Coping with intergenerational family conflict: Comparison of Asian American, Hispanic, and European American college students.

Using a stress-coping framework, the authors examined indirect and direct coping strategies as potential mediators in the relationship between intergenerational family conflict and psychological distress in Asian American, Hispanic, and European American college students. Asian American college students reported the highest likelihood of family conflict. Students from all cultural groups also used direct coping slightly more often than they did indirect coping. Only indirect coping mediated the effect of family conflict on distress for Asian Americans and European Americans, but it did so in the opposite direction than hypothesized. For these two cultural groups, indirect coping fully accounted for the variance shared between family conflict and psychological distress. For Hispanics, indirect coping partially mediated the effect of family conflict on psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Loss and bereavement: HIV/AIDS family caregiving experiences

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to describe the experience of HIV/AIDS family caregiving in the palliative phase. Seven in-depth interviews were conducted and analyzed using the constant comparative method. The analysis resulted in a conceptualization of HIV/AIDS family caregiving. This paper describes the "personal work" of caregivers, including reconciling that a loved one would die, making life-and-death decisions, and letting go. The nature of support received to attend to this work is highlighted, with attention to its influences on HIV/AIDS caregiver bereavement. The findings of this study provide some insights into the HIV/AIDS family caregiver experience and reveal a significant need for interventions designed to support caregivers in establishing the mechanisms required for bereavement resolution. The need for the creation of supportive networks for HIV/AIDS caregivers cannot be overstated. Further research is required to help clarify and expand on how social support might have an effect on HIV/AIDS family caregiver bereavement. With this knowledge, health-care providers will be better prepared to anticipate difficulties faced by caregivers, plan appropriate interventions to address these difficulties, prevent future problems, and plan care based on theory and research.     

African American and European American therapists' experiences of addressing race in cross-racial psychotherapy dyads.

Using Consensual Qualitative Research, 12 licensed psychologists' overall experiences addressing race in psychotherapy were investigated, as were their experiences addressing race in a specific cross-racial therapy dyad. Results indicated that only African American psychologists reported routinely addressing race with clients of color or when race was part of a client's presenting concern. European American psychologists indicated that they would address race if clients raised the topic, and some reported that they did not normally address race with racially different clients. When discussing a specific cross-racial dyad, African American therapists more often than European American therapists addressed race because they perceived client discomfort. Only European American therapists reported feeling uncomfortable addressing race, but therapists of both races perceived that such discussions had positive effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Latent growth models of the longitudinal effects of dementia caregiving: A comparison of African American and White family caregivers.

Self-report measures of depression, physical health symptoms, and life satisfaction were collected over a 2-yr period from 197 family caregivers of dementia patients and 218 noncaregivers (controls). Latent growth models were used to compare changes across time for African American and White caregivers, with gender, age, and socioeconomic status serving as covariates. Results indicated that White caregivers sustained higher levels of elevated depression and decreasing life satisfaction over time compared with African American caregivers. Both groups of caregivers reported increases in physical symptoms over time. These results indicate worsening difficulties over time for many White caregivers. African American caregivers show more resilience on measures of depression and life satisfaction but are still vulnerable to increases in physical symptoms over time. Implications for additional research and clinical intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

African American client skin tone and clinical judgments of African American and European American psychologists.

After reviewing a photograph and case materials depicting an African American female client, African American and European American psychologists were randomly assigned to one of three skin tone versions of a photograph (light, medium, or dark) and completed a questionnaire. No relationships were found between client skin tone or psychologist sex and either primary diagnosis or treatment recommendation. However, African American psychologists rated the client more physically attractive and likely to benefit from therapy, and they expressed more positive feelings about the client and about working with the client, than did European American psychologists, who more strongly endorsed severe mental disorder diagnoses for the client. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental context of caregiving for severely mentally ill adults: an African American experience

Most people with severe mental illness depend on family to provide care. Although an increasing amount of research has examined caregiving, there is much to be discovered about the caregiving experience of African American families. This ethnographic study reports findings from 16 African American caregivers, presenting a picture of how they navigate through their environment to meet the needs of caregiving. Formal resource selection and use, and perceived barriers to and facilitators of care within an urban environment, are discussed. The impact of the African American community's perception of mental illness on caregiving and involvement in policy change also is discussed.     

