The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-Third Edition (MCMI-III) currently ranks among the most commonly utilized personality tools. A review of the literature revealed that ethnic minorities tend to score higher on certain scales of the MMPI and MCMI compared to their White counterparts. The literature also indicated that acculturation level can serve as a moderator variable on overall performance on these measures. Most of the studies that examined racial/ethnic differences on the MCMI were conducted using the MCMI-I and MCMI-II. While many MCMI studies have explored racial differences, few studies have examined the impact of cultural factors on MCMI-III performance. To date, there is no empirical data on the impact of culture on the MCMI-III scores of Blacks from different cultural backgrounds. Given the significant increase in the number of Black immigrants to the United States especially from the Caribbean and Africa, Black Americans are becoming an even more diverse group, representing different cultures and nationalities. In the current study, the performance of African Americans (n = 52) and Caribbean Blacks (n = 77) were compared on the Antisocial, Narcissistic, Paranoid, and Delusional Disorder scales of the MCMI-III. Attempts were also made to compare Blacks in the current sample to the MCMI-III's development sample. Additionally, the impact of cultural variables was examined using the African American Acculturation Scaled-Revised (AAAS-R). Multivariate Analysis of Variance procedure revealed no significant difference in performance between the two groups on the select scales of the MCMI-III (p =.883). Additional analyses revealed significant difference between the two groups on the Compulsive scale: Caribbean Blacks obtained a higher mean (Cohen's d =.-50. F= 6.663, p = .011). Analyses comparing the Blacks in the current sample to the MCMI-III's development sample indicated the following: a) a significant difference between the two groups on the Antisocial, Narcissistic, and Delusional Disorder Scales and b) no significant difference between the two groups on the Paranoid scale (p = .559). Supplemental analysis revealed moderate association between the Paranoid and Delusional Disorder Scales of the MCMI-III and certain scales of the AAAS-R, implying both a degree of item overlap and similar item content.

Over the past few decades, the Civil Rights Movement has undergone a profound re-examination that has helped to reconceptualize its origins, development, regional boundaries, leadership, protest strategies, and effects. The study of the black freedom struggle in Miami will contribute to this intellectual movement by exploring how immigration, ethnic difference, tourism, and the construction of race shaped the fight for the liberation of African Americans during the early twentieth century and fashioned its distinctive character following World War II. While an ever-increasing body of scholarship on civil rights activism in Florida has helped to debunk popular notions of Florida as an ostensibly atypical southern state, exposing its deeply racist character, the struggle for racial justice in South Florida still requires more attention. Although recent studies have enhanced our understanding of the virulent racism confronted by African Americans in a state that has traditionally enjoyed a reputation as being more moderate with regard to race than the rest of the South, only very few studies have focused on the less publicized, yet significant, battles that occurred in heterogeneous cities like Miami, which never comfortably fit within the paradigm of the Deep South experience as it is broadly understood. The city provides an important case study that sheds new light on unresolved questions regarding the "southernness" of Florida by looking at the impact of the convergence of cultural practices from the American South, the Caribbean, and Latin America on the nature and development of race relations during the first half of the twentieth century. While the development of the struggle for freedom illuminates many of Florida's Deep South traits, my research will also demonstrate that the city of Miami offers a counterpoint to the rest of the state because post-WWII meteoric tourist growth and rapid demographic change fostered a peculiar racial climate that was neither southern nor northern before Cuban migration gathered momentum. White civic elites were determined to secure the city's paradise image and burgeoning reputation as the "Gateway to the Americas," which ultimately mitigated the modern Civil Rights Movement.

America has continued to be increasingly diverse in culture and ethnicities. As such, these diverse populations require those in health and mental health fields to adjust to the cultural differences that arise. Central to these conversations is the impact of the acculturation process on immigrant populations. Researchers posit the stress of immigration and the acculturation process leads to increased rates of mental illness (Lang, Munoz, Bernal and Sorenson 1982; Masten, Penland and Nayani 1994; Neff and Hoppe 1993). Assuming that the acculturation process impacts first generation immigrants most, this study investigated U.S. born Blacks with and without Caribbean descent and Caribbean born Blacks residing in the U.S. to determine if nativity status and generational status impacts rates of mental illness. Using the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) dataset which is one of three research projects conducted from 2001 to 2003 by the Program for Research on Black Americans (PBRA), as part of the Research Center for Group Dynamics project, analyses were conducted to determine if relationships existed for these groups. Results indicated that mental illness is dependent on country of origin and U.S. born Blacks do self-report mental illnesses significantly more than Caribbean Blacks. Caribbean Blacks who are first generation in the U.S. are significantly less likely to report mental illness than second generation Caribbean Blacks. Differences in gender, work, number of years living in the U.S., age at immigration and wealth and poverty indicators all show some relationships with mental illnesses. / Ph. D.

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