This study was designed to examine the attitudes of undergraduate students toward interracial dating. The study examined the influence of race, gender, and previous interracial dating experience on interracial dating attitudes. The independent variable of racial identity salience was also examined. A final sample consisted of 389 students, recruited from first year political science classes at the University of North Texas. An 11- item self administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results indicated that race and previous interracial dating experience was associated with college students' attitudes. A weak association was also found between greater racial identity salience and less positive interracial dating attitudes. Future research should further examine racial identity salience and its role in partner selection.

Using a transactional framework, this study explored social relationships in the classroom as mediators of the association between ethnic-racial identity and academic outcomes. Participants were 101 5th graders of diverse backgrounds who completed computer-based questionnaires about their friendships, ethnic-racial identity, and academic engagement. Teachers reported on closeness and conflict in the student-teacher relationship. Relationships in the expected direction were evident between the public regard and centrality dimensions of ethnic-racial identity and social relationships as well as with academic outcomes. Further, path analyses revealed that the relationship between the public regard and cognitive engagement was mediated by student-teacher closeness. Gender differences were evident for pathways to grades; such that for boys’ public regard was indirectly related to their language arts grades through cognitive engagement. The current study highlighted the varied effects of ethnic-racial identity and classroom relationships’ on academic outcomes particularly for boys.

STUDENT NUMBER: 0301561E MASTERS OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF HUMANITIES-DISCIPLINE OF SPECIALISED EDUCATION / The purpose of this study was to examine whether: actual and ideal body mass index (BMI) scores, perception of a weight problem, racial identity, physical exercise, weight control behaviour and stage of pubertal development predict levels of global self-esteem in average academic achieving English speaking middle-class adolescent females. The sample consisted of 90 females, ranging in age from 13 years 3 months to 18 years 7 months who were attending Benoni High School. BMI was measured and desired BMI based on self-reported weight and height. Self-perception of having a weight problem was evaluated by one question: “Do you see yourself as having a weight problem?” Self-esteem was measured in two ways: firstly participants completed the Rosenburg Self-esteem Scale and secondly homeroom teachers were asked to give a score of global self-esteem. A significant association was found between global self-esteem and: a perceived weight problem, actual BMI and race. No significant association was found between global self-esteem and: weight control behaviour; physical exercise, age of menarcheal onset and ideal BMI. KEY WORDS Global self-esteem, adolescent females, BMI, racial identity, weight control behaviour, physical exercise and pubertal development

