The role of perceived race and gender in the evaluation of college teaching on RateMyProfessors.Com.

The present study examined whether student evaluations of college teaching (SETs) reflected a bias predicated on the perceived race and gender of the instructor. Using anonymous, peer-generated evaluations of teaching obtained from RateMyProfessors.com, the present study examined SETs from 3,079 White; 142 Black; 238 Asian; 130 Latino; and 128 Other race faculty at the 25 highest ranked liberal arts colleges. Results showed that racial minority faculty, particularly Blacks and Asians, were evaluated more negatively than White faculty in terms of overall quality, helpfulness, and clarity, but were rated higher on easiness. A two-stage cluster analysis demonstrated that the very best instructors were likely to be White, whereas the very worst were more likely to be Black or Asian. Few effects of gender were observed, but several interactions emerged showing that Black male faculty were rated more negatively than other faculty. The results of the present study are consistent with the negative racial stereotypes of racial minorities and have implications for the tenure and promotion of racial minority faculty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and self-esteem: Meta-analyses comparing Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians and comment on Gray-Little and Hafdahl (2000).

These meta-analyses examine race differences in self-esteem among 712 datapoints. Blacks scored higher than Whites on self-esteem measures (d=0.19), but Whites scored higher than other racial minority groups, including Hispanics (d=-0.09), Asians (d=-0.30), and American Indians (d=-0.21). Most of these differences were smallest in childhood and grew larger with age. Blacks' self-esteem increased over time relative to Whites', with the Black advantage not appearing until the 1980s. Black and Hispanic samples scored higher on measures without an academic self-esteem subscale. Relative to Whites, minority males had lower self-esteem than did minority females, and Black and Hispanic self-esteem was higher in groups with high socioeconomic status. The results are most consistent with a cultural interpretation of racial differences in self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial and attitudinal factors affecting the perceptions of counselors by Black adolescents.

Presented to 247 Black male and female high school students racial and attitudinal information about a hypothetical male or female counselor and asked them to express their perceptions of the counselor. Attitudinal information about a counselor had a stronger effect than racial information on Ss' perception of the counselor: Counselors portrayed as attitudinally similar were rated significantly higher in attractiveness, trustworthiness, expertness, and social attraction than those portrayed as attitudinally dissimilar. Racial information also influenced perceived attractiveness: White counselors were rated higher than Black ones in attractiveness, although there was no difference in ratings of trustworthiness or expertise. White female counselors were perceived as more expert than their Black female counterparts, whereas the ratings of male counselors were not influenced by the racial variable. Implications for counselor–client relationships and the development of mental health services for minority populations are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of tactile patterns in relation to age, sex, and race.

Two observers recorded the frequency of touch between male and female and Black and White kindergartners and 1st-6th graders in school cafeteria lines. In same-sex pairs, boys and girls in White and in integrated schools showed a reduction in frequency of touch from kindergarten to 6th grade, but in the Black school, no reduction was observed. Only 1 cross-racial hand-to-hand touch was observed. Data show that social norms related to sexual and racial interaction are the most important factors in the development of touch and interaction distance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of racial differences on the MMPI.

In a study with 104 Black and 191 White male prison inmates, multiple discriminant analysis of MMPI scores between high-IQ White, high-IQ Black, low-IQ White, and low-IQ Black Ss yielded 2 significant canonical variates. Results suggest that racial differences on the MMPI do not occur in all racial comparisons but instead are restricted to low-IQ groups. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk factors for dropping out of treatment among White and Black families.

In this study, the authors examined factors that predicted dropping out of treatment among White and Black children (N?=?279, ages 3–13) and among families attending outpatient treatment for externalizing problems. Multiple factors that increase the burden of participating in treatment are disproportionately distributed among minority families. Consequently, the authors predicted the rate of premature termination would be greater for Black than for White families and that the profile of factors that predicted leaving treatment early would differ. The results indicated that Black families were at greater risk and that several group-specific as well as common factors can be identified that increase risk. Predictors of dropping out can be used for early identification of families at risk and for developing strategies to better engage families in treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for hypodescent and racial hierarchy in the categorization and perception of biracial individuals.

