Carolyn B. Murray

Development of an empirical typology of African American family functioning.

This study empirically identified types of African American families. Adolescents (N = 111) were assessed on family functioning. With cluster analytic methods, 3 types of families were identified. The cohesive-authoritative type was above average on parental education and income, averaged about 2 children, exhibited a high quality of family functioning and high self-esteem in adolescents. The conflictive-authoritarian type had average parental education and income, an average of 2.7 children, exhibited controlling and rigid discipline, and placed a high emphasis on achievement. The defensive-neglectful type was predominately headed by single mothers with below average education and income and averaged about 3 children. Such families displayed chaotic family processes, and adolescents tended to suffer from low self-esteem. The typology exhibited good reliability. The implications of the typology are discussed.

Assessing the Reliability, Factor Structure, and Validity of the African Self-Consciousness Scale in a General Population of African Americans:

The purposes of this study were to conduct afactor analysis of Baldwin and Bells African Self-Consciousness (ASC) Scale, evaluate the effect of demographic variables on ones African self-consciousness, and relate the ASC Scale scores to criterion behaviors in a non-Southern and noncollege population. The scale was administered to 147AfricanAmericans residing in three Southern California cities. The ASC Scales reliability, factor structure, and construct validity were examined. The scale had a Cronbachs alpha of .78. Principal axesfactoranalysis foundfourfactors, and it is suggested that 32 out of 42 items be retained to formulate the revised subscale dimensions identified as Personal Identification With the Group, Self-ReinforcementAgainstRacism, Racial and Cultural Awareness, and Value for African Culture. The ASC Scale appears to be a viable instrument for use in research investigating African Americans.

Predictors of African American Adolescent Sexual Activity: An Ecological Framework

The present study identified predictors of African American adolescent sexual activity. An ecological model of personal, familial, and extrafamilial risk factors was proposed. Forty-eight female and 53 male African American adolescents participated. Hierarchical logistic regression and structural equation modeling found some support for the model. Risk factors were found at each level of the adolescents social ecology and explained over 80% of the variance in sexual activity. Being older, male, having low parental monitoring, using drugs, and having friends that used drugs decreased the probability of being a virgin. Virgins also expected to live 10 years longer than nonvirgins. It was suggested that fathers and community members should take a more active role in adolescents lives to curb the threat of HIV/AIDS and other STDs in the African American community.

Estimating Achievement Performance: A Confirmation Bias.

This study expands on John Darley and Paget Grosss 1983 research examining the process leading to the confirmation of a perceivers expectancies about a target individual when the social label that created the expectancy provides poor or tentative evidence about the targets true dispositions or capabilities. In line with previous findings, stereotype information in the no-performance condition did not produce differential estimates of the childs achievement ability, but stereotype information did affect estimates of the child in the performance condition. Thus individuals found evidence in the ambiguous performance sequence congruent with the race, class, and gender stereotypes. The combination of race, class, and gender resulted in more extreme expectancy confirmation for the Black, lower class, male child than for the other race, class, and gender combinations. Thefindings are discussed with respect to implicationsfor teacher education.

Baseline Correlates of Insulin Resistance in Inner City High‐BMI African‐American Children

To characterize the influence of diet‐, physical activity–, and self‐esteem‐related factors on insulin resistance in 8–10‐year‐old African‐American (AA) children with BMI greater than the 85th percentile who were screened to participate in a community‐based type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevention trial. In 165 subjects, fasting glucose‐ and insulin‐derived values for homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) assessed insulin resistance. Body fatness was calculated following bioelectrical impedance analysis, and fitness was measured using laps from a 20‐m shuttle run. Child questionnaires assessed physical activity, dietary habits, and self‐esteem. Pubertal staging was assessed using serum levels of sex hormones. Parent questionnaires assessed family demographics, family health, and family food and physical activity habits. Girls had significantly higher percent body fat but similar anthropometric measures compared with boys, whereas boys spent more time in high‐intensity activities than girls. Scores for self‐perceived behavior were higher for girls than for boys; and girls desired a more slender body. Girls had significantly higher insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR), compared with boys (P < 0.01). Adjusting for age, sex, pubertal stage, socioeconomic index (SE index), and family history of diabetes, multivariate regression analysis showed that children with higher waist circumference (WC) (P < 0.001) and lower Harters scholastic competence (SC) scale (P = 0.044) had higher insulin resistance. WC and selected self‐esteem parameters predicted insulin resistance in high‐BMI AA children. The risk of T2DM may be reduced in these children by targeting these factors.

