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This study examined student-faculty interactions and university environment as predictors of devaluing academic success and the intention to persist among a sample of Black college students attending historically and/or predominantly White institutions (H/PWIs) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Results indicated the hypothesized model fit the data reasonably well across schools. However, notable differences were found. The paths from respectful student-faculty interactions and university environment to devaluing academic success were significant for students attending HBCUs but not H/PWIs. Additionally, university environment was a significant mediator of devaluing academic success for HBCUs but not H/PWIs. Findings suggest that the university environment and student-faculty interactions play a more important role in the academic attitudes of Black students attending HBCUs than H/PWIs.

This article describes the development of an instrument to measure the multiple dimensions of student-faculty interactions. The sample consisted of 318 students (114 males, 203 females; 58% White, 16% African American, 9% Hispanic Americans) who completed the Student-Professor Interaction Scale (SPIS). Eight dimensions were identified, with Cronbach alphas ranging from 0.51 to 0.92. Dimensions of student-faculty interactions were related to academic motivation and academic self-concept for the majority White sample, but only academic self-concept for the ethnic minority sample. African American and Hispanic American students reported feeling less connected with professors, perceived their experiences with faculty as more negative, and perceived faculty as less respectful when compared to White students. Implications for student affairs research and practice are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

The authors investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Identities and Attitudes Scale developed by Picho and Brown, which captures an individual's vulnerability to Stereotype Threat effects. Confirmatory factor analyses and group invariance tests conducted on a diverse sample of 516 college students revealed adequate reliability and validity.

The challenges for increasing opportunities and college access for black students typically focus on the traditional barriers related to academic preparation, the racial gap in standardized test scores, and dropping out of high school. While these challenges remain, new and emerging challenges to college access are also important to discuss. They involve taking a closer look at the diversity and heterogeneity within the black population as well as closely examining the push to make state schools more elite.

The factor structure of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was examined with a sample of 578 Black college students. A confirmatory factor analysis of the AMS was conducted. Results indicated that the hypothesized seven-factor model did not fit the data. Implications for future research with the AMS are discussed.

Meeting the mental health needs of black children will take more than just increasing access to mental health services and early identification. It also will require a critical evaluation of the practices and models being used to diagnose and treat mental health concerns. Frameworks have been established that use a positive, strengths-based, culturally appropriate approach in working with black children and adolescents. These models recognize that while black youth go through the same developmental processes as nonblack youth (e.g., puberty, identity, and maturation), culture and context play a unique role in their lives. School-based mental health clinics, wellness centers, and using peers as first responders are all proven solutions to help improve the mental health of not only black students but all students.

This study examined differences in minority status stress, impostor feelings, and mental health in a sample of 240 ethnic minority college students. African Americans reported higher minority status stress than Asian Americans and Latino/a Americans, whereas Asian Americans reported higher impostor feelings. Minority status stress and impostor feelings were examined as predictors of mental health. Impostor feelings were stronger predictors of mental health than minority status stress. Counseling implications for ethnic minority students are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

The purpose of this study was to examine academic disidentification along with demographic and psychological factors related to the academic achievement of African American adolescents. Participants included 96 African American students (41 males, 55 females) in an urban high school setting located in the Southwest. Consistent with previous research, academic disidentification was determined by looking for an attenuation of the correlation between academic self-concept and grade point average (GPA) of male and female students. The relationship between academic self-concept and grade point average significantly decreased for African American males, while it significantly increased for African American females. Demographic factors included age and sex, while psychological factors included academic self-concept, devaluing academic success, and racial identity. Results of a hierarchical regression indicated that sex and academic self-concept were significant positive predictors of GPA, while age and racial identity were significant negative predictors, accounting for 50% variance. Academic self-concept was the strongest predictor of GPA. Implications of the results are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