Individuals who qualify equally for membership in two racial groups provide a rare window into social categorization and perception. In 5 experiments, we tested the extent to which a rule of hypodescent, whereby biracial individuals are assigned the status of their socially subordinate parent group, would govern perceptions of Asian–White and Black–White targets. In Experiment 1, in spite of posing explicit questions concerning Asian–White and Black–White targets, hypodescent was observed in both cases and more strongly in Black–White social categorization. Experiments 2A and 2B used a speeded response task and again revealed evidence of hypodescent in both cases, as well as a stronger effect in the Black–White target condition. In Experiments 3A and 3B, social perception was studied with a face-morphing task. Participants required a face to be lower in proportion minority to be perceived as minority than in proportion White to be perceived as White. Again, the threshold for being perceived as White was higher for Black–White than for Asian–White targets. An independent categorization task in Experiment 3B further confirmed the rule of hypodescent and variation in it that reflected the current racial hierarchy in the United States. These results documenting biases in the social categorization and perception of biracials have implications for resistance to change in the American racial hierarchy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and ethnicity in children's cardiovascular reactivity: 7 years of study.

A total of 295 children (127 White boys, 15 Black boys, 133 White girls, and 20 Black girls) participated in reactivity examinations in 1987 (all were in 3rd grade; age, M?=?9.1 years), 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993 (all were in 9th grade; age, M?=?15.1 years). An analysis of residualized reactivity change values indicated consistent and significant ethnicity effects (Blacks greater than Whites) for systolic and diastolic blood pressure and for heart rate. Gender effects were also apparent for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (boys greater than girls). These data suggest that the transition from childhood to adolescence is associated with a significant pattern of ethnic differences in reactivity, although the association of this pattern with the development of cardiovascular risk and disease remains to be ascertained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race and sex differences in the prediction of drug use.

Efforts to prevent adolescent substance abuse often direct prevention efforts at known correlates of substance use. The applicability to minority populations of risk factors uncovered for the general population has been questioned, and the development of different programs targeting the risk factors most salient for different groups has been recommended. Such differentiated programming requires a more precise understanding of ethnic differences in the predictors of substance use than is now available. This article assesses these differences using data from 981 Black and White male and female adolescents and latent variable structural equations techniques. No group differences were observed in the prediction of past year variety of drug use for 9 of the 12 risk factors examined. The predictive validity was higher for Whites than for Blacks for 3 risk factors. The prediction of frequency of use was weaker for Black women than for other groups. The low predictive validity observed for Black women is most likely due to the extremely low level of use among this group. The study concludes that the measures of risk factors predict substance use for all groups examined but that extremely rare behaviors are not well predicted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence.

Attachment style differences in psychological symptomatology, self-concept, and risky or problem behaviors were examined in a community sample (N?=?1,989) of Black and White adolescents, 13 to 19 years old. Overall, secure adolescents were the best-adjusted group, though not necessarily the least likely to engage in risky behaviors. Anxious adolescents were the worst-adjusted group, reporting the poorest self-concepts and the highest levels of symptomatology and risk behaviors. In contrast, avoidant adolescents reported generally high levels of symptomatology and poor self-concepts but similar levels of risk behaviors to those found among secures. Mediation analyses suggested that the observed differences in problem behaviors were at least partially accounted for by the differential experience of distress symptoms (primarily hostility and depression) and by social competence. Finally, patterns of attachment effects were similar across age, gender, and racial groups, with some important exceptions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the malleability of automatic attitudes: Combating automatic prejudice with images of admired and disliked individuals.

Two experiments examined whether exposure to pictures of admired and disliked exemplars can reduce automatic preference for White over Black Americans and younger over older people. In Experiment 1, participants were exposed to either admired Black and disliked White individuals, disliked Black and admired White individuals, or nonracial exemplars. Immediately after exemplar exposure and 24 hr later, they completed an Implicit Association Test that assessed automatic racial attitudes and 2 explicit attitude measures. Results revealed that exposure to admired Black and disliked White exemplars significantly weakened automatic pro-White attitudes for 24 hr beyond the treatment but did not affect explicit racial attitudes. Experiment 2 provided a replication using automatic age-related attitudes. Together, these studies provide a strategy that attempts to change the social context and, through it, to reduce automatic prejudice and preference. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of counselor and client racial similarity on the counselor's response patterns and skills.

