A Longitudinal Study of Racial Discrimination and Risk for Death Ideation in African American Youth

Although multiple studies have found that African Americans commonly experience racial discrimination, available studies have yet to examine how perceived racism might be related to suicide vulnerability in African American youth. The purpose of this study was to examine a framework for how perceived racial discrimination contributes to symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as subsequent suicide ideation and morbid ideation. Data were obtained from 722 African American youth at mean age 10.56 years (SD = 0.64); a second wave of data was obtained 2 years later. Results revealed both a direct effect and mediated effects of perceived racism on later suicide and morbid ideation. For boys and girls, the effect of perceived racism was mediated by symptoms of depression. However, the association was mediated by anxiety for girls, but not for boys in the current sample. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.     

Disseminating a sun safety program to zoological parks: the effects of tailoring.

Previous research found that a sun safety program for visitors at 1 zoo increased sun safety behaviors. This randomized study compared the effects of tailored dissemination materials plus 2 brief follow-up phone calls (tailored group) versus generic materials (basic group) on implementation by other zoos of the previously evaluated sun safety program. Education directors of 126 zoos completed surveys several months following initial dissemination and 1 year later. During Summer 1, 40% of tailored group zoos and 24% of basic group zoos offered visitors at least 1 sun safety activity (odds ratio=2.2, 95% confidence interval=1.0-4.8). During Summer 2, these rates were 34% and 44%, respectively (ns). The pattern of findings suggests that tailoring had no incremental long-term impact and that the generic materials produced a good level of dissemination.     

When Racism Gets Personal: Toward Relational Healing

SUMMARY

In a culture that stratifies human differences, it is inevitable that anxiety about difference would be the source of much suffering. The power distortions that lie at the root of this suffering are manifest in relationships, from the most tangential to those that are deeply intimate. Moreover, the anxieties endemic to a race-based culture have the potential to thwart our most earnest efforts to make and maintain good connection. To adopt the feminist perspective, that the personal is political, is to acknowledge that no relationship can remain unscathed when power and value are differentially accorded based on racial group membership.

Three examples from clinical practice will be used to illustrate how racial anxiety impedes movement toward authenticity, mutuality, and empowerment in intimate relationships. In these examples, three biracial women who identify as black navigate the racial stratifications that contaminate the inevitable conflicts in their relationships with parents, mentors, and lovers. Because of the multilayered anxieties stemming from living and loving in a racially stratified culture, conflicts, which might otherwise be the source of growth and deeper connection, become rigidified and immobilizing. In addition to examining the debilitating impact of racial anxiety, the presentation will highlight the relational processes that facilitate healing, resilience, and mutual empowerment.     

Power and Effectiveness: Envisioning an Alternate Paradigm

SUMMARY

Relational-Cultural Theory provides a straightforward and elegant definition of power; it is the capacity to produce change. The implication of this framework is that power is the energy of competence in everyday living. However, in a culture stratified along multiple dimensions-race, class, and sexual orientation to name a few–power is associated with hyper-competitiveness and deterministic control. The article begins by examining the “protective illusions” of the power-over paradigm, where humanity is rank ordered according to perceived cultural value and is stratified into groups of greater than and less than. In addition to exposing the false dichotomies of power-over arrangements, the article examines the destructive consequences of cultural disconnection, on both the putative winners and the losers. Examples from organizational practice, clinical relationships, and socio-political contexts are used to illustrate the Relational-Cultural Model in action. Specifically, scenarios are presented from the standpoint of the politically disempowered to demonstrate the relational competencies of empathic attunement, authenticity, and accountability that foster healing, resilience, and mutual empowerment. This article was originally presented at the 2002 Spring Training Institute sponsored by the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at Wellesley College.     

EFFECT OF DISTRACTOR WORD VARIABILITY IN CHILDREN'S PERFORMANCE ON A WORD IDENTIFICATION TEST∗

ABSTRACT

Second, third, and fourth grade children were administered one of three different versions of a word identification test. All versions tested the same target words but used a different combination of two different sets of distractor words. One set was deemed “highly confusing” (i.e., all dis‐tractors were graphically very similar to target words), the other “easily discriminable” (i.e., distractors were dissimilar to target words). One test version contained all highly confusing distractors, a second used all easily discriminable distractors, and a third contained a combination of both kinds. Results showed that at all grade levels children performed significantly better on the easily discritninable version than on the highly confusing version. Implications of this finding related to the content validity of extant word identification tests; that is, if test authors do not use a set of criteria for selecting distractor words and apply these criteria consistently, the content validity of a test may be in serious jeopardy, for one would not know whether the test measures target word difficulty of distractor word difficulty