Conventional wisdom in much of the educational and psychological literatures states that the ethnic and racial identity of African American students is related to their academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ethnic identity and anti-white attitudes predicted the academic achievement of African American students at a historically Black university. A hypothesized path model was proposed that included ethnic identity, attitudes toward other ethnic groups, anti-white attitudes, perceptions of caring faculty, academic self-concept, and devaluing academic success. The path analysis model explained 27% of the variance in grade point average and revealed three direct effects on grade point average: (a) academic self-concept (positive), (b) devaluing academic success (negative), and (c) anti-white attitudes (negative). Ethnic identity was indirectly linked with grade point average (GPA) through academic self-concept and devaluing academic success. Tests of two alternative nested models suggest that even in an indirect role, ethnic identity may be more important than anti-white attitudes in a model of African American academic achievement.

This study investigated how predictive the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS; B. J. Vandiver, W. E. Cross, F. C. Worrell, & P. Fhagen-Smith, 2002), a measure of Black racial identity, was of African American cultural practices, beliefs, and attitudes (i.e., enculturation) as measured by the African American Acculturation Scale-33 (H. Landrine & E. Klonoff, 1995). Findings revealed that all but 1 of the CRIS subscales significantly predicted enculturation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Ethnic and racial identity are among the most researched topics in the multicultural counseling literature. The popularity of these constructs, combined with ongoing controversies surrounding their measurement, warrants a critical examination by scholars in the field. The author contends that a combination of science and ideology has influenced the field and warns that a rigid and uncritical adherence to old paradigms will stifle growth and the production of useful knowledge. The author provides a review of measurement issues pertaining to ethnic and racial identity research and recommendations for future research and better practices involving ethnic and racial identity instruments.

The psychometric properties of scores from the Academic Self-Concept Scale are examined in a group of 198 Asian American college students. Using parallel analysis, a four-factor solution accounting for 46% of the variance was found. In a test of construct validity, academic self-concept was found to be negatively related to adherence to Asian values, positively related to adherence to European American values, and positively related to grade point average. Results suggest that academic self-concept, as currently measured, is primarily an individualistic psychological construct. (Contains 1 table.)

The major purposes of the present study were (a) to examine the degree to which gender moderates the relationship between ethnic identity and academic achievement and (b) to examine whether psychological disengagement (i.e., devaluing academic success [DAS]) mediates gender differences in the academic achievement of African American college students. Data from 274 participants (79% female) were examined using measures of psychological disengagement, academic self-concept, ethnic identity, racial centrality, and self-reported grade point average. The results indicated that ethnic identity and racial centrality were negatively related to academic achievement for male students and positively related to academic achievement and academic self-concept for female students. Gender differences in DAS explained differences in academic achievement. Implications for future research are discussed. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

A survey of the literature reveals that there is conceptual confusion and inconsistent and sometimes inappropriate usage of the terms racial identity, ethnic identity, and Afrocentric values. This study explored the extent to which Black racial(ized) identity attitudes were related to ethnic identity and Afrocentric cultural values. Two hundred and one African American college students attending a predominantly White university or a historically Black university completed the Cross Racial Identity Scale (B. J. Vandiver et al., 2000), the Nadanolitization Scale (J. Taylor & C. Grundy, 1996), the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (J. S. Phinney, 1992), and the Africentrism Scale (C. Grills & D. Longshore, 1996). Results of a canonical correlation indicated 2 significant orthogonal roots that were labeled a nonracialized ethnic identity and a racialized ethnic identity. The results suggest important similarities and differences among the various identity constructs. Implications for racial and ethnic identity research and Afrocentric research are discussed.