To test the hypothesis that factors of racial differences may mediate counselor–client interactions in terms of the counselor's attending and expressive response style and the delivery and type appropriateness of responses, 60 graduate level Black and White counselor trainees were asked to counsel both Black and White clients. As hypothesized, Ss' delivery scores and the type appropriateness of responses were significantly better under conditions of racial similarity with the clients. Both Black and White Ss were rated as being more expressive than attending in their response patterns toward Black clients. Findings have implications for counselor–client relationships and professional training programs for psychological counseling in multiracial settings. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contemporary approaches to pharmacotherapy in Tourette''s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder

Considerable research on minority health has examined whether members of a minority group experience more rapid health declines than the White majority when both groups reach later life. Researchers have sought to determine if being both old and a member of a minority creates a double disadvantage to health. The primary purpose of this research is to test the double jeopardy to health hypothesis among Black and White Americans using data from a 15-year panel study of adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I: Epidemiological Follow-up Study (NHEFS). African Americans have poorer health at all three times on a variety of health status measures, but no evidence for double jeopardy was uncovered. There were important racial differences for change in health status but Black Americans of all ages -- including Black older adults -- suffered from growing disability and more negative ratings of health. Black adults are more likely to develop serious illness, and their ratings of health decline more rapidly than is the case for White respondents. While there is little support for the double jeopardy hypothesis as originally stated, there is overwhelming evidence to show that the health of Black Americans of all ages declines at a faster rate. The formulation of the double jeopardy hypothesis is critiqued on several points: ontogenetic fallacy, attribution of discrimination, and selective mortality.     

The influence of Black students' racial identity attitudes on preferences for counselor's race.

Racial identity attitudes derived from W. E. Cross' (1971) racial identity model and respondents' racial self-designations were used to predict 92 Black university students' preferences for Black and White counselors. Ss completed the Assessment in Career Decision Making Scale, a counselor preference scale, and a racial identity scale. Multiple regression and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Racial attitudes accounted for a significant percentage of the variance involving preferences for counselor's race. Of the 4 types of attitudes measured (preencounter, encounter, immersion–emersion, and internalization), preencounter attitudes were most strongly associated with a preference for White counselors and a nonacceptance of Black counselors. The other 3 types of attitudes were associated with varying degrees of preference for Black counselors and nonacceptance of White counselors. Racial self-designation (e.g., Black, Negro, Afro-American) was not associated with preferences for either Black or White counselors. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex, temperament, and family context: How the interaction of early factors differentially predict adolescent alcohol use and are mediated by proximal adolescent factors.

Adolescent alcohol use is common and has serious immediate and long-term ramifications. While concurrent individual and context factors are robustly associated with adolescent alcohol use, the influence of early childhood factors, particularly in interaction with child sex, are less clear. Using a prospective community sample of 362 (190 girls), this study investigated sex differences in the joint influence of distal childhood and proximal adolescent factors on Grade 10 alcohol use. All risk factors and two-way early individual-by-context interactions, and interactions of each of these with child sex, were entered into the initial regression. Significant sex interactions prompted the use of separate models for girls and boys. In addition to the identification of early (family socioeconomic status, authoritative parenting style) and proximal adolescent (mental health symptoms, deviant friends) risk factors for both girls and boys, results highlighted important sex differences. In particular, girls with higher alcohol consumption at Grade 10 were distinguished by the interaction of early temperamental disinhibition and exposure to parental stress; boys with higher alcohol consumption at Grade 10 were distinguished primarily by early temperamental negative affect. Results have implications for the timing and type of interventions offered to adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors predictive of mathematics achievement in White, Black, and Hispanic 12th graders.

In this study, a secondary analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress was conducted to provide insight into ethnic differences in 12th-grade math achievement. Using the 3 conditions model (3C model) of achievement as a guide, regression analyses showed ethnicity accounted for less than 5% of the variance in math performance once indices of socioeconomic status, exposure to learning opportunities, and motivation were controlled. In contrast, variables central to the 3C model accounted for 45%-50% of the variance. The implications of these results for theories of ethnic differences and for reform efforts are discussed. The findings suggest that schools can do a great deal to close achievement discrepancies among White, Black, and Hispanic students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racing to help: Racial bias in high emergency helping situations.

