Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Empowered Presence: Theorizing An Afrocentric Performance Of Leadership By African American Women, Sharon Wamble-King

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There is a paucity of theorizing concerning leadership enactments performed by African American women. The performances have been marginalized and obscured within the Western leadership canon as they fall outside its epistemological boundaries; they have also been sidelined within Critical Leadership Studies. This study employed Afrocentricity as a decolonizing paradigm and Africology as the research methodology to describe and define a leadership phenomenon enacted by African American women. Setting aside Western conceptions of leadership, focus groups of African American women examined video excerpts of Africana women’s oral performances through an Africological lens. Participants’ Afrocentric-oriented perceptions sparked collective storytelling and Meaning-Making …

Towards A Social Justice Agenda: Intimate Partner Violence Among Rural, African American Women, Shani Collins Woods

Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal

The social work profession is rooted in community-based work that seeks to eradicate social injustice everywhere. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global phenomenon which impacts women from diverse socio-economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds. It involves power and control, economic abuse, and physical and sexual violence. When compared to other racial and ethnic groups, African American women are likelier to experience physical violence, rape, and homicide. Intimate partner violence among African American women is a social justice issue.

When compared to other racial and ethnic groups, rural and/or low-income African American women are likelier to experience IPV. They are also likelier …

Factors Associated With African American Women’S Sexual Health And Risk Behavior: A Mixed Methods Study, Melody N. Waller

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction: When looking at the health status of our nation, an examination of sexual and reproductive health reveals that there are multiple conditions related to sexual behavior posing a burden on the health of African American women (AAW). Disproportionate rates of sexually transmitted infections, unintended/teen pregnancy, and sexual violence in this group reveal the need to integrate a broader construct to address the multiple factors known to contribute to disparities in sexual and reproductive health affecting AAW. Current health promotion efforts including the encouragement of abstinence and condom use fail to address the multiple components involved in sexual health and/or …

Ebony And Ivory? Interracial Dating Intentions And Behaviors Of Disadvantaged African American Women In Kentucky, David J. Luke, Carrie B. Oser

Sociology Faculty Publications

Using data from 595 predominantly disadvantaged African American women in Kentucky, this study examines perceptions about racial/ethnic partner availability, cultural mistrust, and racism as correlates of interracial dating intentions and behaviors with both white and Hispanic men. Participants reported levels of dating intentions and behaviors were significantly higher with whites than Hispanics. The multivariate models indicate less cultural mistrust and believing it is easier to find a man of that racial/ethnic category were associated with higher interracial dating intentions. Women were more likely to have dated a white man if they believed it was easier to find a white man …

Through The Looking Glass: Barriers And Coping Mechanisms Encountered By African American Women Presidents At Predominately White Institutions, Maria Louise Baxter-Nuamah

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify factors (experiences, career paths, and barriers) that influence the career advancement of African American women administrators in higher education. African American women's experiences in higher education are molded by both external factors and internal factors specific to "traditional" social roles within and outside of the university. This qualitative study examines the personal and professional growth of five African American women who rose to executive leadership positions as presidents at predominately white colleges or universities .

There are five main themes in this study. First, African American women who aspire to senior level …

“Work What You Got”: Political Participation And Hiv-Positive Black Women’S Work To Restore Themselves And Their Communities, Monica L. Melton

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

Black women’s rates of HIV/AIDS infection have skyrocketed in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups over the past thirty years. Despite these rates, HIV-positive Black women’s perspectives are rarely sought regarding best practices to eradicate and interrupt HIV/AIDS among African American women, even though historically Black women have often proved phenomenal agents of social change. HIV-positive Black women’s activism has been understudied and input from the community in crisis has rarely been deemed as valuable to public health officials in HIV/AIDS prevention and interventions. Through the narratives of thirty HIV-positive Floridian Black women, I present HIV-positive Black women’s political …

"All The Single Ladies:" Single College-Educated Black Women's Perceptions Of Marriage And Intimate Relationships, Brittany Henderson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project, ""All the Single Ladies:" Single College-Educated Black Women's Perception of Marriage and Intimate Relationships," is an exploratory study that gathers single heterosexual college-educated Black women's perceptions of intimate relationships. Using semi-structured interviews, the women disclosed how their family structure, career and education goals, race, location and standards influence their perceptions of forming and obtaining intimate relationships. This particular cohort of women brings an interesting perspective, as they have experience in higher education and as career women, but maintain a "single" marital status. This research was done because there was a deficit in the research on Black women's perceptions …

Dismantling Glass Ceilings: Ethical Challenges To Impasse In The Academy, Debora Y. Fonteneau

Journal of the International Association for the Study of the Global Achievement Gap

