Courtney D. Cogburn

African American Adolescents' Discrimination Experiences and Academic Achievement: Racial Socialization as a Cultural Compensatory and Protective Factor.

This study examines the interrelationships among racial discrimination experiences, parent race socialization practices, and academic achievement outcomes in a sample of 548 African American adolescents. Adolescents’ racial discrimination experiences were associated with a decrease in academic curiosity, persistence, and student self-reported grades. Racial pride, self-worth, egalitarian, and negative messages and racial socialization behaviors emerged as unique predictors of various academic outcomes, but did not appear to modulate the impact of racial discrimination experiences on academic outcomes. The present findings provide preliminary evidence that parents’ messages to their children about race may compensate for or counteract racial discrimination, as opposed to moderating its influence on academic achievement outcomes. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of motivation and other key developmental factors that may influence academic achievement outcomes in African American adolescents.

Racial discrimination and substance use: longitudinal associations and identity moderators

Current research indicates that racial discrimination is pervasive in the lives of African Americans. Although there are a variety of ways in which discrimination may contribute to health, one potentially important pathway is through its impact on substance use. Addressing the paucity of longitudinal research on this topic, the present study examined the influence of teacher discrimination on changes in substance use over time among African American adolescents and considered three dimensions of racial identity as moderators of this association (centrality, private regard, and public regard). Latent variable SEM analyses indicated that, on average, levels of discrimination were associated with increases in substance use across the high school years. However, public regard was found to moderate this association such that discrimination was less strongly associated with increases in substance use for individual who reported lower levels of public regard. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Cultural Stereotypes and the Self: A Closer Examination of Implicit Self-Stereotyping

Recent research and theory on implicit self-stereotyping suggests that individuals nonconsciously incorporate stereotypes about their social groups into the self-concept; however, evidence as to whether this holds true for negative stereotypes remains limited. Using a subliminal priming measure, the current research found that women (Experiment 1) and White Americans (Experiment 2) implicitly associated the self with in-group stereotypic traits but not out-group stereotypic traits. Of importance, both groups implicitly self-stereotyped on negative in-group traits to a similar extent as they did on positive in-group traits. Moreover, exploratory analysis showed that the degree to which White Americans associated positive, but not negative, in-group stereotypes with the self was related to higher self-esteem. Implications of implicit self-stereotyping on self-esteem and stereotype-consistent behavior are discussed.

Beyond Declines in Student Body Diversity How Campus-Level Administrators Understand a Prohibition on Race-Conscious Postsecondary Admissions Policies

Guided by a bottom-up policy implementation framework, this study draws from semi-structured interviews of 14 campus-level administrators charged with implementing diversity policy at the University of Michigan to investigate how an affirmative action ban (Proposal 2) influenced their efforts in support of racial/ethnic diversity at the university. Our findings show that beyond contributing to declines in student body diversity, laws like Proposal 2 have negatively influenced work critical to the success of students of color on campus. The findings suggest institutions operating in an anti–affirmative action context would benefit from proactive policies and practices that empower administrators in legally restrictive environments and support conversation and action that directly address the ways race continues to matter on college campuses.

Psychotic Experiences in the Context of Police Victimization: Data From the Survey of Police–Public Encounters

Social defeat has been proposed as the common mechanism underlying several well-replicated risk factors for sub-threshold psychotic experiences (PEs) identified in epidemiological research. Victimization by the police may likewise be socially defeating among vulnerable individuals and, therefore, may be associated with elevated risk for PEs. However, no prior studies have examined the relation between police victimization and PEs. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to police victimization (ie, physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect) would be associated with increased odds for PEs in the Survey of Police-Public Encounters data (N = 1615), a general population sample of adults from 4 US cities. Respondents who reported each type of police victimization were more likely to report PEs in logistic regression analyses (all P < .01), most of which were significant even when adjusting for demographic variables, psychological distress, and self-reported crime involvement (adjusted OR range: 1.30 to 7.16). Furthermore, the prevalence of PEs increased with greater exposure to police victimization in a linear dose-response relation, OR (95% CI) = 1.44 (1.24-1.66). These findings suggest that police victimization is a clinically important and previously unreported risk factor for PEs in the urban US population. These findings support the need for community-based outreach efforts and greater police training to reduce the prevalence of this exposure, particularly in socially disadvantaged urban communities.

Major discriminatory events and risk for psychotic experiences among Black Americans.

Racism is a multidimensional construct that impacts risk for psychosis through various complex pathways. Previous research has yet to fully explore how major racial discriminatory events contribute to risk for psychotic experiences in the general population. We examined the National Survey of American Life to analyze the effects of 9 major racial discriminatory events on lifetime psychotic experiences among Black Americans. By examining each event separately, we found that police discrimination was associated with increased risk for lifetime psychotic experiences after adjusting for demographic variables, socioeconomic status, and co-occurring psychological or social problems. Being denied a promotion, being a victim of police abuse, and being discouraged from pursuing education were associated with lifetime visual hallucinations, and being discouraged from pursuing education was also associated with lifetime delusional ideation. None of the events were associated with lifetime auditory hallucinations. As a count of events, experiencing a greater range of major racial discriminatory events was associated with higher risk, particularly for lifetime visual hallucinations. Our findings point to the need for early detection and intervention efforts in community settings and multilevel efforts to eliminate racial discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record

Dimensions of Academic Contingencies among African American College Students.

Drawing from existing literature, the authors conceptualized a two-dimensional framework of African American students’ academic contingencies of self-worth. The results from exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with a sample of African American college freshmen (N = 330) supported this prediction. Self-Worth Dependent academic contingencies were characterized by students’ self-worth being more wholly reliant on academic performance. Self-Worth Enhancing academic contingencies represented linkages between self-worth and academics where self-worth is reinforced by positive achievement but not necessarily diminished by negative feedback in the educational setting. Correlational and multiple regression analyses were used to test relationships between academic contingencies of self-worth dimensions, race-related factors (identity and discrimination experiences), academic outcomes, and psychological outcomes. Findings showed that Self-Worth Dependent academic contingencies predicted less positive beliefs about Blacks and worse psychological outcomes. Self-Worth Enhancing academic contingencies predicted more positive personal beliefs about Blacks and feeling more connected to Blacks. Implications for African American student motivation, achievement, and adjustment are discussed.

Racial Disparities in the Association between Alcohol Use Disorders and Health in Black and White Women

ABSTRACT Adverse health attributed to alcohol use disorders (AUD) is more pronounced among black than white women. We investigated whether socioeconomic status (education and income), health care factors (insurance, alcoholism treatment), or psychosocial stressors (stressful life events, racial discrimination, alcoholism stigma) could account for black-white differences in the association between AUD and physical and functional health among current women drinkers 25 years and older (N = 8,877) in the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Generalized linear regression tested how race interacted with the association between 12-month DSM-IV AUD in Wave 1 (2001–2002) and health in Wave 2 (2004–2005), adjusted for covariates (age group, alcohol consumption, smoking, body mass index, physical activity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis). Black women with AUD had poorer health than white women with AUD (β = −3.18, SE = 1.28, p < .05). This association was partially attenuated after adjusting for socioeconomic status, health care, and psychosocial factors (β = −2.64, SE = 1.27, p < .05). In race-specific analyses, AUD was associated with poorer health for black but not white women. Accounting for black-white differences in AUD and physical and functional health among women requires investigation beyond traditional explanatory mechanisms.