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Training racial/ethnic minorities, or people of Color (POC), to provide culturally competent mental health care has gained increasing significance in counselor education and applied psychology programs in the past 30 years. From a developmental perspective, race may be the most salient psychosocial lens through which POC trainees perceive and experience professional training; multicultural supervision might be the primary mode for developing their cultural competence. However, supervision may not sufficiently attend to POC trainees' race-related characteristics. To better understand the possible influence of POC trainees' racial psychosocial development and experiences of multicultural supervision on their competence in counseling clients of Color, the present study examined relationships among POC trainees' racial identity attitudes, perceptions of multicultural supervision, and self-reported multicultural counseling competencies. POC trainees (N = 203) from clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs, who had completed at least one semester of therapy supervision, completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Helms, 2011), the Multicultural Supervision Competencies Questionnaire (Wong & Wong, 1999), and the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (Sodowsky et al., 1994). Canonical correlation and regression analyses were used to investigate relationships among the variables. The canonical correlation analyses revealed three statistically significant patterns: (a) "Competent Internalization," wherein trainees reported positive relationships between self-actualizing racial identity attitudes (i.e., Internalization) and multicultural counseling competencies; (b) "Racially Ambivalent Relationships" characterized trainees endorsing low levels of Dissonant and Immersion/Resistance racial identity and increased competence in managing racial/cultural dynamics in counseling relationships; and (c) "Supervision Incompetence," characterized by POC trainees rating supervisors' cultural competence and their own multicultural knowledge, awareness, and skills competencies as low. Two multiple regression analyses indicated that only Internalization racial identity attitudes uniquely contributed to predicting trainees' perceptions of supervisors' cultural competence. Results were discussed with respect to how supervisors might utilize Helms's (1995) racial identity theory in multicultural supervision to assess and promote racial identity development and enhanced multicultural counseling competencies. Methodological limitations of the study and implications for research and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Previous theory and research on Asian American/Pacific Islanders' (AAPI) racism experiences indicate that anti-AAPI racism is stressful and related to increased physical and psychological symptoms when the two types of symptoms have been investigated as separate constructs. However, cultural models of AAPIs' health postulate that AAPIs experience distress as interrelated physical and psychological symptoms, but no studies have explored whether racism experiences are similarly related to increases in both physical and psychological symptoms. Also, few studies of AAPI health and racism have included racial identity schemas as psychological constructs that potentially interact with experiences of self-reported anti-Asian racism and health symptoms. To better understand how racism experiences, racial identity, and physical and psychological health are related, the present study examined relationships among frequent and distressing anti-AAPI institutional, cultural, and individual racism experiences, racial identity attitudes, and physical and psychological symptoms. U.S.-born AAPIs of Chinese or Korean heritage (N =203) completed a demographic questionnaire, the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Helms, 2011), the Asian American Race-Related Stress Index (Liang, Li, and Kim, 2004), the Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness (Pennebaker, 1992), and the Kessler-10 (Kessler et al., 2002). Canonical correlation analyses were used to investigate relationships among the variables. Several patterns were identified. Three patterns were significantly, but not strongly related to being of male gender. They were: (a) frequent and distressing experiences of institutional, cultural, and individual racism experiences were related to increased physical and psychological symptoms; (b) institutional racism experiences were associated with increased levels of Dissonance (racial confusion) and Immersion (own-group idealization); and, (c) high levels of Dissonance and low levels of Internalization were related to more psychological and fewer physical symptoms and being of male gender. One pattern was significantly, but not strongly related to being of female gender, wherein high levels of both Dissonance and Immersion were related to increased levels of physical and psychological symptoms. Finally, one pattern was related to being of Chinese ethnicity, wherein cultural racism experiences were associated with high Conformity (White cultural orientation) and Dissonance. Results were discussed with respect to how researchers can assess racism and racial identity-related distress more accurately by using holistic health measures. Methodological limitations of the study and implications for research and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: David L. Blustein / Deficit-oriented research has ignored the strengths of urban adolescents of color, perpetuating interpretations that they are deviant and pathological (Spencer et al., 2006). Generally unacknowledged by problem-focused perspectives is how youths of color grapple with vulnerability to negative socialization messages, prejudice and discrimination, thus they possess competencies that warrant attention (Blustein et al., 2010; Franklin, 2004; Nicolas et al., 2008; Spencer et al., 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine psychosocial influences that promote career adaptability in a sample of 84 urban adolescents of color. Exploratory questions about the contributions of critical consciousness and racial identity to career outcome expectations and subjective well-being were investigated. The results of the regression analyses offer support for considering selected racial identity schemas (Helms, 1995b) as integral parts of counseling interventions to promote career adaptability. Internalization was significantly associated with both outcome variables. Additionally, decreased levels of Dissonance and Immersion-Resistance were found to be related to higher levels of satisfaction with school and work. Implications for programming and policy include recognizing and strengthening abilities of high school students of color to value their racial identity in the vocational process. These findings enhance the understanding of urban adolescents' psychological armor against social injustice and add to the career development literature by counteracting the negative portrayal of this group. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / African American parents engage in ethnic-racial socialization practices, which may foster their youths’ racial identity and critical consciousness development, each of which may decrease youths’ race-related stress. The few studies that have examined the relationships between African American youths’ perceived parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and their racial identity or critical consciousness have used inconsistent conceptualizations of racial identity. No studies have compared the effectiveness of different kinds of perceived parental socialization practices on critical consciousness development, nor has previous research demonstrated that critical consciousness is related to reduced stress. In the present study, the perceived parental strategies of Cultural Socialization and Preparation for Bias were investigated to determine how they were related to racial identity and critical consciousness development. Also, effects of racial identity and critical consciousness on racial stress were studied. African American youths, ages 18-24 years (N=139), completed a demographic questionnaire, perceived ethnic-racial socialization measures, a racial identity measure, critical consciousness measures and a measure of race-related stress. Multivariate multiple regression analyses revealed that parental Cultural Socialization was related to lower levels of Preencounter (conformity), Post-Encounter (confusion), and higher levels of Internalization (self-actualizing) racial identity statuses, and to critical consciousness dimensions of Critical Reflection and Political Efficacy, but lower levels of Critical Action. Parental Preparation for Bias only predicted Preencounter. Critical Reflection was related to high levels of Cultural Race-Related Stress, was negatively related to Institutional Race-Related Stress, and was not related to Individual Race-Related Stress. Each of the other critical consciousness dimensions was related to higher levels of at least one type of race-related stress, rather than lower levels. Immersion/Emersion was related to high levels of all three types of race-related stress. Implications of the findings are that (a) parental Cultural Socialization strategies may be most useful for promoting racial identity and critical consciousness, (b) parental strategies may encourage all aspects of critical consciousness except political action, and (c) with only a couple of exceptions, racial identity and critical consciousness were related to higher stress. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / The extant theory and research on race-related stress and coping has not adequately examined how internalized racial and gender socialization factors influence levels of stress and coping strategies of elderly African American women. Consequently, little is known about how to address their mental health concerns effectively. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the complex relationships among racial identity attitudes, culture and gender specific coping strategies, and race-related stressors that have been hypothesized to affect psychological distress among elderly African American women. Elderly African American women (N = 125), who were at least 65 years old, completed a demographic questionnaire and measures of Black racial identity (Helms, 2003), race-related stress (Utsey, 1999), Black women's coping strategies (Phields, 2002), and a mental health inventory (Veit & Ware, 1983). Three canonical correlation analyses were used to investigate how the women's appraisal of race-related stress, use of prototypical Black women coping strategies, and psychological distress were interrelated. Results of the analyses revealed four statistically significant patterns: (a) "Self-Reliant Internalization," women described by this pattern endorsed Internalization (transcendent identity) as a primary appraisal strategy, self-reliance as a coping strategy, and less psychological distress; (b) "High SES," women defined by this pattern used education, social class, and self-reliance as buffers against institutional race-related stress and psychological distress; (c) "Self-Reliant, Multiply Distressed," a pattern in which greater individual and cultural race-related stress, were associated with use of self-reliance as a coping strategy and greater psychological distress; and (d) "Internalized Individual Racism as Stressors," a pattern in which endorsement of the Preencounter (pro-White/anti-Black) and Immersion (pro-Black/anti-White) racial identity statuses as appraisal strategies were related to higher levels of individual race-related stress and psychological distress. Results were used to speculate about how the factors investigated might be integrated to form a model for addressing research and practice for elderly African American women. Limitations of this study and implications for research and practice, and future research are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

