Multicultural Psychology Commons^™

Addressing The Mental Health Needs Of Women In Rural Communities: A Women’S Wellness Group, Andriana Hench

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This paper explores the mental health needs of women in rural communities. Based on Myers and Sweeny’s Wellness Model (2008), as well as other relevant research, I have developed a group curriculum as a unique intervention to reach this specific population. This paper provides an overview of relevant literature and includes both a handbook for group facilitators and a participant workbook that compliments the facilitator handbook. This group curriculum is suggested for Clinical Mental Health Counselors and other mental health professionals to promote wellness among rural women.

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

Capstone 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 …

Intercultural Communication Between Forensic And Clinical Psychologists, Brittany Schmeck

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

While working in clinical and forensic psychology settings, a communication difficulty between the two professions became apparent. Forensic psychologists often appeared cold and callous from the clinical psychologist’s perspective, while clinical psychologists often appeared naïve or too client centered from the forensic psychologist’s perspective. I wondered if viewing each subfield of psychology as a culture could facilitate better communication through intercultural communication. Guided by Intercultural Communication in Contexts (Martin & Nakayama, 2010) in approaching intercultural communication between the two professions, I explored factors contributing to each profession’s cultural identities. Once this was established, I attempted to explore the different ways …

Construction Of An Anti-Mexican American Bias Scale And Its Validation, Leslie N. Martinez

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the dissertation is to develop a meaningful measure of Anti-Mexican American attitudes and to test that measure for its utility in predicting biased attributions for Mexican Americans. Attention has mainly focused on bias against Blacks, and this has produced important gaps in the understanding of race/ethnic bias that must be addressed. For the past few decades, the number of racial minorities, especially the number of Latinos/Hispanics, has been on the rise. The psychometric properties and validation of the new Anti-Mexican American Attitude Scale (AMAAS) were investigated through study 1 and study 2. The principal components analysis pulled …

Six Principles To Consider When Working With Roman Catholic Clients, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Although the majority of Americans consider themselves to be Christian and affiliated with various Protestant denominations, a quarter of the American population identify themselves as Roman Catholics who are the largest single religious denomination in the country. Yet, surprisingly, fairly little research has been published in the professional psychology literature about working with this very large and diverse group. Psychologists have an ethical responsibility to be aware of and respectful to diversity including diversity based on religious background, affiliation, and perspectives. The purpose of this brief reflection is to offer 6 important principles to keep in mind for professional psychologists …

Construct Validation Of The Psychosocial Costs Of Racism To Whites Scale For Ashkenazic Jews In The United States, Emile Tobias Berk

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study is a construct validation of the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale (Spanierman & Heppner, 2004) with Orthodox and non-Orthodox Ashkenazic (of European descent) American Jews. While Jewish-American biculturalism has been explored at length, there is a dearth of psychological research on Jewish-White biculturalism (Langman, 1999). Furthermore, the literature has yet to explore the impact of Jewish religious diversity on Ashkenazic-American self-perception as racially White beneficiaries of unearned privilege.

The Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale (PCRW) measures three dimensions of White racial attitudes: White Empathic Reactions Towards Racism, White Guilt, and White Fear of Others. …

Culture And Cognition: The Role Culture Plays In Cognitive Development In Rural Tanzania, Eileen Seissen

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper examines the perceived difference of cognition in a Tanzanian classroom. It also examines the effects culture has on cognition. It aims to answer the questions: What role does Tanzanian culture play in shaping the cognitive skills of its children? And, from an American trainers perspective, within an experiential learning environment, what cognitive differences are perceived in abstract thinking, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving? Nine American trainers, one Tanzanian trainer, and one Tanzanian student participated in my study. Each participant filled out a questionnaire geared toward understanding their training methods and perceptions of participant's skills and abilities. After …

The Association Between Stalking And Violence In A Sample Of Spanish Partner Violence Cases, Rosa Viñas-Racionero, Chitra Raghavan, Miguel Ángel Soria-Verde, Remei Prat-Santaolaria

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present descriptive study analyzes stalking in a sample of 278 Spanish court cases involving partner violence and contrasts the benefits of the new bill article 172ter, which criminalizes stalking, compared with the Organic Law 1/2004 on partner violence. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of the total sample included stalking behaviors, which manifested in intimidatory (60%) and controlling (45%) unwanted verbal communications (62%) and physical approaches (42%) that ended violently in a third of the cases (35%). Cases involving violent stalking, non-violent stalking, and physical violence without stalking were compared. A closer look at violent stalking cases uncovered that intimacy-seeking stalking behavior …