I See Me the Way You See Me: The Influence of Race on Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Leadership Perceptions

This research investigated two key questions central to research on leadership and race: (a) How are leadership perceptions influenced by target’s race? (b) What are the consequences of race-based leadership perceptions on the target? These questions were specifically focused on Asian Americans (AAs), who are disproportionately underrepresented in leadership positions. Study 1 clarified previous research to demonstrate that Caucasian Americans (CAs) were perceived as more prototypic leaders compared with AAs. Study 2 supported the prediction that interpersonal leadership perceptions were affected by race via the activation of two leadership prototypes: competent and agentic leadership prototypes of AAs and CAs, respectively. Going beyond the contribution of clarifying previous research, Study 3 revealed that AAs had lower intrapersonal (self-directed) leadership perceptions and leadership aspirations than CAs and that the relationship between race and leadership aspiration was mediated by intrapersonal leadership perceptions. Implications of these findings are discussed with regard to leadership advancement opportunities for AAs and other racial minorities.

Validation of an Adjective Q-Sort as a Measure of the Big Five Personality Structure

This study provides a strategy for examining the traits of the Five Factor Model in a situation where no direct measure is available. Big Five wcales were rationally created from the 43-item Adjective Q-Sort adapted from Block s Self-Descriptive Q-Set (Block & Block 1980). In the first study, expert judges evaluated each of the Q-Sort items on the five personality dimensions to provide conceptual measures of the five factors. Preliminary sets of items were honed using internal consistency criteria. The second study employed these scales in a sample of 112 African American 1Oth-grade students. Results indicated thatfour ofthefive scales demonstrated predictable relations to subscales of a self-concept measure, and allfive exhibited empirical relations to several parent socialization items of the Black Family Process Q-Sort. Theoretical suppositions relating personality traits to parental socialization practices are discussed.

Psychology of Health Disparities Among African American Populations: An Overview

Health disparities in the African American population have been clearly documented in the United States for more than 100 years. In 1906, W. E. B. Du Bois reported, in The Health and Physique of the Negro American, an excess of Black (compared with White) deaths from heart disease, stillbirths, consumption, and other ailments. In the mid 1980s, Dr. Margaret Heckler, then Secretary of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, commissioned a special task force to investigate the excessive death rate of Black Americans (Heckler, 1985). In 2003, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) landmark report Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Healthcare (Smedley, Stith, & Nelson, 2003) presented clear evidence that Black Americans receive differential treatment regarding health and health care and that this differential treatment results in adverse health outcomes. Trend data continues to reflect persistent health disparities, especially for African Americans. The intent of this special issue of the Journal of Black Psychology is to provide reports on the documented causes of this problem and offer suggestions as to how to reverse this devastating trend. This special issue includes articles that use an interdisciplinary approach integrating psychology with public health and social sciences in the following categories:

Culture as a Determinant of Mental Health

This article investigates the cultural determinants of mental health for ethnic minorities (i.e., African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans) within the USA. The existing literature indicates that different cultures encourage different worldviews, which can either predispose its members to certain disorders or buffer their immediate effects. In addition, these cultures can shape the interaction between the mental health provider and their clients through symptom presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. This article concludes that, given the complexity of human behavior, it is futile for mental health practitioners to attempt an understanding of ethnic minorities without adequate exploration of each clients individual historical background, societal treatment, subcultural values, and unique conflicts.

Doctor–Patient Interaction in the West: Psychosocial Aspects

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by J. Weinman, volume 6, pp. 3816–3821,