African American Students in Private, Independent Schools: Parents and School Influences on Racial Identity Development

Although much research has focused on the public school experiences of African American students, few studies exist that explore their race-related experiences within an independent, private school context. Studies have suggested that, while private, independent schools may elevate the quality of African American students’ education, many of these students experience social isolation from their peers. Using a qualitative methodology, the current study explores the experiences of African American students attending a private, independent school. Moreover, this investigation explores how schools as well as parental contexts contribute to racial identity development. Results indicated the importance of parents, schools and other significant institutions as racial socialization agents as well as their influence on specific identity-related processes. Educational implications for findings are also discussed.     

A Longitudinal Examination of Racial Identity and Racial Discrimination Among African American Adolescents

This study tested the longitudinal association between perceptions of racial discrimination and racial identity among a sample of 219 African American adolescents, aged 14 to 18. Structural equation modeling was used to test relations between perceptions of racial discrimination and racial identity dimensions, namely, racial centrality, private regard, and public regard at 3 time points. The results indicated that perceived racial discrimination at Time 1 was negatively linked to public regard at Time 2. Nested analyses using age were conducted, and perceptions of racial discrimination at Time 2 were negatively linked to private regard at Time 3 among older adolescents. The findings imply that perceived racial discrimination is linked to negative views that the broader society has of African Americans.     

About Creativity,Giftedness, and Teaching the Creatively Gifted in the Classroom

In this case study the author explored a teacher's beliefs about creativity and gifted‐ness and investigated the classroom practices of this teacher of gifted students for 20 years. Seven semi‐structured and 2 open observations were carried out in her classroom, and 2 prefigured interviews were conducted with her. She believed that creative children are those who are “free thinkers” and have “imaginative intelligence.” The thin line between an academically gifted child and a creatively gifted child is built by “imagination,” “emotional intensity,” and “curiosity.” In creative writing, she tried to implement activities such as learning to write poetry, personal narratives, research reports and essays posing solutions to real world problems, and mystery stories decorated with similes, metaphors and imaginative expressions. In reading, students analyzed characters, problems, places and times in stories and novels, and then rewrote stories.     

Heritage,Identity and Belonging: African Caribbean Students and Art Education

This article addresses the issue of Caribbean cultural under‐representation in school art departments. It argues that diasporic subjects are not seen and their cultures not recognised precisely because their contributions to the way we live are indivisible from the mainstream. This in contradistinction to some groups whose cultures and heritages are relatively distinct and separate from Western mores. Our ways of understanding culture do not take this into account. Yet diasporic contributions to the way we live have buttressed Western lifestyles since the beginning of the slave trade. The article argues that this relationship, characterised by multiple entanglements, must be recognised if Caribbean cultural identities are to be seen and valued. In doing so it challenges the way we construct notions of cultural heritage and belonging, and promotes the adoption of more risk‐taking pedagogies possibly based on contemporary practices.     

初中数优生、数困生解题动机与应用题成绩的关系分析

采用数学应用题测验和解题动机问卷对筛选出的391名初中生进行测试,结果表明:①初中生数学应用题成绩的性别差异不显著;②数优生、数困生在数学解题动机上存在显著差异(p<0.05);③解题动机对数学应用题成绩具有预测作用(R2=0.076,B=1.127).     

Racial identity,maternal support,and psychological distress among African American adolescents

This study investigated the role of racial identity and maternal support in reducing psychological distress among African American adolescents. Both direct and indirect influences of multiple dimensions of racial identity (i.e., centrality, private regard) and maternal support on perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety were examined among 521 African American twelfth graders. Findings indicated that maternal support was positively related to both centrality and private regard. Results provided little support for a direct association between racial identity or maternal support and depressive symptoms and anxiety within a multivariate context. Rather, the influences of racial identity attitudes and maternal support on these mental health outcomes were mediated by perceived stress. Further, the two racial identity attitudes were associated with perceived stress in different ways. Study findings suggest that the significance and meaning that African American adolescents attribute to being Black may be critical to their psychological well-being, and that maternal support and perceived stress are important considerations.     

Wellness and College Type in African American Male College Students: An Examination of Differences

African American male students (N = 203) attending a historically Black college or university (HBCU) and a predominantly White institution (PWI) participated in a study to determine differences in wellness. HBCU students scored significantly higher than did PWI students on Friendship, Love, Sense of Control, and Gender Identity. PWI students scored significantly higher than did HBCU students on Sense of Worth. Implications and future research directions are suggested.     

Help-Seeking Experiences and Attitudes among African American, Asian American, and European American College Students

The study examined African American, Asian American, and European American college students’ previous direct and indirect experiences of seeking professional psychological services and related attitudes. Survey data were collected from 254 European American, 182 African American and 82 Asian American college students. Results revealed that fewer African American and Asian American college students had sought professional psychological services, knew someone who had sought psychological services, and knew a close person who was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, relative to European American students. Furthermore, African American and Asian American participants showed less favorable attitudes on a variety of help-seeking attitudes, compared to the European American group.     