A Parent-Child Therapy Program For Latino Families, Michael P. Fung

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study used a randomized control design with treatment and wait-list conditions to evaluate the efficacy of a culturally-adapted version of the Early Pathways program (Fox & Gresl, 2014), an in-home, parent-child therapy program with 137 at-risk Latino children under the age of six referred for severe behavior and emotional problems, such as aggression, oppositional behavior, self-injury and property destruction. Early Pathways directly engaged the parent-child dyad, emphasizing parent-directed training and child-engagement activities, such as psycho-education, child-led play, and cognitive-behavioral strategies. Cultural modifications included establishing community partnerships to identify Latino family needs, translation of materials, offering bilingual services, acculturation assessment, …

The Association Of Racial Identity And Locus Of Control With Eating Attitudes And Obesity In African American College Women, Jamie Grisham

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

African-American women have been disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic in the United States, and studies have suggested that sociocultural factors may have a negative influence on weight and weight loss efforts. Relatedly, other studies have found that African-American women have reported feeling less motivated to lose weight than other ethnic groups. Previous research has also indicated that locus of control plays a role in some health outcomes for African America women. The current study aimed to examine the impact of Black identity, external locus of control, and exercise motivation on obesity in African-American college women. Uncontrolled eating and exercise …

Primary And Family Stigma Of Mental Illness: Comparing Perceptions Of African Americans And European Americans, Julia Rubinshteyn

Dissertations (1934 -)

Research has shown that stigma is a significant barrier to mental health treatment seeking, and that African Americans tend to have significantly lower rates of treatment seeking compared to European Americans (Wang et al., 2005). Stigma affecting the individual directly is called primary stigma (Corrigan & Kleinlein, 2005), whereas stigma affecting the individual’s family members is referred to as family stigma. In the present study, a vignette was presented to 287 undergraduate students at Marquette University. The study examined attitudes of primary and family stigma toward a target based on race (European American or African American) and type of mental …

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 …

Socially Desirable Responding: Enhancement And Denial In 20 Countries, Jia He, F.J. Van De Vijver, A.D. Espinosa, A. Abubakar, R. Dimitrova, B.G. Adams, Jochen Reb, Samantha Sim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on …

Exploring Mindfulness As A Culturally Sensitive Intervention For The Deaf Community, Barrymore R. Rosellini

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Mental health issues are as prevalent in the deaf community as the hearing community, if not more. Yet, Deaf individuals are often treated by mental health professionals less frequently and less effectively. Many systemic barriers exist that influence the lack of services provided to the Deaf community, primarily related to a lack of cultural understanding rooted in perceptions of Deaf individuals. However, the Deaf community may be best understood as a cultural minority, a unique community sharing a distinct culture, history, and language. This paper investigates the effects of systematic barriers and cultural misunderstanding among mental health professions regarding the …

The Emotional Experience Of American Indians Receiving Hemodialysis And How It Relates To Treatment Adherence, Anitra M. Warrior

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study used a phenomenological approach as an attempt to capture the essence of the experience of American Indians with diabetes who are receiving dialysis. The purpose of this study and this approach was to develop an understanding of factors that influence treatment adherence, specifically with mental health concerns. As an additional component of this study, this research also followed an advocacy/participatory approach (Creswell, 2007) in which steps to reform services are provided to the Indian Health Service in support of this marginalized group through a written Agenda for Change.

Participants for this study were recruited from multiple states serving …

The Nature And Etiology Of Religious Certitude: Implications Of The Ei Framework And Beliefs, Events, And Values Inventory, Timothy W. Brearly

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Religious certitude is often associated with conflict between individuals and groups, though the nature of this relationship is still not clear. To further clarify these dynamics, the historical psychology of religion is reviewed and contrasted with current perspectives from social psychology and neuroscience, with an eye towards better understanding the variance within religious expressions and their associated relationships with intergroup conflict. It is hypothesized that religious certainty is related to a difficulty in engaging with contradictory religious perspectives, and that the pull towards certainty is tied to an individual’s unique psychological structure, much of which is developed through the interaction …

