According to science teacher educators, science teachers often struggle to embrace and implement multicultural teaching practices due to limited awareness of the biases, assumptions, and oppressive structures that hinder the success of Students of Color in science classrooms. At its core, teachers lack this awareness due to incomplete understanding of the ways identity markers, such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status, work together to shape one’s coming into, understanding of, and success in the sciences. To this end, this case study features four science teachers of diverse backgrounds who engaged in a book club structured to support their understanding of their intersectionality and their identity development. These four science teachers met as a science department to engage with the text Black Feminist Thought (BFT) (Collins, 2009) and other critical texts over a six-month period at a New York City, charter high school. The findings revealed the ways racial stereotypes, propagated by many factors ― including images of scientists, relationships with teachers, and expectations of peers and family ― influenced their coming into and understanding of science. Additionally, the findings show the ways teachers discovered their intersectionality —particularly the interplay of their race and gender— influenced their approaches to teaching science. As teachers learned about the multidimensionality of their positional identities, they became aware of discriminatory structures of power that disadvantage their Black female science students and reported implementing more student-centered pedagogical practices. Altogether, this study offers a professional development model for building critical consciousness with inservice secondary science teachers.

This study addresses existing gaps in the literature concerning the undergraduate experiences of Latino men students as examined through an intersectional and masculinities-based lens. Due to a dearth in literature centering the exclusive study of Latino men in higher education, researchers are challenged to offer a comprehensive understanding of their postsecondary experiences and outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how currently enrolled Latino men undergraduate students make meaning of their undergraduate experiences. Relying on the lived experiences of Latino undergraduate men, this study collected data through three sets of interviews (Seidman, 2013). The examination of data was considered through the Multilevel Model of Intersectionality (Núñez, 2014a), which allowed for the participants’ lived experiences to be examined at multiple levels of intersectionality and centered in social oppression and privilege. The findings center the role of the Latino family, navigating and overcoming pan-ethnic discrimination, and evolved understandings of masculinity. Recommendations include the incorporation of the Latino family into the postsecondary experiences of Latino men, discontinuing the study of Latino masculinities as a homogenous concept, and equity based institutional policies that center the intersectional needs of Latino men undergraduate students related to academic and personal success. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Latinas/os are one of the fastest growing and most heterogeneous minority ethnic groups in the US. One in 5 women in the US are Latina; by 2060, it is projected that Latinas will compose 1/3 of the female population. Latinas continue to experience disparities in sexual and reproductive health outcomes compared to non-Hispanic whites. While factors impacting undesirable consequences of sexual activity for Latinas have been well documented, Latinas' experiences with sexual satisfaction in the broader context of sexual health remains understudied, despite sexual satisfaction having been identified as an integral component of sexual health. A focus on positive sexual health outcomes for Latinas has the potential to challenge known stereotypes about Latina sexuality; specifically, those related to cultural constructs such as acculturation, machi­smo and Mariani­smo. Conversations about the positive aspects of sexuality and sexual wellbeing are largely absent from current social work literature, education and practice. Often times, cultural stereotypes about acculturation, machismo and mariani­smo are perpetuated through risk-based approaches to understanding Latina sexuality. This study seeks to provide insight into factors correlated with sexual satisfaction for Latinas and to increase understanding of differences and similarities amongst Latina subgroups with respect to sexual satisfaction. This study is informed by Intersectionality and Latina Critical Race Theory; these theoretical approaches inform the research methodology and interpretation of findings by centering Latina identities and challenging stereotypes about Latina sexuality through a focus on positive aspects of sexual well-being. This is a cross-sectional, secondary analysis of Wave IV data from the 2008 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) study. Wave IV includes a sample of 287 adult Latina women, who identified as either Mexican (56.9%), Chicana (6.7%), Cuban (4.2%), Puerto Rican (13.8%), and/or Central American (11.7%) or "other" (12.9%), with some identifying as multi-racial. The mean age of participants is 28 years. ANOVA analysis identified no significant group differences amongst Latina subgroups with respect to sexual satisfaction. Bivariate correlations indicated statistically significant associations between sexual satisfaction and relationship satisfaction. After controlling for income, education and religion, multiple regression analyses showed that relationship satisfaction, number of vaginal sex partners, and frequency of sexual relations were significantly correlated with sexual satisfaction. The more frequent engagement in sexual activity, and the more sexual partners one has is correlated with higher levels of sexual satisfaction. This study contributes to our knowledge of Latina sexual health, especially our understanding of factors that impact sexual satisfaction. For Latina women, health promotion programs should be designed to enhance interpersonal relationships that are based on mutual respect and care, utilizing culturally relevant approaches. Findings of this study challenge stereotypical cultural constructs related to acculturation, machi­smo and mariani­smo. This study shows that quality relationships built on trust, communication and love are strongly correlated with sexual satisfaction, which in turn should impact overall health. These findings support the recognition of positive aspects of sexuality as a critical site of intersectionality as Latinas of all ethnic groups in this sample report high levels of sexual satisfaction, as well as relationship satisfaction and support health promotion and intervention intended to support the cultivation and maintenance of meaningful relationships for Latinas.

