Julie R. Ancis

Awareness of White Privilege among White Counseling Trainees

In this study, the written reactions of 34 White master’s counseling students to a list developed by Peggy McIntosh describing her experience of White privilege were analyzed using qualitative methodology. Three general themes and corresponding subthemes were identified and revealed varied levels of awareness of White privilege. The three general themes represent increasing levels of awareness, from none, to demonstrated awareness but unwillingness to engage in proaction, to a more profound awareness of privilege and proactive efforts to eradicate privilege. Directions for future research and training are presented.

Promoting Student Learning and Student Development at a Distance: Student Affairs Concepts and Practices for Televised Instruction and Other Forms of Distance Learning.

Samels, president of The Education Alliance, provides a very clear explication of successful practices, with stress on defining success in terms of careful assessment of the attainment of clear goals. Chapter 7, “Recentering Learning: An interdisciplinary Approach to Academic and Student Affairs” by Richard Guarasci, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Wagner College, is a case study of the successful transition of Wagner College from severe financial crisis to financial and academic vigor through a restructuring of all relevant units of the college around student learning goals. Finally, chapter 8, “Building the Foundation for Collaboration: Seamless Learning at a New College,” is written by Rod Crafts, Dean of Student Life at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Zachary First, Assistant Dean of Student Life at the same college, and Jeffrey Satwicz, a student partner working with faculty and staff to design this new college. The chapter is a case study that describes the administrative structures chosen to assure student success as this new engineering school is designed ab initio. In this school there will be no isolated student affairs silo, and Mr. Crafts, an experienced student affairs professional, discusses at some length his perception of the added influence and respect that student affairs professionals enjoy in such an administrative structure. With its eight chapters, each very different in approach, this volume presents all viewpoints in the ongoing discussion of how to marshal the talents and enthusiasms of both academic and student affairs professionals in support of student learning and development. Despite divergences of opinion on various issues, the total volume does happily appear to support the thesis that there is a consensus that the academic and developmental success of the students demands more teamwork involving both academic and student affairs professional, that through this teamwork the isolated student affairs silo of the past is melting away, and that the previous anxieties of student affairs professionals disappear as members of the new teams share pride in their collective accomplishments.

A model linking diverse women's child sexual abuse history with sexual risk taking

The purpose of our study was to examine the role that child sexual abuse may play in body surveillance and sexual risk behaviors among undergraduate women. First, a measured variable path analysis was conducted, which assessed the relations among a history of child sexual abuse, body surveillance, and sexual risk behaviors. Furthermore, body shame, sexual self-efficacy, and alexithymia were examined as intervening variables. Second, a multigroup path analysis was conducted comparing the hypothesized models applied to data from 556 ethnically diverse women. Within the overall model, results revealed that a history of child sexual abuse and body surveillance were not related to one another, but both variables were directly related to sexual risk behaviors. Moreover, body shame mediated the relationship between body surveillance and alexithymia, and alexithymia mediated the relationship between body shame and sexual self-efficacy. Child sexual abuse history was related directly with body shame and alexithymia. Results from the multigroup path analysis revealed that the model was invariant between African American and White women, although one difference emerged: body surveillance significantly predicted alexithymia in White, but not African American, women. Furthermore, White, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latina women demonstrated more body shame than African American women, and White women endorsed higher levels of sexual self-efficacy than African American and Asian/Pacific Islander women. Counseling interventions that seek to decrease alexithymic symptoms, body surveillance, and body shame, while also increasing sexual self-efficacy, seem especially warranted.

Power and Control in the Legal System: From Marriage/Relationship to Divorce and Custody

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which abuse that occurred during marriage/relationship continued within divorce and custody-related legal proceedings. Twenty-seven women participated in semistructured interviews. Interviews were analyzed utilizing a grounded theory approach in order to inductively arrive at a theory explaining how abuse dynamics may continue during legal proceedings. Participants identified child support litigation, custody and visitation battles, intimidation/harassment, deliberately prolonging the case, manipulating finances, and distortions of information as methods by which their exes sought to maintain power and control. Counseling implications are described.