Spirituality is emerging as a significant area of inquiry for physical and mental health professionals (for a review see George, Larson, Koenig, & McCullough, 2000). Defined as the degree to which individuals endorse a relationship with God or a transcendent force that brings meaning and purpose to their existence, spirituality affects the ways in which one operates in the world (Armstrong, 1996). Research in this area has consistently shown evidence of associations between spirituality and both mental and physical health (e.g., Larson & Larson, 2003). Given this important association, it is vital for scholars to better understand how spirituality relates to other variables of interest in health research, particularly religiosity. A small but growing body of literature focuses specifically on relationships between spirituality and health for African Americans (e.g., Brome, Owens, Allen, & Vevaina, 2000; Musgrave, Allen, & Allen, 2002). The primary purpose of this preliminary investigation was to examine similarities and differences among several types of religiosity and spirituality. A secondary purpose of this study was to clarify conflicting findings regarding sex differences in religiosity and spirituality. A convenience sample of 171 African American undergraduate and graduate students from two large eastern universities was used for this study. The participants completed a one-page demographic sheet that recorded age, race, sex, sexual orientation, years of education, marital status, religious affiliation, and number of religious services attended annually. This study, although preliminary in nature, has implications for counselors working with African American clients. It highlights the multidimensionality of religion and spirituality, cautioning counselors to more thoroughly assess (a) if religion or spirituality is important for their clients and (b) which aspects of religion or spirituality are most important, and the implications of this.

This study evaluated the utility of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ; L. J. Heinberg, J. K. Thompson, & S. Stormer, 1995) for the assessment of diverse college groups, including men, women, minorities, and sorority members. Scores from the SATAQ were compared with the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2; D. M. Garner. 1991) for a sample of 405 college students at a large midwestem university. Significant group differences were observed on the scales assessing awareness of sociocultural pressures to be thin and internalization of these attitudes. These scores were highest among the Caucasian women, Caucasian sorority, and Hispanic sorority groups. However, construct validity was only demonstrated for the Internalization scale and was strongest for the Caucasian women, suggesting that sociocultural awareness may hold unique meaning for diverse groups. The need for the development of more specific measures assessing sociocultural pressures, internalization, and the implications for counseling psychologists is discussed.

Structural equation modeling of data from 396 African-American and 291 white students at one predominantly white and two historically black colleges found that, contrary to suggestions of antiintellectualism, African-American students do not lack academic motivation and do not have lower self-esteem and academic self-concept. Educational environment plays a significant role. (Contains 59 references.) (SK)

Examined the validity and reliability of scores on the Academic Self-Concept Scale (W. Reynolds and others, 1980) in groups of 291 European American and 396 African American college students. Results suggest important ethnic differences in the structure of academic self-concept regarding beliefs about ability and the relationship between effort and grades. (SLD)

Replicated Cokley's 2000 study by comparing the academic self-concept of African American students in historically black college and university (HBCU) versus predominantly white college and university (PWCU) settings. Data from the Academic Self-Concept Scale indicated that, consistent with earlier findings, grade point average was the best predictor of academic self-concept for students attending PWCUs, while quality of student-faculty interaction was the best predictor for students attending HBCUs. (SM)

Examines data from 358 African American students and 229 European American students to determine if the phenomenon of academic disidentification occurred. Analyses revealed that among African American male students, the relationship between academic self-concept and grade point average (GPA) significantly decreased, whereas the relationship between academic self- concept, self-esteem, and GPA significantly increased for European American female students. (Contains 20 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

Study tests Cross's revised racial identity model. The relationship between racial identity attitudes and internalized racialism was examined in 153 African American college students attending a historically Black university. Findings indicated that the pre-encounter racial identity attitudes of miseducation and self-hatred, and immersion-emersion anti-White attitudes, were positively related to beliefs in the mental and genetic deficiencies of Blacks. (Contains 35 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

Examined academic self-concept in African American college students attending historically black and predominantly white colleges, noting institutional, gender, and class status differences and factors predicting academic self-concept. Student surveys indicated that grade point average was the best predictor of academic self-concept at predominantly white colleges. Quality of student-faculty interventions was the best predictor at historically black colleges. (SM)

African American students (N=206) participated in a study that replicated previous studies examining the impact of Black and White collegiate institutions on the racial and cultural identity of African American students. Results show that the racial composition of collegiate institutions facilitates certain racial attitudes and beliefs, but not greater racial awareness of Black identity. (Author/MKA)