This dissertation aims to fill important gaps in the weight discrimination literature by applying a non-pathologizing, intersectional approach and by focusing on previously understudied groups (i.e., sexual and gender minority (SGM) people, racial and ethnic minoritized people, and early adolescents). Chapter 1 is an introduction to weight discrimination, including its origins in anti-fatness, its intersections with other systems of oppression, and the necessity to de-pathologize fatness to confront anti-fat oppression. Chapter 2 describes a scoping review of weight stigma/discrimination and its relationship with mental and emotional health among SGM people across the lifespan. Across 23 included studies, findings include consistent relationships between weight stigma and worse mental and emotional health and a scarcity of research focused on gender minority people, racial and ethnic minoritized people, early adolescents, and important outcomes such as self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs). Aiming to address these gaps, Chapters 3 and 4 both describe cross-sectional analyses of data from a large national sample of 10- to 14-year-old adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Chapter 3 reports analyses of prevalence of weight discrimination among early adolescents with minoritized sexual, gender, racial, and ethnic identities and those who are gender nonconforming, as well as those at the intersections of these identities. Minoritized adolescents, including intersectionally minoritized adolescents, were significantly more likely to report weight discrimination compared to their peers. Chapter 4 reports analyses of weight discrimination in association with SITBs, and includes testing of sexual identity, gender identity, gender nonconformity, race/ethnicity, sex assigned at birth, and social support as potential moderators. It also includes analysis of intersectional discrimination (based on weight plus sexual identity and/or race/ethnicity) in association with SITBs. Findings indicate that weight discrimination is associated with higher odds of SITBs; none of the proposed moderators had a significant effect. Intersectional discrimination was associated with heightened odds of SITBs. Finally, Chapter 5 presents a synthesis of results and discusses overall strengths, limitations, and implications. This includes implications for future research to fill identified gaps, policy changes to confront anti-fatness and protect adolescents from weight discrimination, and clinical interventions to make healthcare safe and affirming for fat and intersectionally minoritized adolescents.

Due to high profile police shootings, collective action movements addressing racial bias in policing, such as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, have come to the forefront of societal concern. Though these movements and actions directly address police use of force against Black people, a number of non-Black racial minority individuals and organizations have declared solidarity and joined in protests with BLM. This study takes an intersectional approach to examine racial intraminority attitudes (i.e., racial minorities' attitudes toward other racial minority outgroups) toward support for and participation in protests against police excessive use of force and the BLM movement, through its relationship with modern racist beliefs and racial centrality. Participants completed a survey assessing perspectives on policing, racial protests, and BLM, along with racial identity measures. Results show significant differences in both support for and participation in protests and BLM, with women and Black people reporting higher in both outcomes than men and other racial groups, respectively. Within some racial groups, women show higher overall support for (Latinx, White) and participation in (Black, White) protests and BLM than men in the same racial group, though these differences were not found for other groups. Within each intersecting race and gender group, these effects were mediated by levels of modern racism, highlighting a common factor between all groups and an important point of possible malleability and intervention. Further, the relationship between race and gender identities and modern racism was moderated by racial centrality for some groups (Black and Latina women), though this relationship was again not universally found. By examining within group differences, this study highlights the importance of taking an intersectional approach to understand intraminority attitudes and relations as they pertain to participation in collective action movements towards social change. This study has implications for the generalizability of a number of social psychological theories on minority-minority intergroup race relations (i.e., Black-Latinx), as much of the past literature focuses on majority-minority intergroup relations (i.e., Black-White). Additionally, results from this study may provide useful information for community organizers and social justice activists in promoting intergroup collaboration and coalition building towards more equitable social change that is both more tailored for specific groups and more generalizable across groups.

<p>This dissertation, broadly, examines how power dynamics manifest during clinical interactions related to vague and gendered medical symptoms, such as pelvic pain. To examine this issue, I approach my research questions through multiple methods including a critical discourse analysis of the medical discourse on pelvic pain, a survey experiment administered to healthcare workers in the US, and a narrative analysis of pelvic pain patient experiences. While the focus of this research is on pelvic pain, the analyses presented here reach far beyond ideas of power dynamics and pelvic pain. Rather, the findings from this research speak to theoretical discussions medical sociologists have been having for decades. Specifically, findings provide new insight on: 1) the limits of evidence-based medicine as a biomedical paradigm, 2) how fundamental causes of health inequality intersect with each other as well as other factors, such as gender, important in predicting health outcomes and 3) how discussions of metamechanisms in fundamental cause theory can inform our understanding of the accumulation of cultural health capital. In providing such insight, this dissertation uses the case of pelvic pain to integrate multiple perspectives and theories in medical sociology to drive the field forward in a way that acknowledges the many ways power is simultaneously constituted in the clinical interaction. From the role of gender, race, and class in power relations, to the ways medical knowledge, discourse, and authority dictate the clinical interaction, this research covers a wide range of sociological theories and concepts. In doing so, this dissertation sheds new light on current understandings of power in the clinical interaction and its relationship to inequitable health outcomes in the US.</p>