The Effects of Changes in Racial Identity and Self‐Esteem on Changes in African American Adolescents’ Mental Health

This study assessed the unique effects of racial identity and self‐esteem on 259 African American adolescents’ depressive and anxiety symptoms as they transitioned from the 7th to 8th grades (ages 12–14). Racial identity and self‐esteem were strongly correlated with each other for males but not for females. For both males and females, an increase in racial identity over the 1 year was associated with a decrease in the prevalence of depressive symptoms over the same period, even with self‐esteem controlled. It was concluded that racial identity may be as important as self‐esteem to the mental health of African American adolescents, and it explains variance in their mental health not associated with feelings of oneself as an individual.     

African American College Students,the Black Church,and Counseling

African American undergraduate students face numerous challenges during college; however, they are less likely to seek help from college counseling services. Often, African Americans seek support from spiritual resources. In the current phenomenological study, participants shared in a focus group interview. Overall, participants seemed to value the Black Church as an integral part of their lives and as an influence on their perceptions of counseling and proclivity to seek counseling services.     

Racial and Gender Identity Among Black Adolescent Males: An Intersectionality Perspective

A considerable amount of social identity research has focused on race and racial identity, while gender identity, particularly among Black adolescents, remains underexamined. The current study used survey data from 183 Black adolescent males (13–16 years old) to investigate the development and relation between racial and gender identity centrality and private regard, and how these identities impact adjustment over time. It was found that dimensions of racial and gender identity were strongly correlated. Levels of racial centrality increased over time while gender centrality, and racial and gender private regard declined. In addition, racial and gender identity uniquely contributed to higher levels of psychological well‐being and academic adjustment. These findings are discussed within the context of existing identity theories and intersectionality theory.     

种族特征、种族意识与族性认同:一个批判性的考察

种族特征作为一种生物学事实和群体性的身体标记,在远古的历史时代便导致排外心理和种族-文化交叠的种族中心论。从19世纪至20世纪上半叶,凭借体质人类学、人类遗传学和优生学的应用与滥用,种族主义成为一种系统的理论体系和行为方式。最近半个多世纪以来,经由文化多样性价值的确立和文化相对主义的广泛传播,则衍生了文化种族主义。尽管个体在其生命时间内无法摆脱种族的属性,但我们从种族特征和种族意识的考察中所获得的教益是,从属于＂人类＂的＂我＂的独特性比种族身份更重要、也更真实。     

Identity Production in Figured Worlds: How Some Multiracial Students Become Racial Atravesados/as

Using Holland et al.’s (Identity and agency in cultural worlds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1998) theory of identity and their concept of figured worlds, this article provides an overview of how twenty-five undergraduates of color came to produce a Multiracial identity. Using Critical Race Theory methodology with ethnographic interviewing as the primary method, I specifically focus on the ways in which Multiracial figured worlds operate within a racial borderland (Anzaldúa in Borderlands: La Frontera—The New Mestiza, Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, 1987), an alternate, marginal world where improvisational play (Holland et al. in Identity and agency in cultural worlds, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1998) and facultad became critical elements of survival. Participants exercised their agency by perforating monoracial storylines and developed a complex process of identity production that informed their behaviors by a multifaceted negotiation of positionalities. I end by focusing on implications for urban education that can be drawn from this study.     

African American Counselor Educators' Job Satisfaction and Perceptions of Departmental Racial Climate

Forty‐eight African American counselor educators completed the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire‐Short Form (D. J. Weiss, R. V. Dawis, G. W. England, & L. H. Lofquist, 1967), the Racial Climate Scale (R. J. Watts & R. T. Carter, 1991), and a biodata questionnaire. Results indicated that African American counselor educators' perceptions of departmental racial climate predicted their level of job satisfaction. However, African American counselor educators' job satisfaction was not related to their academic rank and tenure status. Implications for counselor education and future research are discussed.     

A Moderated Mediation Model: Racial Discrimination,Coping Strategies,and Racial Identity Among Black Adolescents

This study examined a moderated mediation model among 314 Black adolescents aged 13–18. The model included general coping strategies (e.g., active, distracting, avoidant, and support‐seeking strategies) as mediators and racial identity dimensions (racial centrality, private regard, public regard, minority, assimilationist, and humanist ideologies) as moderators of the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. Moderated mediation examined if the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms varied by the mediators and moderators. Results revealed that avoidant coping strategies mediated the relation between perceptions of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms. The results indicated that avoidant coping strategies mediated the relation between perceived racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among youth with high levels of the minority/oppressive ideology.     

The Paradox of Low Academic Achievement but High Self-Esteem in African American Students: An Attributional Account

Despite evidencing on average lower academic achievement than White students, African American students are usually found to have higher self-esteem. An attributional account is provided to explain this paradox. This account focuses on the expectancies, attributions, and self-esteem of African American college students. The existing literature with regard to attributions, expectancies, and self-esteem is reviewed, and the findings from two recent studies are introduced. Finally, some implications for education are discussed. It is concluded that concerns over threats to self-esteem in African American students may be misplaced. Instead, the data show that African American college students experience increasing doubts that their efforts will be rewarded in ways equivalent to those of White students, and they make increasingly external attributions. The results suggest the need to address the issue of ethnicity and opportunity more directly in our educational institutions.