Elizabeth M. Vera

Multicultural Competence, Social Justice, and Counseling Psychology: Expanding Our Roles:

The construct of multicultural competence has gained much currency in the counseling psychology literature. This article provides a critique of the multicultural counseling competencies and argues that counseling psychologys operationalization of multicultural competence must be grounded in a commitment to social justice. Such a commitment necessitates an expansion of our professional activities beyond counseling and psychotherapy. While counseling is one way to provide services to clients from oppressed groups, it is limited in its ability to foster social change. Engaging in advocacy, prevention, and outreach is critical to social justice efforts, as is grounding teaching and research in collaborative and social action processes.

Mexican American Children’s Ethnic Identity, Understanding of Ethnic Prejudice, and Parental Ethnic Socialization

Mexican American children in Grades 2 (n = 22) and 6 (n = 25) were interviewed about their understanding of ethnic prejudice and were administered two indices of ethnic identity (ethnic knowledge and ethnic behavior). Most of the children (n = 19) were third generation or later (no parent or grandparent born in Mexico), but 11 had at least one parent born in Mexico. Parents of the children were administered acculturation and ethnic socialization measures. Study results suggested that (a) parental ethnic socialization about ethnic discrimination was associated with children’s development of ethnic knowledge, (b) low levels of parental acculturation to Anglo norms were associated with children performing ethnic behaviors, and (c) children’s advanced understanding of ethnic prejudice was associated with high levels of ethnic knowledge and higher grade levels. These results support and extend Bernal, Knight, Garza, Ocampo, and Cota’s multifaceted model of ethnic identity: One aspect of ethnic identity (i.e., ethnic knowledge) was predictive of children’s understanding of ethnic prejudice, whereas another index (i.e., ethnic behavior) was not. Moreover, this study’s results support Quintana and Vera’s model of children’s developmental understanding of ethnic prejudice. This study suggests that children’s understanding of ethnic prejudice represents an important aspect of the development of Mexican American children.

A Social Justice Agenda Ready, Or Not?

This commentary highlights the innovative inclusion of social action groups in the 2001 Houston Conference and expands on their significance to the conference and the field. If the 2001 Houston Conference has correctly forecast a (re)establishment of social action as a mainstay of counseling psychology, then an in-depth exploration of how we train students, conduct research, and engage in practice is warranted. Given the political nature of social action and its inextricable connection to social justice, the implications of such a stance for the future of the profession are discussed.

The role of families and care givers as risk and protective factors in preventing youth violence.

This paper reviews research which discusses the risk and protective functions that families and other caregivers provide in influencing the development of aggressive behavior in youth. Currently, there is an emphasis on providing violence prevention programs in the school environment, typically with little parental or caregiver involvement. By enhancing the role of families and caregivers in youth violence prevention programs, we assert that an unique opportunity exists to both address specific risk factors for violence while enhancing the protective features of the family. Relatedly, the risk literature on youth violence indicates that the most influential risk factors (i.e., the family, community, and peers) have their principle impact on youth aggression outside the school. We suggest a shift in the focus of violence prevention programming that is more inclusive of families as both a risk and protective agent. In support of this position, relevant theory and reviews of exemplary family-involved programs are offered. Challenges to involving youth caregivers are identified and recommendations for overcoming those challenges suggested. Last, recommendations for future research and public policy in the prevention of youth violence are offered.

A Qualitative Investigation of Perceptions of Violence Risk Factors in Low-Income African American Children

Conducted a qualitative investigation to identify the perceptions of risk factors for violence in a sample of inner-city African American youth. Using ethnographic analyses, themes emerging from these data included concerns about the reciprocity between drugs and violence, familial quality of life issues, gender differences in the experience of violence and risk for violence, community safety concerns, and fears about managing peer relationships specific to violence. These data are interpreted relative to the risk factors the violence prevention literature has identified among youth residing in urban environments. Findings are discussed in terms of their potential contribution to generating hypotheses for the development of theory and effective violence prevention practice.

Culturally Relevant Prevention The Scientific and Practical Considerations of Community-Based Programs

For over a decade, there have been increasing efforts in counseling psychology and other areas of applied psychology to understand the role of culture in preventive and mental health services for ethnically, economically, and religiously diverse communities. In this Major Contribution, the authors offer examples of three prevention programs in which cultural relevance and competence were central to each programs development, implementation, and evaluation. The interventions each focus on an ethnic minority population, and they are offered in diverse settings. Participants differ in age and contexts in which they receive the intervention (e.g., individual, family, or classroom). Each article highlights similarities and differences likely in any prevention effort with diverse populations. In this introduction, the authors discuss the theoretical and empirical rationale for such interventions, as informed by literature on cultural competence and social justice, and the disproportionate health, educational, and economic disparities that poor and ethnic minority groups experience.

Ethnic Identity Assessment among Inner-City African American Children: Evaluating the Applicability of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure.

Phinneys (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) was administered to 118 African American children between the ages of 8 and 12 years who lived in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood. This study examined the scales reliability in measuring feelings of ethnic affirmation and belonging, ethnic behaviors, and ethnic knowledge in a sample of urban children. Results of the reliability analyses were mixed, and indicated that the constructs of ethnic behavior and identity achievement were less stable in this population. Potential implications of differences in cognitive development and social experiences between younger children and adolescents as well as contextualfactors such as socioeconomic status are considered in the discussion of the results.

School Engagement Among Urban Adolescents of Color: Does Perception of Social Support and Neighborhood Safety Really Matter?

In this study we examined the effects of risk factors (perceived neighborhood crime/delinquency problems, neighborhood incivilities) and protective factors (teacher support, family support, peer support) on the school engagement of 123 urban adolescents of color. Age and gender were also examined to determine if different ages (younger or older) or genders (male or female) significantly modified the relationship between the risk factors and school engagement. Results indicated that perceived neighborhood incivilities was uniquely predictive of school engagement. Contrary to hypotheses, different levels of the perceived social support variables did not modify the effects of risky neighborhood conditions on adolescent’s perceived school engagement. Age, but not gender, significantly modified the relationship between perceived family social support and perceived neighborhood crime on adolescents’ reported levels of school engagement. The implications of the results for prevention and intervention programs that address school engagement among early adolescents of color are considered.

Racial Self-Designation, Racial Identity, and Self-Esteem Revisited.

The present study examined the relationships among racial self-designation, racial identity attitudes, self-esteem, and demographic variables in a diverse sample ofM232AfricanAmericans. Reasonsfor particular racial self-designations were explored qualitatively. Results indicated significant differences in prefer-ences for particular racial labels; 41% preferred Black and 30%o preferred African American. A content analysis of reasons for preferences indicated that participants preferring the term Black primarily appeared to have no particular ideological reasonfor choosing that term. However, those participants preferring the term African American indicated reasons related to its symbolic, political, and cultural meaning. Furthermore, preencounter and immersion racial identity attitudes varied significantly, according to racial self-designation. Gender, income level, and educational level were each significantly correlated with various racial identity attitudes. The implications of the results and the limitations of the study are also discussed.

Subjective well-being in urban adolescents of color.

Relationships among predictors and criteria of subjective well-being were examined in a sample of 151 urban adolescents of color, ages 12-15. The relative strengths of family, peer, and school-related support and esteem in predicting three measures of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) were explored. Results suggested that sense of worth in ones family explained a significant amount of variance in subjective well-being variables, above and beyond the contributions of individual, school, and peer-related variables. Implications for prevention and mental health promotion with urban adolescents of color are discussed based on these findings.