Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Educational research has examined factors contributing to teachers' burnout symptoms, including their perceptions of student behaviors (Ingersoll, 2003). Interestingly, teacher and students' races have been differentially related to teachers' perceptions of student behavior (Downey and Pribesh, 2004); this disparity in perceptions has been associated with teachers making more negative recommendations for African American students than for White students (Tenenbaum and Ruck, 2007). However, racial categories are not psychological constructs and offer little room for designing interventions to restructure teachers' perceptions of student behavior as a strategy to prevent teacher burnout. Since most teachers are White, using Helms's (1995) White racial identity model could offer a conceptual framework for examining different perspectives by which teachers understand their students' racial dynamics, which in turn, might affect how teachers feel, think, and act. Thus, if teachers' racial identity relates to their burnout symptoms, perceptions of student behavior, and recommendations, educational researchers could investigate more effective means of preventing teacher burnout symptoms and affect teachers' reactions to racially diverse students. White teachers (N = 237) completed an on-line survey containing an abbreviated White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (Helms, 2011), behavior subscales of the Conners' Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale - Teacher Form (Conners, 2008), Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators' Survey (Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter, 1996), two teacher recommendations measures, and a demographic questionnaire. Results from Multivariate Analyses of Covariance suggested that teachers did not react differently to students' ethnic names or pictures with respect to their perceptions of students' behavior or teachers' likelihood of using specific recommendations. However, canonical correlations suggested that teachers' levels of burnout symptoms were related to their perceptions of students' Defiant Aggressive and Conduct Disorder symptoms. Moreover, teachers' biased and confused racial identity perspectives were strongly positively related to teachers' (a) burnout symptoms; (b) perceptions of angry, argumentative, and defiant behaviors; and (c) likelihood of using negative behavior management strategies with their students. Discussion included recommendations for educational training programs, methodological limitations, and implications of the results. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

abstract: Over 35% of multiracial college students fail to earn a degree, which can have significant economic and health costs over their lifespan. This study aimed to better understand college and psychological adjustment among multiracial college students of Hispanic/Latinx and White non-Hispanic descent by examining students’ racial identities and use of resilience resources. Latent profiles of identity were identified to better understand how different aspects of racial identity are clustered in this population. Multiracial college students (N=221) reported on racial identity as measured on multiple dimensions: Hispanic/Latinx identity, Hispanic/Latinx cultural orientation, White identity, identity integration, shifting expressions of identity, and identity malleability. Students also reported on their use of multiple resilience resources (personal mastery, social competence, perspective taking, coping flexibility, familism support values) and both college and psychological adjustment. Through regression and SEM analyses, results indicated that, of the resilience resources, only personal mastery was positively related to both college and psychological adjustment, while social competence was positively related to college adjustment. More shifting expressions of identity was related to poorer college and psychological adjustment, which was partially mediated via personal mastery. Stronger Hispanic/Latinx identity was related to higher perspective taking and coping flexibility, while stronger White identity was related to higher familism support values. Latent profiles of identity indicated a four-class solution, consisting of 1) “low identity”, 2) “integrated, low shifting”, 3) “integrated, shifting”, and 4) “high shifting, low integration”. Findings highlight the need for person-centered and ecological approaches to understanding identity development and resilience among multiracial college students, and can inform prevention and intervention efforts for multiracial college students of Hispanic/Latinx and White non-Hispanic descent. Results also demonstrate the importance of assessing multiracial identity via multiple dimensions including factors such as identity integration, shifting expressions of identity, and identity malleability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2020

The study of perfectionism has grown over the past few years with most of the interest focused on the relationship between perfectionism and psychological functioning. Although the literature on perfectionism has continued to increase, the study of the impact of cultural differences on perfectionism and psychological functioning has been understudied. This study examines the relationships between racial identity, perfectionism and satisfaction of life along with other factors that may mediate this relationship such as coping style and stress. A multicultural model of the stress process posited by Slavin, Rainer, et al. (1991) provides a basis for examining the importance of cultural influences on perfectionism. 122 African American women were recruited via university organization listservs and email lists and through direct contact with university professors to complete surveys on perfectionism, life satisfaction, stress and coping. Analysis of data indicated that individuals in the pre-encounter status of racial identity reported lower satisfaction with life. This finding is consistent with prior studies. Findings also included a significant positive relationship (p<.05) between internalization status of racial identity and socially prescribed perfectionism. Additionally emotion oriented coping was found to fully mediate the relationship between socially oriented perfectionism and satisfaction with life (Z=-1.9722, p<.05). These findings highlight the relevance of cultural factors when considering assessment and intervention strategies for African American women. Additionally the significant contribution of coping style to life satisfaction gives guidance in how to intervene with clients in a clinical setting. The findings suggest that reducing the reliance on emotion oriented coping strategies may be important in improving life satisfaction in African American women.