O propósito deste trabalho é fazer um estudo sobre a construção da identidade dos freqüentadores dos bailes black; o da Chic Show1, que ocorre no salão Clube da Cidade2 e o baile da Zimbabwe, realizado no salão Espaço Atual3. O que se pretende verificar a partir desses dois grupos é se as pessoas se definem apenas como negro ou branco, como defende o Movimento Negro Unificado (MNU), ou se existe a conformação de uma identidade mais ampla que a bi-racial4. Na verdade, o esforço está concentrado em discutir a \"identidade racial\" em um local determinado de estudo, tendo em vista que a raça é um construto social, acionado em momentos diferentes. / The purpose of this work is to do a study on the identity construction of patrons of black balls, the Chic of show, which occurs in the lounge and dance club in Cidade of Zimbabwe, held in the lounge area Atual. What we want to verify from these two groups is whether people define themselves only as black or white, as advocated by the Unified Black Movement (MNU), or if there is a conformation of a broader identity that the bi-racial. Indeed, the effort is focused on discussing the \"racial identity\" in a specific place of study, with a view that race is a social construct, activated at different times.

This research is a qualitative, heuristic study involving in-depth interviews with eight white, professional heterosexual women in interracial relationships. The women were found through an opportunistic or snowball approach. The participant women were in the age range 25-60. Six were married and two were in long term relationships. All women had children, seven having mixed-race children between 18 months and 23 years of age. Four women had partners of African-Caribbean heritage, three had partners of African heritage and one had a partner of Nepalese heritage. The women shared their reflections on having to confront the realities of racism, coming to terms with their own ambiguous racial position, facing the notion of whiteness and considering their social position as white women. The research was conducted using a heuristic methodology to explore white women's experiences, using creative images and personal reflective and reflexive narratives integrated throughout the text. The research offers insight into how the social experiences of being in an interracial relationship impacts on white women; as individuals, partners and in their role of mother. Implications for themselves as mothers and parenting their children in a racist context are explored and discussed. The findings suggest the women can feel caught between the known (whiteness) and the unknown (blackness). Having crossed a 'socially unaccepted racialised boundary' and challenging explicit dominant social, gendered and racialised beliefs, the women stepped into the unknown involving experiences of changes in status, challenges to assumptions of their maternal competence and living in a world which involved a continuous process of deconstruction and reconstruction of a new, unforeseen racialised identity. The white women moved from being an 'insider' within their own dominant social experiences, to becoming an 'outsider' within another cultural context, sometimes experiencing uncertainty about where they belonged. The white women experienced a shift of reference group orientation, with a new experience of continuous external scrutiny unfolding. These newly encountered social and personal events challenged the white women to review how they previously saw themselves, with this all impacting on their previously taken for granted social status. These experiences impacted at emotional and cognitive levels. As a consequence, the white women often found themselves occupying a liminal or unknown space where a process occurs of attempting to come to terms with the new experiences, new learning and adopting alternative strategies to deal with these different experiences. Implications for counsellors working with white women in interracial relationships are considered and suggestions for therapeutic engagement are made.