Stress and coping among African American and Hispanic parents of deaf children

Phase-contrast microscopy coupled with image analysis has been used to study the germination of single spores of Clostridium botulinum and to investigate the variation of germination lag of individual spores in a population (biovariability). The experiment was repeated at five different temperatures between 20 degrees C and 37 degrees C to look at the effect of temperature on the biovaribility of the spore germination. Data analysis shows that the germination lag distribution is skewed, with a tail, and that its shape is affected by the temperature. The origin of this biovariability is not exactly known, but could be due to a distribution of characteristics (e.g. permeabilities) or molecules (e.g. lytic enzymes) in the spore population. The method developed in this study will help us to describe and better understand the kinetics of spore germination and how this is influence by different environmental factors such as temperature and other factors that influence germination.     

Preparing the way: a qualitative study of high-achieving African American males and the role of the family

Employed qualitative methods to examine the role of the family in the academic success of very high-achieving African American males. Findings revealed a complex tapestry of family processes and contexts involved in each youth's journey to outstanding academic achievement. Specifically, the combined importance of parental-determined academic engagement, strict discipline, nurturance, and community connectedness appeared to counteract potentially negative contextual influences of neighborhood, peers, schools, and society. The qualitative findings tell a multifaceted, rich, and compelling story of the pathways to academic success for Black males, and highlight the need for culture-specific and ecologically based conceptualization, research, and intervention approaches.     

Psychopathy, IQ, and Violence in European American and African American County Jail Inmates.

The accuracy of the prediction of criminal violence may be improved by combining psychopathy with other variables that have been found to predict violence. Research has suggested that assessing intelligence (i.e., IQ) as well as psychopathy improves the accuracy of violence prediction. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by using a contemporary measure of psychopathy, the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (R. D. Hare, 2003), in a sample of 326 European American and 348 African American male offenders. The postdictive power of psychopathy was evident for both ethnic groups and robust across most changes in the operationalization of violence and the analysis conducted, whereas the postdictive power of IQ was not. No Psychopathy x IQ interactions were identified. Implications of these results for violence prediction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental attachment, self-esteem, and antisocial behaviors among African American, European American, and Mexican American adolescents.

This study examined the relation of mother and father attachment to self-esteem and self-reported involvement in antisocial behaviors among African American (n=488), European American (n=661), and Mexican American (n=434) high school students. The attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance were examined using self-report scales that were developed and validated with participants in the study. Findings indicated that adolescents from the 3 ethnic/racial groups did not differ greatly in their reported attachment to father and mother. Consistent with theoretical formulations, securely attached adolescents from the 3 ethnic groups had a more positive sense of self-esteem and reported less involvement in antisocial behaviors than their less securely attached peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of European American and African American instructors teaching race-focused courses.

In 2 studies (N = 907), we developed and validated the Perceptions of Diversity Instructors (PDI-32) measure, which assesses college students' ratings of instructors teaching a race-focused diversity course. We also explored how the professor's race/ethnicity, students' attitudes toward similarities and differences, and perceived professor bias influenced students' ratings. Supporting the source effects outlined in the persuasion literature and prior qualitative research, the results indicated that students expect African American instructors to be more biased (subjective/judgmental) but assume European American instructors to have less content expertise (inexpert/unaware). Also, students who are more open to discussing diversity issues rated the instructors more positively. Finally, students' expectation of professor bias mediated the relationship between the professor's race/ethnicity and students' evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of White, African American, Hispanic, and Asian children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test.

This study examined differences between 3 matched samples of White (n?=?2,306) and African American (n?=?2,306), White (n?=?1,176) and Hispanic (n?=?1,176), and White (n?=?466) and Asian (n?=?466) children on the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT; J. A. Naglieri, 1997a). The groups were selected from 22,620 children included in the NNAT standardization sample and matched on geographic region, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and type of school setting (public or private). There was only a small difference between the NNAT scores for the White and African American samples (d ratio?=?.25) and minimal differences between the White and Hispanic (d ratio?=?.17) and between the White and Asian (d ratio?=?.02) groups. The NNAT was moderately correlated with achievement for the total sample and correlated similarly with achievement for the White and ethnic minority groups. The median correlation of NNAT with reading was .52 and NNAT with math was .63 across the samples. Results suggest that the NNAT scores have use for fair assessment of White and minority children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressive symptoms, stress, and weight concerns among African American and European American low-income female smokers.