Eye Movements Of Highly Identified Sport Fans, Michele N. Murdock

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Individuals who are highly identified with a sport team have a strong psychological connection with the team (Wann et al., 2001). Sport team identification can be beneficial to communities and individuals. It provides entertainment, helps form group affiliation, and improves self-esteem. Because team identification is important to people, they notice environmental cues related to the team. Individuals are more likely to attend to a stimulus that is liked or one that is familiar. When an individual has accessible attitudes toward an object, he or she is more likely to attend to and notice the object (Roskos-Ewoldsen & Fazio, 1992). The …

Museum Spaces As Psychological Affordances: Representations Of Immigration History And National Identity, Sahana Mukherjee, Phia S. Salter, Ludwin E. Molina

Psychology Faculty Publications

The present research draws upon a cultural psychological perspective to consider how psychological phenomena are grounded in socio-cultural contexts. Specifically, we examine the association between representations of history at Ellis Island Immigration Museum and identity-relevant concerns. Pilot study participants (N = 13) took a total of 114 photographs of exhibits that they considered as most important in the museum. Results indicate that a majority of the photographs reflected neutral themes (n = 81), followed by nation-glorifying images (n = 24), and then critical themes that highlight injustices and barriers faced by immigrants (n = 9). Study 1 examines whether there …

Helping Missionary Kid Repatriation, Angela Bredeman

Senior Honors Theses

The children of expatriates grow up being a part of two or more cultures which allows them to have unique experiences and challenges. Many of these children return to their parents' home country after they finish school and have trouble adjusting to the change. This study interviewed a sample of Missionary Kids about their transition back to the United States as their home country. It looked at how well they have adjusted and what helped and hindered their transition. The subjects were evaluated on how different factors of their overseas experience influenced their repatriation process, current adjustment, and cultural adjustment. …

How Students View Diversity In Their Education: A Qualitative Examination, Catherine Schubert, Jared F. Edwards, Allie Aiello, Maci Glassock

Student Research

In this study, we examined students’ open responses to questions regarding their opinions about diversity on their college campus. Here, we report on responses about age, religion, and political views in the classroom and outside the classroom.

Perceptions Of Psychological Distress And Treatment Among The Ovambo In Northern Namibia: A Multiple Method Study, Theodore T. Bartholomew

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The biomedical model of psychiatric care and psychological distress has dominated the Western world’s approaches to psychological treatment (Wampold, 2001; 2007). Moreover, psychology has, historically, been exported wholesale beyond its Western base of development. Such exportation lends itself to the overshadowing of local psychologies in favor of dominant, universal psychology. Imposition of Western theory is further true in applied psychology insofar as how clinical practice and mental illness are defined. This study intended to understand the nature of psychological distress and treatment in a non-Western context – the Ovambo people of Northern Namibia. Little is known about the perceptions of …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Perceived Stress And Depressive Symptoms Among Help-Seeking Hispanic Smokers, Monica Webb Hooper Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objectives: Research has demonstrated robust associations between perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and cigarette smoking. The extent to which these findings from the general population generalize to Hispanic smokers is unknown. The present study examined (a) correlates of perceived stress and depressive symptoms among help-seeking Hispanic smokers and (b) whether maladaptive coping and social support were related to stress and depressive symptoms. Design: Hispanic smokers (N=123) enrolled in an RCT completed demographic and smoking history, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, perceived social support, and maladaptive coping measures. Results: Bivariate associations indicated that perceived stress was positively correlated with depressive symptoms …

Education, Crystal C. Gray

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

Education is a spoken word poem that explores many aspects of the African American struggle within (self-knowledge). It starts with an African American college student who is disappointed with the lack of courses about her culture. Most curricula in the United States tend to be from a Eurocentric perspective, leaving out a multitude of information about people of color. All groups of people of color have unique experiences, however, African Americans have the most known (or perhaps I should say, unknown) history. The standard explanation of their existence is often limited to the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, when …

The Traumatic State Of Psychology: An Investigation Of The Challenges Psychologists Face When Aiming To Help Trauma Survivors In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Rohan Arcot