This article uses numeric and qualitative data to interrogate the impact of affirmative action policies on shattering glass ceilings and resolving impasse in the academic lives of African Americans. This work takes its trajectory from previous research on glass ceilings (Marina and Fonteneau, 2012). Two brief case studies from both PWIs and HBCUs are mentioned to ponder complex attitudes toward race, gender and power. In extracting meaning from the policies, practices, and cases, it became clear that attitudes toward power and authority are influenced by context, but even more, by an individual’s sense of right and wrong. This work is …

Process Evaluation In Action: Lessons Learned From Alabama Reach 2010, M. C. Nagy, Rhoda E. Johnson, Robin C. Vanderpool, Mona N. Fouad, Mark Dignan, Theresa A. Wynn, Edward E. Patridge, Isabel Scarinci, Cheryl Holt, Sharina D. Person

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The CDC-funded Alabama Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2010) project is designed to reduce and eliminate disparities in breast and cervical cancer between African American and white women in six rural and three urban counties in Alabama. In this manuscript, we report on the development, implementation, results, and lessons learned from a process evaluation plan initiated during the Phase I planning period of the Alabama REACH 2010 program. The process evaluation plan for Alabama REACH 2010 focused on four main areas of activity that coincided with program objectives: assessing coalition development, building community capacity, conducting a needs …

Predictors Of Depression For Low-Income African American Single Mothers, Jennifer Hatcher, Mary K. Rayens, Ann R. Peden, Lynne A. Hall

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Purpose: To test a model of predictors of depression in low-income single African American mothers. Design: Secondary analysis of existing data collected as part of a study of women at risk for clinical depression.

Methods: Cross sectional secondary data analysis of a study of low-income African American single mothers with children ages 2-6. Path analysis was used to test a model of the potential mediating role of negative thinking. It was hypothesized that negative thinking mediates the effects of chronic stressors, general health status, and self-esteem on depressive symptoms

Finding: Negative thinking mediated the relationships of chronic stressors and self-esteem …

The Context Of Sexual Risk Among African-American Female College Students, Lucy Annang, Shacara D. Johnson, Malaika A. Pepper-Washington

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objective: To assess the sexually transmitted infection (STI) awareness, sexual risk behaviors, and related contextual factors of African-American female college students.

Participants: Eighty-nine African-American first year female students attending a majority public four-year college in the southern U.S. participated in the study in Spring, 2006.

Methods: Participants completed an anonymous self-administered paper-and-pencil survey and received a $15 cash incentive.

Results: Participants were highly knowledgeable and aware about STIs and their consequences. While this awareness translated into low levels of risk for many, still others engaged in behaviors and maintained beliefs that could potentially put them at high risk for contracting …

Inflammatory Biomarkers And Subclinical Atherosclerosis In African-American Women With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Sle), Edith Williams, Carlos Crespo, Joan Dorn

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Women with lupus are at increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Previous studies of atherosclerosis in SLE have not been representative of the minority groups most affected by lupus and its complications. Therefore, a study of 41 lupus cases and 83 controls was conducted to investigate the relationship between carotid atherosclerosis and inflammation in African-American women. Participation consisted of a questionnaire, physical examination, fasting blood draw, and ultrasound of the carotid arteries. There were observed differences between cases and controls with regard to carotid intima media thickness (IMT) and traditional cardiovascular risk factors, although few reached statistical significance. Tumor …

Race/Ethnicity As A Risk Factor Of Mother To Child Transmission Among Hiv Infected Mothers, Wei Yang, Fares Qeadan, Mona L. Brown, Michelle Chino, Scott Hall, Mary Guinan

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objectives: African American women, living with HIV, exhibit a higher percentage of giving birth as compared to other race/ethnicity groups. The aim of this study is to understand the apparent black and non-black differences (health disparities) among the HIV Infected Mothers group and examine whether race/ethnicity can explain the high variation in different prenatal and HIV mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) risk factors.

Methods: Data-Linkage was conducted on all women HIV+ cases, who delivered a child during the time period and reported to the Nevada state HIV with the live birth registries. Demographic and social data, separated into black and Non-black groups, were …

Barriers, Control And Identity In Health Information Seeking Among African American Women, Jennifer R. Warren, Lynette Kvasny, Michael L. Hecht, Diana Burgess, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, Kolawole S. Okuyemi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Qualitative research methods were used to examine the role of racial, cultural, and socio-economic group (i.e., communal) identities on perceptions of barriers and control related to traditional and internet resources for seeking health information. Eighteen lower income, African American women participated in training workshops on using the internet for health, followed by two focus groups. Transcripts were analyzed using standardized coding methods. Results demonstrated that participants perceived the internet as a tool for seeking health information, which they believed would empower them within formal healthcare settings. Participants invoked racial, cultural, and socio-economic identities when discussing barriers to seeking health information …

Black Women, Sex-Roles And Psychological Well Being..., M. Jean Peacock

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.