Martha E. Bernal

The Development of Ethnic Identity in Mexican-American Children

Aspects of cognitive social learning, cognitive developmental, and self-system theories were integrated into a theoretical framework for the study of ethnic identity and its development in Mexican-American children. Two studies were conducted, one with preschool children attending Head Start, and another with elementary school children age 6 to 10 years. The second study incorporated methodological refinements based on the first study. The research was designed to assess an instrument for measurement of childrens ethnic identity and to evaluate developmentalfeatures of the data. Parts of the theoretical model of ethnic identity and its components also were assessed. The children s responses to an Ethnic Identitv Questionnaire showed age-related improvements that were consistent with the conceptual framework guiding the research.

Are Clinical Psychologists Prepared for Service and Research With Ethnic Minorities? Report of a Decade of Progress

Longitudinal data on the status of training of clinical psychologists for service and research with ethnic minority populations were presented in order to assess progress. Data from an earlier survey by Bernal and Padilla (1982), which were collected in 1979-1980, were compared with similar survey data collected in 1990-1991. Results revealed a mixed picture of progress: Key aspects of minority training have improved, and there is a substantial block of programs committed to minority training. However, two changes are needed: engagement in a change process leading to training for cultural competence rather than minimal exposure to culture, and a significant increase in the numbers of minority faculty, which can occur only by a sharp increase in the numbers of minority students admitted into the educational pipeline.

Ethnic Minority Training in Counseling Psychology Comparisons with Clinical Psychology and Proposed Standards

This study evaluated the status of multicultural training in counseling programs approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) (n= 41) and compared these programs to (a) clinical psychology programs (n = 104) and (b) existing standards and recommendations proposed in literature, for example, by Bernal and Castro, and Ridley, Mendoza, and Kanitz. Results suggested that compared to clinical programs counseling psychology programs demonstrated significantly higher commitment to multicultural training. However, the effect size of the differences between these two psychology specialties was small. Moreover, normative data from counseling psychology programs indicated that most programs are providing training that leads to, at best, multicultural sensitivity, but very few appear to be providing training that prepares practitioners to be multiculturally proficient. Hence it was concluded that, although counseling psychology programs have potential to make significant contributions to the mental health of racial and ethnic minority populations, significant changes need to be made before these programs yield a critical number of counseling psychologists who can begin to meet the mental health needs of racial and ethnic minority populations. Suggestions and recommendations are made to guide these changes.

Ethnic Identity and Adaptation of Mexican American Youths in School Settings

The theoretical and research literature on school performance and attrition in Mexican American youths was reviewed in order to examine how their membership asAmericans of Mexican descent, and the social, cultural, and political contexts of their school settings, affect their psychological adaptation in schooL Traditional theoretical views about school achievement in ethnic minority youths were compared and contrastede It was concluded that the empirical research fails to differentiate among Hispanic groups in ways that could result in better predictions of dropout, and that prevailing theoretical views of underachievement have neither arrived at a theoretical synthesis nor explored the processes that lead to dropout. A social identity framework was proposed for achieving such a synthesis, and for promoting the understanding of ethnic and other social identity changes as mediators of the effects of environmental and individual variables on school achievement. Available theory and findings were reconceptualized in terms of social identity theory, and developmental issues were considered.

Behavioral treatment of a child's eating problem

Abstract This paper demonstrates the usefulness of a behavioral approach in modifying problem behaviors in a 4-year-old girl. The problem behaviors were (1) she would not feed herself a full meal, and (2) she refused table foods. A shaping procedure was used in which gradual steps toward the goal of getting her to feed herself table foods were reinforced by her mother. Reinforcers included social attention and praise, preferred strained foods, sweet foods, preferred table foods and favorite television programs. Within a period of 20 weeks, the child had fed herself 50 different table foods.

The Development of Cognitive Abilities and Social Identities in Children: The Case of Ethnic Identity

The literature on the development of social identities in children has largely adhered to a cognitive developmental framework. However, to date, there has been little or no direct empirical demonstration of cognitive developmental levels associated with age accounting for variations in the expression of social identities. The current study directly assessed this hypothesis within ethnic identity. Ethnic identity in school-age children was assessed with the components outlined by Bernal, Knight, Garza, Ocampo, and Cota (1990), whereas level of cognitive ability was measured with an adaptation of Piaget’s conservation and classification tasks. It was hypothesised that cognitive ability would account for age differences in the components of ethnic self-identification, ethnic constancy, and to a lesser extent, ethnic knowledge. The results demonstrated that level of cognitive ability did not account for the age differences in ethnic self-identification or ethnic constancy. However, they did account for differences in ethnic knowledge. It is possible that the age changes found in ethnic and other social identities may be caused by other age-related changes in development, such as changes in learning through socialisation. This would imply that other phenomena hypothesised to be caused by changes in cognitive ability, such as the development of in-group pride and prejudice in children, may be altered by changes in the way young children are socialised by familial and nonfamilial agents. Research on social identities may bene”t from a departure from cognitive developmental theory and from increased attention to other theories, such as socialisation theory, in understanding the development of ethnic identity and other social identities.

Allocentric and Idiocentric Self-Description and Academic Achievement Among Mexican American and Anglo American Adolescents

Open-ended interviews assessing the type and importance of self-descriptors were conducted with Mexican American and Anglo American adolescents. Consistent with previous work in cross-cultural self-description, Mexican Americans were more likely to give allocentric responses than Anglo Americans were. Different patterns of results from the ethnic groups emerged when total importance versus average importance ratings were used, suggesting that previous methods of determining importance on the basis of response quantity may not provide a complete picture of idiocentric and allocentric self-description. In addition, ratings of grade point average and perceived academic competence were positively related to idiocentrism and negatively related to allocentrism.

How Natural Are Naturalistic Observations

Using a modification of Barkers (1965) operator-transducer system for conceptualizing data collection models, we raised question about whether the context in which behavioral assessors typically conduct naturalistic observations is truly natural. It was suggested that under most circumstances this context is not free of the influence and interference of the investigator. Consequently, subject reactivity is possible and there is potential for distortion or unrepresentativeness of the behavior under study. Three types of subject reactivity were described: (1) reactivity to the presence of the observer, which has been extensively investigated and demonstrated, (2) reactivity produced by changes in the conditions of observation brought about by the investigator when subject behaviors have undesirable effects on the observer or investigator, (3) and reactivity to the conditions of observation. The second and third types have not received empirical attention. Data from a parent training outcome study were used to demonstrate the three types of subject reactivity noted by observers while collecting naturalistic observation data in family homes. Finally, some suggestions were made for future research, including the systematic collection of reactivity data during the course of observations, and the examination of covariations between subject reactivity behaviors and dependent variables.