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This project will sought to investigate the difficult role that psychologists play in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly when they are trying to create meaningful change for trauma survivors from the apartheid era. Many survivors found the results of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) unsatisfactory, and thus still suffer from trauma (Kagee, Naidoo, & Van Wyk, 2013). There is a clear need in the present society of South Africa for a system which helps these trauma survivors find reconciliation and make peace with the atrocities of the past. Part of this system is the counseling psychologists that focus on the …

Global Self-Worth And Perceptions Of Competence In Latino Youth: The Role Of Acculturation And Acculturation Risk Factors, Theresa Lauer Kapke

Master's Theses (2009 -)

To develop a better understanding of mental health disparities for Latino adolescents, the goal of the current study was to examine the sociocultural influences on Latino adolescents' self-esteem. Specifically, the current study investigated the effects of acculturation and acculturation risk factors on adolescents' global self-worth and self-perceptions of competence. Eighty-three Latino adolescents completed a series of questionnaires regarding behavioral and cognitive aspects of acculturation, acculturation risk factors (i.e., acculturation stress, acculturation conflict, and perceived ethnic discrimination), and perceptions of global self-worth and competence across various domains (i.e., behavioral conduct, physical appearance, and social acceptance). Results indicated that Latino orientation and …

2015 Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar, Emily M. Douglas Ph.D., Melinda Gushwa Ph.D., Licsw, Martha J. Henry Ph.D.

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise

Mission Critical: Reforming Foster Care and Child Protective Services is the sixth Massachusetts Family Impact Seminar. It is designed to emphasize a family perspective in policymaking on issues related to reforming foster care and child protective services in the Commonwealth. In general, Family Impact Seminars analyze the consequences an issue, policy, or program may have for families.

University Scholar Series: Nadia Sorkhabi, Nadia Sorkhabi

University Scholar Series

Cultural Similarities in Parenting Styles and Practices of Mothers and Father

On March 18, 2015, Dr. Nadia Sorkhabi spoke in the University Scholar Series hosted by Provost Andy Feinstein at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. Her talk, titled "Cultural Similarities in Parenting Styles and Practices of Mothers and Father," explored parenting styles and how domain-specific practices of mothers and fathers are related to the academic achievement, social competence, and mental health of children and adolescents. Her research includes frequency and intensity of parent-adolescent conflicts, conflict resolution strategies, and adolescent disclosure of their activities to their parents. Sorkhabi is …

Parenting Young Children In Contemporary Chinese Society: A Mixed Methods Study, Lixin Ren

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine contemporary Chinese parents’ childrearing expectations, goals, and practices for their preschool-aged children. Participants included 154 parents with preschool-aged children (children’s mean age was 52.48 months with a standard deviation of 6.84) and 27 teachers recruited from seven preschools located in three small cities in northeastern China. In the quantitative phase, parents completed questionnaires measuring parental expectations (social-emotional and academic expectations), parenting styles, child social competence, and child pre-academic performance. The head teacher of each target child reported the child’s social competence and pre-academic performance. It was hypothesized that parental expectations …

When Do Subordinates Commit To Their Supervisors? Different Effects Of Perceived Supervisor Integrity And Support On Chinese And American Employees, Chi-Ying Cheng, Ding-Yu Jiang, Bor-Shiuan Cheng, Jean H. Riley, Chin-Kang Jen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While subordinates' commitment to the supervisor is highly desirable, the routes to achieve this might vary in different cultures. Drawing on the theories of leader–member exchange (LMX) and cultural logic, this study posits different interaction effects for subordinates' perceived supervisor integrity and support on commitment to the supervisor in cultures with different expectations of personal integrity. The results indicate that an additive effect can be observed for American subordinates: perceived supervisor support increases commitment to the supervisor to a greater extent when a high degree of supervisor integrity is also perceived. In contrast, a compensatory effect can be observed for …

Parental Discussions About Sexual Risk With African American Sons: The Role Of Religiosity., Wadiya A. Udell, Geri R. Donenberg

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The current study investigated the relationship between parental religiosity (i.e., parent church attendance), and frequency of parent-youth communication about sexual risk (i.e., discussion about sex, and discussion about condom use) with African American boys. Participants were 65 parents of African American boys between the ages of 11 and 17 years. Results indicated no relationship between age and parent-son discussion about sexual risk. However, parental religiosity was negatively associated with frequency of communication with sons about sex and condom use. Parents who attended church more frequently reported fewer discussions about sex and condom use than parents who attended church less frequently. …