Look to the Relationship: A Review of African American Women Substance Users’ Poor Treatment Retention and Working Alliance Development

Emergent findings specific to African American women confirm that their substance user treatment retention rates are significantly lower than other groups, which is problematic given that substance user treatment is effective largely to the extent that clients are retained in treatment. This article reviews existing literature concerning disparities in treatment retention, highlights a significant barrier to treatment retention for this population, and presents support for an empirical focus on culturally responsive working alliance development as a promising step toward improving retention rates for African American women substance users.

Black Women's Body Image: An Analysis of Culture-Specific Influences

A review of the literature on racial differences in body image in Black and White women indicates body image dissatisfaction is more common in White females than Black females. However, Black women are not protected from body image issues. Research on body image concerns specifically related to Black women is limited. The present study involves focus group and individual interviews conducted with 16 Black women. Data were analyzed using qualitative methodology. Results indicate 6 major themes, with shapely and curvaceous ideal body image standards within the Black community as the most prevalent theme across data sources. Therapeutic implications emphasize recognition of culture-specific ideal standards of beauty, as well as the influence of external factors such as men, family, peers, and media on Black womens self-evaluations.

Western Beauty Practices: Searching for the Cause and Effect

the literature, providing us with a real-life resource for authentically examining our own life experiences with diversity. This book is very timely as it provides a resource that is being called for among multicultural scholars in counseling psychology (Neville & Carter, 2005). Research suggests that it continues to be “taboo” to speak openly and directly about race and racism at anything other than an intellectual level (Utsey, Gernat, & Hammar, 2005). However, this book provides for not only the development of knowledge, but more specifically, for awareness and constructive dialogue that is needed in training (Sanchez-Hucles & Jones, 2005; Spanierman & Poteat, 2005; Wade, 2005). As these authors have shared their stories, vulnerabilities, and even “mistakes,” they provide a resource that can open the door to difficult dialogues and provide a framework for introspection and discussion. In conclusion, the text is user-friendly, engaging, and interactive. Many of these stories are emotionally and intellectually provocative, serving as a reminder that oppression stems from the existence of privilege and we must address our privileges to diminish oppression. It is specifically designed to be a text that can be useful to any counseling professional or graduate-level trainee. The depth of reflection and learning that can occur as a result of reading this book is endless. It is a book filled with teachable moments.

A Journey From the Big Apple to the South and Beyond

I was born in Brooklyn, New York. When I was six years old, my parents, brother, and I moved to Manhattan. I attended the local public school from 3rd to 6th grade and a private school from 7th to 12th grade. I attended undergraduate and graduate school in upstate New York and completed my doctoral internship in Maryland, right outside of Washington, DC. In all of these settings, Jews surrounded me. New York has a history, a particular flavor, that makes being Jewish perfectly fine and in fact is often celebrated. This is the case even with the great diversity that exists in New York. Thus, while two out of three of my closest friends in grade school were not Jewish—one was born in Pakistan and one in Burma, and my best friend in high school was perhaps one-eighth Jewish—I felt surrounded by people who accepted and=or ‘‘understood’’ Jews. They understood Jewish cultural expressions and Yiddish words; they knew the major holidays, history, experiences, and perspectives of Jews. Being Jewish is not some unknown, foreign experience to most non-Jews who grew up or spent significant time in New York City. The feeling of being ‘‘the other’’ did not occur until I moved south for my first academic position. It was then that I felt almost compelled to seek out other Jews. My mother, born Helen Friendenreich, grew up in what she described as an Orthodox family. Her father was American born, with Austrian roots, and her mother was born in Austria=Poland. My mother had one sibling, a younger sister, my aunt Lily. My mother had a strong Jewish identity, growing up surrounded by aunts and cousins and living in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, first on the lower east side of Manhattan and later Brooklyn. The message my mother conveyed was that being Jewish was significant. It was my mother who passed down the traditions associated with so-called major Jewish holidays. From her, I inherited an appreciation of these holidays and related rituals. She told me that her mother kept a kosher home and was a real ‘‘balabust’’ in the kitchen. Yet, it seems that my mother