African American Muslims: Intersectionality and Cultural Competence

Although African American Muslims constitute 40% of all American‐born Muslims (Pew Research Center, 2011), they are virtually absent from the literature. Increasing the presence of African American Muslims in the literature may improve counselors' cultural competence when working with them. Using intersectional theory, the authors outline the rich history of African American Muslims and highlight ways counselors can improve their cultural and spiritual competence when working with African American Muslims.     

The Psychoanalytic Other: Commentary on Paper by Helen K. Gediman

Dr. Gediman locates the intersection of modern Freudian and relational theory in the arena of what she calls the “disclosures of everyday analysis” (p. 242). She suggests that because Freudian analysts, like their relational colleagues, work intersubjectively, relational theory does not itself embody a paradigm shift away from the Freudian model. I disagree. Relational theories assume that the analyst's work is inevitably informed by the relational context in a way that precludes clinical certainty. Gediman, however, believes that the analyst is capable of separating her countertransference response from her subjectivity and thus can interpret from a position of clinical certainty. Each set of theoretical assumptions is associated with a somewhat different analytic stance and analytic ideal. Freudian analysts aim for a position of “methodological neutrality” that relies on considerable certainty in the countertransference while giving the analyst plenty of room within which to use her subjectivity. The relational ideal concerns the analyst's capacity to enter into an asymmetrical treatment relationship and to tolerate the uncertainty generated therein.     

Legislative warriors: American psychiatrists,psychologists, and competing claims over psychotherapy in the 1950s

American psychiatrists and psychologists have long been close colleagues and fierce rivals. There is no better illustration of this polarized relationship than the chronic tug-of-war over psychotherapy. Both groups laid claim to psychotherapy-whatever it was and however it was practiced. Psychiatrists attempted to monopolize psychotherapy despite its ambiguous status as an essential component of the healing arts. After the war, psychologists pressed for a share on the basis of their qualifications and competence, but struggled to overcome the limitations imposed by medical envy. This story lays bare the crucial function of tools and techniques for defining the identity and the boundaries of a science-based profession.     

Other race recognition: a comparison of black American and African subjects

The ability of black American and black African men to recognize previously seen white male faces was assessed. Relationships between recognition, performance scores and quality of interracial experience were also examined. Black American participants (n = 10) performed significantly better and made fewer false responses than the Nigerian participants (n = 10). Significant positive relationships were found between performance scores and interracial experience. Differential use of cues for discriminating white male faces by both groups was also found.     

Sources of Care for Alcohol and Other Drug Problems: The Role of the African American Church

African Americans experience significant disparities in treatment access, retention, and quality of care for alcohol and drug use (AOD) problems. Religious congregations, often the first point of contact for help with AOD problems, can play an integral role in improving access to treatment. However, little is known about the role of African American churches in addressing AOD problems. We administered a survey to a faith-based collaborative of 169 African American churches in Los Angeles to examine how AOD problems are identified in congregations, the types of support provided, barriers to providing treatment referrals, and factors associated with the provision of treatment referrals. Seventy-one percent of churches reported caring often for individuals with AOD problems. AOD problems came to the attention of congregations most commonly via a concerned family member (55%) and less frequently through individuals with AOD problems directly approaching clergy (30%). In addition to providing spiritual support, a substantial proportion of churches reported linking individuals to AOD services through referrals (62%) and consultation with providers (48%). Barriers to providing treatment referrals included lack of affordable programs (50%), stigma (50%), lack of effective treatments (45%), and insufficient resources or staff (45%). The likelihood of providing treatment referrals was greater among mid-sized versus smaller-size congregations (OR 3.43; p < .05) and among congregations with clergy that had attended seminary (OR 3.93; p < .05). Knowing how to effectively coordinate informal sources of care provided by African American churches with the formal service sector could make a significant impact on AOD treatment disparities.     

Stress Among African American Emerging Adults: The Role of Family and Cultural Factors

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of family and cultural variables on stress among African American emerging adults. Data from this study was collected as part of a larger study that examined cultural, family, and contextual factors and smoking among African American youth in 5th, 8th, and 12th grades. Data were collected from high school seniors at the end of their 12th grade year and 6 months post high school. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether racial identity, family cohesion, and parental monitoring influence students’ perceived frequency of stress. Higher levels of racial identity were associated with more perceived stress. There were no significant main effects for either parental monitoring or family cohesion on stress. There were significant interactions between racial identity and parental monitoring and between parental monitoring and family cohesion. Study implications are discussed regarding the importance of stress reduction programs for African American emerging adults and for parents of these adults.     

The Social Construction of Deviance,Conflict and the Criminalization of Midwives,New Orleans: 1940s and 1950s

Midwives in mid-twentieth-century New Orleans went from practicing unhindered to being demonized in the media and targeted by the criminal justice system, thanks to the actions of three concerned groups. After the prosecution of female midwives began and their practice was suppressed, male medical doctors gained control over the provision of abortions in the city as well as the supervision of midwifery. Employing content analysis, we find that the historic record largely supports an interpretation of these events from a conflict theory, a radical feminist, and a social constructionist perspective.     

Cultural variation in the social organization of problem solving among African American and European American siblings

This study examined the social organization of a problem-solving task among 15 African American and 15 European American sibling pairs. The 30 sibling pairs between the ages of 6 and 12 were video recorded constructing a marble track together during a home visit. African American siblings were observed to collaborate more often than European American siblings who were more likely to divide up the labor and direct each other in constructing the marble track. In addition, older European American siblings made more proposals of step plans than older African American siblings. The findings provide insights into the cultural basis of the social organization of problem solving across African American and European American siblings.     