The present work explored the influence of emergency severity on racial bias in helping behavior. Three studies placed participants in staged emergencies and measured differences in the speed and quantity of help offered to Black and White victims. Consistent with predictions, as the level of emergency increased, the speed and quality of help White participants offered to Black victims relative to White victims decreased. In line with the authors' predictions based on an integration of aversive racism theory and the arousal: cost-reward perspective on prosocial behavior, severe emergencies with Black victims elicited high levels of aversion from White helpers, and these high levels of aversion were directly related to the slower help offered to Black victims but not to White victims (Study 1). In addition, the bias was related to White individuals' interpretation of the emergency as less severe and themselves as less responsible to help Black victims rather than White victims (Studies 2 and 3). Study 3 also illustrated that emergency racial bias is unique to White individuals' responses to Black victims and not evinced by Black helpers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential trends in law grades of minority and nonminority law students.

Studied 3-yr trends in the law averages awarded to nonminority students and to 2 principal minority groups—Black students and Chicano students—in 2 sets of law schools that enrolled more than 900 Black students and more than 300 Chicano students. In 18 of 21 law schools, Black students showed greater improvement than White students when 3rd-yr grades were compared with 1st-yr grades. In 10 of 21 schools the improvement of Black students was significantly greater, statistically, than that of White students. Chicano students, who generally showed less prior educational disadvantage than Black students, exhibited differential improvement in 6 of 9 schools, but a statistically significant improvement in only 1 school. Various reasons for the differential improvements in grades are considered, including statistical artifacts (ceiling and floor effects, changes in criterion reliability, and unequal units of measurement in the grading of minority and nonminority students) and substantive factors such as course selection patterns, differences in the academic demands of each law school year, and support systems available to disadvantaged students. The implications of the findings are discussed for counseling students, for academic dismissal and probation policies, and for the study of effective institutional support services. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational potential for upgrading among minority and female managers.

Made comparisons between the motivation to manage scores of 75 White male, 36 White female, and 23 minority male (mostly Black) managers on the standard Miner Sentence Completion Scale and a special, situation-specific version. These managers were predominantly at the 1st level and worked for a major automobile manufacturing company in a variety of locations and organizational functions. Results indicate higher motivation to manage scores among minority males but reveal no differences between the scores of White males and White females. Additional analyses provided no support for the view that the higher scores of the minority males might be a consequence of discrimination. The data suggest that minority males might provide a major source of potential talent for upgrading into middle-management levels and above and yield no support for the hypothesis that White female managerial potential for upgrading is less than that of White male managers. Implications for compliance with US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations and for remedying managerial talent shortages are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elevated prostate-specific antigen levels in black men and white men

The usual ranges for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) are derived from a community-based population of White men but are used for screening on all men on the assumption that the differences between the PSA levels of different racial groups are small or have no clinical significance. Recently published reports, however, suggest that PSA levels in a specific racial population may vary directly with the relative risk of prostatic cancer within that population. PSA ranges were determined in Black and White men registered with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System, Baltimore, Maryland. The total patient census of 122,602 has near-equal numbers of Black and White men and maintains records of race designation for inpatients. Among the male patients with no known prostatic cancer, there were 10,808 men 40 years of age or older and 19,482 PSA test results. In this group, there were 3274 men identified as Black; 2993 identified as White, Not of Hispanic Origin, and 4541 identified as Other Race or Race Unknown. The 95th percentile PSA values in Black men and White men 40 through 49 years of age were 2.80 ng/mL and 2.01 ng/mL, respectively; 50 through 59 years old, 5.40 ng/mL and 4.19 ng/mL, respectively; 60 through 69 years old, 9.59 ng/mL and 7.00 ng/mL, respectively; 70 through 79 years old, 15.45 ng/mL and 9.40 ng/mL, respectively; and for men older than 80 years of age, the 95th PSA values were 21.05 ng/mL in Black men and 18.25 ng/mL in White men. In every age group, Black men had a higher range (for the 95th percentile) than did White men. The largest difference was found in men 70 through 79 years old; in this age group, the ratio of the upper limit of PSA for Black men compared with White men was 1.6 ng/mL.