This thesis is in response to scholarly works on Japanese society and the ideal of the monoethnic race in relation to minorities and immigrants living in contemporary Japan. Race is as much a biological concept as it is a social one, and much of our modern understanding of race was borne out of the scientific and philosophic thought of nineteenth-century Europe and North American. Therefore, I posit that the adoption of western science by Japan effectively translated the Japanese body into a biological construct and blurred the line between science and culture, developing into a racially-based national identity by the time of the Pacific War. The construction of the Japanese body in this manner occurred in three successive translations: (1)the body as an object to be improved upon in order to compete with the West; (2) the body as a racialized object, distinct from all others and (3)the body as an object to be safeguarded from degradation. The discourse among social actors, including scholars, the government, religious leaders, and others, followed along western models of biological determinism and ultimately led to Japan's own indigenous form of eugenics. The catalyst for this process was the "scientizing" of the body. Just as Douglas has theorized that what is acted upon the body reflects larger societal issues, when western science was placed into the framework of the Japanese body it can be discerned that the translation from a traditional form to a scientific one, resulting in a "scientized" body. However, the translation was not wholesale and indigenous concepts of the body, like the family state, merged with biodeterminist conceptions to create a mono-ethnic race in line with Neo-Shintoist ideology. Implications for postwar Japan fall outside the confines of this thesis, but threads from the prewar period do carry over into the present.

The proposed study will investigate the dimensions of the relationship between three conceptualizations of African-centered worldview (ACWV) and racial identity (RI) attitudes in a sample of African American college students. A canonical correlation analysis will be conducted to explain the relationship between the ACWV variable set and the RI attitudes variable set. It is hypothesized there will be several significant correlations and multiple linear correlations (i.e., dimensions) between the variable sets. Specifically, it is hypothesized that endorsement of each conceptualization of ACWV will be negatively related to Pre-encounter RI attitudes. It is also hypothesized that each conceptualization of ACWV will differentially predict identity salient RI attitudes. Implications and limitations of this study will be discussed. / text

This study tested the construct validity of the People of Color Racal Identity Attitudes Scale (PCRIAS) for Asian Americans using a mixed methods inquiry. The study produced mixed results with regard to the construct validity of the PCRIAS; Conformity and Immersion-Emersion statuses were somewhat corroborated by the qualitative data and provide tentative construct validity for these statuses of Helms’s model. Though statistically insignificant, results for the Internalization status,purportedly the most mature and developed of all racial identity statuses, were opposite to what racial identity theory would predict. Although some dimensions of the PCRIAS may be meaningful for Asian Americans, findings cast doubt upon the overall applicability of PCRIAS scale for Asian Americans. Results draw attention to the importance of race-specific experiences for Asian Americans and highlight the within-group heterogeneity of Asian Americans’ racial experiences. Qualitative analysis yielded critical theoretical points that illuminate how the historical, political, and economic context of Asian Americans has led to a multitude of options for the management of racial stimuli. Emergent themes revealed that Asian Americans have discursive options—factors such as the model minority myth and recourse to ethnic identity—that may offer possible detours around the recognition of racism or the incorporation of race into their sense of identity. These detours, however, may not necessarily be experienced as maladaptive or ego-dystonic. Nonetheless, one of the most prevalent emergent themes involved an endorsement of subjective distress caused by some racial experience, highlighting the clinical significance of Asian Americans’ racial identity and their management of racial stimuli. Emergent themes also revealed that the salience of race is externally imposed upon Asian Americans through the experiences of being (mis)recognized as a racial other. Limitations of the current study are discussed and suggestions for future research are explored. / text