Cultural Mistrust and the Clinical Diagnosis of Paranoid Schizophrenia in African American Patients

This study examined agreement between clinical diagnoses and research diagnoses of schizophrenia for a sample of African American patients recently admitted to a psychiatric hospital. It also examined the association of cultural mistrust with disagreement between clinical diagnoses and research diagnoses of the paranoid subtype of schizophrenia. Complete data was available for 118 (77%) of the 154 cases from the original sample. Agreement among the different sources of diagnoses was poor in 5 out of 6 comparisons. The lack of agreement can be attributed, in part, to the fact there were significantly more cases of schizophrenia using clinical diagnoses than those using SCID or best estimate methods. Contrary to the hypothesis, however, level of cultural mistrust did not predict the excess in clinical diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia. Cultural mistrust was positively associated with the odds of a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia by the best estimate method. The implications of the results for the diagnosis and treatment of African American patients are discussed.     

Priming Mammies,Jezebels, and Other Controlling Images: An Examination of the Influence of Mediated Stereotypes on Perceptions of an African American Woman

This study examines how mediated portrayals of African American women influence judgments of African American women in social situations. Participants (N = 182) observed a mammy, jezebel, or nonstereotypic image on video. Participants then observed a mock employment interview involving either an African American or White woman. Participants completed measures of implicit and explicit racial prejudice. As hypothesized, participants associated the African American interviewee more quickly with negative terms (e.g., aggressive) than with positive terms (e.g., sincere). Also as hypothesized, when evaluating the job interviewee, participants who observed the jezebel stereotype video and the African American female interviewee responded more quickly to jezebel-related terms (e.g., sexual) than positive, negative, and mammy (e.g., maternal) terms. These results call for an expansion of the boundaries used in stereotype research and closer investigation of how mediated imagery might influence person perception.     

The Influence of Cultural and Racial Identification on the Psychosocial Adjustment of Inner-City African American Children in School

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship and combined influence of racial identity and Africentric values on African American children's psychosocial adjustment. Participants were 104 (53 males, 51 females) African American fourth-grade students attending an inner-city public school in a northeastern city. Child and teacher ratings were used to assess the relationship between racial identity, Africentric values, and several indices of child psychosocial adjustment, including child behavior control, school interest, and teacher perceptions of child strengths and problems in the classroom. Child self-esteem and the effects of gender and cohort were used as covariates in several analyses in the study. Overall, findings from the study supported the usefulness of combining racial identity and Africentric values into a single model of ethnic identification for African American children. Implications for risk prevention and enhancement of psychosocial functioning among African American children are discussed.     

The Tricultural Experience of Older,African American,Gay Men: Counseling Implications

The authors argue that unlike their younger counterparts, who experience their young adult development within a dual‐identity or bicultural framework, older, African American, gay men experience their development through 3 distinct cultural perspectives. Using a constructivist framework, the authors explore this tricultural development and make recommendations regarding counseling services for this population.     

The Middle Passage,Trauma and the Tragic Re-Imagination of African American Theology

African American Christian consciousness developed in response to the traumatic field in which African American subjectivity took shape. The expression of the faith in the African American tradition is fundamentally tragic as a consequence. The Middle Passage is the existential and symbolic nodal point of this experience. There is a sense in which African Americans remain very much on the water; marginalized and suspended between worlds. There is a deeper sense in which the African American situation and response reflects the condition of modernity and post-modernity in the sense that it is hardly more than modernity becoming conscious of itself. A thorough examination and exploration of its significance is essential to developing a theology that adequately expresses African American Christian consciousness. This paper is an attempt to lay out, what I think, are some of the basic components of the experience and the bare outlines or orientation of such a theology grounded in it.     

The deterrent effect of capital punishment during the 1950s

This investigation examines the deterrence hypothesis of an inverse relationship between state execution rates and homicides. Although this question has received some attention in recent studies, the findings of these investigations are mixed. Cross-sectional analyses of states have typically shown execution and homicide rates to be positively associated, while at least two national time-series studies report support for the deterrence hypothesis. To test whether these divergent findings are result of the two different methodologies employed (cross-sectional vs. time-series), a methodology that combines the strengths of each is used in the present study. For the period 1950 to 1960, we examine cross-sectionally for states the relationship between changes in execution rates and changes in murder rates. This analysis does not find support for the deterrence argument for the certainty of the death penalty when a number of models of the execution rate--murder rate relationship are considered, and when a variety of imprisonment and socio-demographic factors are considered as control variables.     

Cultural orientation, family cohesion, and family support in suicide ideation and depression among African American college students

This study extends previous research by examining the role of communalism, family cohesion, and family support in suicide ideation and depression in African American college students. Participants were 188 African American introductory psychology students (126 female, 61 male) from a historically black college. (1) Results showed that communalism, family cohesion, and family support were positively associated with each other. Higher levels of family cohesion and family support were associated with lower levels of suicide ideation and depression. Linear regression analyses showed a main effect for communalism and family support. Having strong communal values was positively related to suicide ideation and depression. Having strong family support was associated with fewer experiences of suicide ideation and depression. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that family support explained more variance in suicide ideation and depression than family cohesion. Implications of these results for future research and practice are discussed.