Adolescent Identity Development, Janae A. Peters

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This theoretical thesis explores the impact of systemic racism on the African American adolescent's ability to secure a cohesive and positive identity. Working from a symbolic interactionist frame influenced by critical race theory and social identity theory, this thesis explores the unique challenges African Americans face in this critical identity development process and seeks to explore explanations for the role of racism as an institutionalized system that hinders healthy development. This thesis aims to examine how the messages received by African Americans in all systems--ranging from schools to health services--privilege the dominant perspective and ideology and negatively impact racial identity …

Media Insensitivity To People Of Color: A Comparison And Contrast Of How African Americans Are Portrayed In Mainstream Media To White Americans, Tyler Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

July 13, 2013, I in my great-grandmother’s house with my eyes glued to CNN waiting to see George Zimmerman charged in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. After the verdict of not guilty was read, I remember tuning into social media and seeing people who looked like me tweet about how disappointed they were in the “system.” Leading up to the Zimmerman trial, I paid attention to how mainstream media intentionally tried to defame Trayvon Martin’s character. Headlines read “Trayvon Martin was a weed smoker” and “Martin was suspended from school.” Fast-forward to August 5, 2014, a teen by the …

Parent-Child Communication Among African American Families: Does "Being On The Same Page" Protect Against Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior?, Katherine Bonafide

Dissertations - ALL

African American adolescents continue to be at high risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Sexual risk reduction efforts have focused on family-level sexual health communication, although they have yielded inconsistent findings. Using dyadic data from African American parents and their children (n= 298), the present study sought to elucidate the influence of sexual health communication on adolescent sexual behavior. Findings confirmed that adolescent reports of family-level sex communication were associated with greater sexual involvement, whereas parent reports of sexual health communication showed no associations to child sexual behavior. Including parent reports of communication did not enhance predictive models …