This dissertation is a qualitative study of racially ambiguous people and their life experiences. Racially ambiguous people are individuals who are frequently misidentified racially by others because they do not resemble the phenotype associated with the racial group to which they belong or because they belong to racial/ethnic groups originating in different parts of the world that resemble each other. the racial/ethnic population of the United States is constantly changing because of variations in the birth rates among the racial/ethnic groups that comprise those populations and immigration from around the world. Although much research has been done that documents the existence of racial/ethnic mixing in the history of the United States and the world, this multiracial history is seldom acknowledged in the social, work, and other spheres of interaction among people in the U.S., instead a racialized system based on the perception of individuals as mono-racial thus easily identified through (skin tone, hair texture, facial features, etc.). This is research was done using life experience interviews with 24 racially ambiguous individuals to determine how race/ethnicity has affected their lives and how they negotiate the minefield of race.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Racism is a pervasive and destructive force in society and has no place in schools. White teachers, like all teachers, are responsible for creating a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students. This means being aware and actively working to combat their own biases and stereotypes, providing equal opportunities and support to all students. This instrumental, qualitative study captured the narratives of five White-identifying critically conscious teachers to understand how their critical consciousness is expressed and the opportunities and challenges they experience because of their anti-racism work. The central research question of this study was: How do critically conscious White teachers in a Southern Indiana school district experiencing demographic shifts engage in anti-racism work? Janet Helms’s White Racial Identity Development (WRID) theory was used to explain the teachers’ work towards anti-racism in schools. The findings from this study indicated that White identifying critically conscious teachers White teachers: a) leverage their privilege to promote anti-racism, b) use culturally relevant practices, c) engage in co-conspirator work, d) actively collaborate with BIPOC students and teachers, e) are instrumental in supporting anti-racism efforts, f) are content with making a positive impact on students and society, g) perceive and experience negative professional consequences as a result of their anti-racism work. This study has important implications for teachers, school administrators, and education system stakeholders.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Candyce S. Russell / There has been a rapid growth of heterosexual Black and White interracial couples in the United States in recent decades and numbers continue to increase. In addition, the concept of racial identity within Southern heterosexual Black and White interracial couples has not been explored. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how racial identity affects the dynamics of Black and White interracial relationships within the context of their extended family and community and the effect of interracial relationships on racial identity development. The focus of the study was to explore how partners in heterosexual Black and White interracial couples living in the South constructed and/or defined their individual racial identity, how the couple addressed cultural difference within the relationship, and how the couple handled opposition toward their relationship. Three theoretical/philosophical frameworks were used in this study. Phenomenology and social constructionism were utilized to provide a framework for the methodology of the study; Black racial identity theory (Cross, 1971, 1991) and White racial identity theory (Helms, 1990) were utilized to provide a framework for thinking about racial identity development. The sample consisted of four couples, each with children. Each couple was interviewed conjointly in a neutral setting and then allowed the researcher to accompany them on an outing in a public setting. This experience allowed the researcher to observe how the couple was received in public and how the couple managed public response. Interviews provided rich descriptions of how the research participants experienced themselves as individuals and as a couple in their marriage with respect to racial identity. Through case study analysis, six main themes and 22 sub-themes were identified. The main themes included: marital dynamics, racial identity, influences, reactions, advice, and counseling. Cross-case analysis revealed a small number of subthemes shared across cases. Differences between cases were considerable and were presented via the identification of new subthemes and unique cases. Three new subthemes were identified: normal couple, gaining acceptance, and religious affiliation. Recommendations are offered for future research and, tentatively, for marriage and family therapists who may work with couples similar to those in this study. Most notably, couples in this study saw themselves as “normal couples” brought together by love, and did not necessarily think of themselves as “interracial.” They did, however, talk as a couple about how to racially identify their children and how to help them respond to questions about their racial heritage.

For my thesis I discussed the struggles of growing up with a bounded racial identity through the medium of animation. Portraying through the personal stories I have endured, I explain to my viewers how often I struggled with my internal and external identities that either ignored or confronted the ignorance and racial mistreatment I faced growing up. The hope for my animation is to have viewers acknowledge the issue of the bounded racial identity and hopefully begin a dialogue that ignites change.