The relationships between perceived stress, depressive symptoms, concern about weight gain and smoking dependence were examined among 83 European American and 175 African American female smokers bringing children to pediatric clinics serving a low-income population. Among African American women, but not European American women, greater stress and more depressive symptoms predicted greater smoking dependence, and less concern about weight gain predicted greater smoking dependence. Multivariate analyses confirmed the bivariate relationships among stress, depressive symptoms, and smoking dependence among African American women but reduced the relationship between weight concern and smoking dependence. The stronger relationships among stress, depressive symptoms, and smoking dependence among African American women may be indicative of smoking patterns more associated with affect regulation than are the smoking patterns of European American women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficacy of structural ecosystems therapy with drug-abusing/dependent African American and Hispanic American adolescents.

Many family therapies for adolescent drug use include ecological interventions. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial was to establish whether ecological interventions contribute to the impact of family therapy above and beyond the contributions of family process-only interventions. A family-based ecological approach, structural ecosystems therapy (SET), was compared with family process-only condition (FAM) and community services control (CS). One hundred ninety substance-abusing or dependent African American and Hispanic adolescents were randomized to SET, FAM, or CS. Follow-up assessments were conducted at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months postrandomization. SET was significantly more efficacious than FAM and CS in reducing adolescent drug use. However, these improvements were limited to Hispanic adolescents. The study demonstrates the importance of investigating changes in adolescent drug use as a result of treatment condition across more than 1 racial/ethnic group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A validation study of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale with urban Hispanic and African American preschool children.

Investigated the psychometric properties of a Spanish and English version of the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS) when employed with Spanish- and English-speaking teachers and students in an urban, Southeastern community. Psychometrically sound structures were obtained with the Spanish translation of the PIPPS in support of the three original dimensions named Play Interaction, Play Disruption, and Play Disconnection, which were derived from studies of African American preschool children in lower income, Northeastern communities. Concurrent validity was supported by significant correlations between the 3 Spanish PIPPS constructs and teacher ratings of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Significant group differences in classroom peer play interactions were also detected for children's gender and ethnicity. The independent emergence of comparable Spanish and English PIPPS factor structures across 2 distinct regional samples provides initial support for use of this measure in research with Hispanic preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Implications for school psychologists engaging in outreach to preschool programs servicing diverse groups of children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical discipline among African American and European American mothers: Links to children's externalizing behaviors.

The aim of this study was to test whether the relation between physical discipline and child aggression was moderated by ethnic-group status. A sample of 466 European American and 100 African American children from a broad range of socioeconomic levels were followed from kindergarten through 3rd grade. Mothers reported their use of physical discipline in interviews and questionnaires, and mothers, teachers, and peers rated children's externalizing problems annually. The interaction between ethnic status and discipline was significant for teacher- and peer-rated externalizing scores; physical discipline was associated with higher externalizing scores, but only among European American children. These findings provide evidence that the link between physical punishment and child aggression may be culturally specific. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of African American and European American adolescents' endorsement of race-conscious social policies.

To examine the predictors of adolescents' evaluations of affirmative action and school desegregation policies, African American and European American students (ns = 94 and 116, respectively; aged 14 to 17 years) attending a racially diverse high school in the Midwestern United States completed measures of (a) implicit racial attitudes, (b) knowledge about historical racism, and (c) perceptions of and attributions for racial disparities. The following day, adolescents learned about either a proposed affirmative action policy (n = 101) or a school desegregation policy (n = 109) and completed measures of their attitudes toward the policy. Results indicated racial differences in policy support and in the factors predicting policy support. Theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Strong African American Families Program: Prevention of youths' high-risk behavior and a test of a model of change.

In this study, the efficacy of the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF) was tested. The trial, which included 332 families, indicated that families who participated in SAAF experienced increases over time in regulated, communicative parenting; increases in targeted parenting behaviors, according to youths' reports; and low rates of high-risk behavior initiation among youths. Changes in regulated, communicative parenting mediated the intervention's impact on youths' recognition of changes in parenting, which in turn was linked to changes in youths' high-risk behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)