Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
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Item INTERSECTIONAL EXPLORATION OF BLACK MEN’S GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND EXPRESSIONS(2024) Moore, Daniel K.; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gender identities and expressions of men from minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds often differ from those outlined in Traditional Masculinity Ideologies (TMI). These differences have been highlighted by scholars who have advocated for intersectional approaches to exploring masculinities. Recent intersectional inquiries into Black masculinity and Black manhood have provided insights into the unique expression of masculinity Black men have developed. This study sought to extend the understanding of existing intersectional explorations of Black manhood and Black masculinity through qualitative inquiry. Additionally, it attended to the impact of religion, spirituality, and sexual orientation in its analysis of Black men’s intersectional identity development and expression. Findings indicated that Black men often described their experiences in terms of either race or gender, but rarely in terms of intersectional identity. A theory of racialized gender identity development and expression for Black men is posited based on the integration of extant theories of racial and gender identity development, ego identity development, as well as intersectional approaches to stereotyping and prejudice. Implications for research and practice are provided.Item Decolonizing in Individual Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Exploration(2024) Bansal, Priya; Hill, Clara E; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)We interviewed 12 therapists experienced in practicing decolonizing about their understanding of decolonizing and its relevance to therapy, as well as how they implemented this approach with at least one client. Interviews were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) and revealed that colonial paradigms had negative individual, relational, and societal impacts; therapists used a range of interventions aligned with decolonizing, including interventions to help clients gain insight about the systemic context of psychological problems and to facilitate client resistance of colonial ideologies; sociocultural identity interactions between therapist and client considerably shaped the therapy work; therapists encountered conceptual, practical, and systemic barriers to decolonizing practice; and clients experienced improvements across intrapersonal and interpersonal functioning. Implications for practice and research are discussed.Item AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM: THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS, COPING, AND HEALTH AMONG BLACK COLLEGE STUDENTS(2024) Brown, Rabia; Lewis, Jioni A.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black college students endure racial microaggressions in higher education, and current research highlights how racial microaggressions can negatively impact the health of Black college students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between racial microaggressions in higher education, coping strategies (education/advocacy, resistance, detachment, drug/alcohol use, and internalization), and health quality in Black college students. Participants included 155 Black college students that took an online survey as a part of a larger study conducted at a large Southeastern historically white university. Results from the hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that racial microaggressions were significantly and negatively associated with mental and physical health quality in Black college students. Additionally, results from the mediation analyses found that detachment coping significantly mediated the association between racial microaggressions and mental health in Black college students. This study provides further evidence of the negative impact of racial microaggressions on the health and well-being of Black college students.Item Therapist Cultural Humility, Black LGB Identity Centrality, and Therapeutic Outcomes in Black LGB Adults.(2023) Teran Hernandez, Manuel; Shin, Richard Q.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adults experience discrimination at individual and institutional levels (Page et al., 2020) in part due to simultaneous experiences of anti-Black racism and heterosexism. Despite this, Black LGB adults continue to underutilize therapeutic services and also report high rates of premature termination from therapy (Garrett-Walker & Longmire-Avital, 2018). The current study advances the literature by investigating the association between therapist cultural humility, Black LGB centrality, and therapeutic outcomes among Black LGB adults. A sample of Black LGB adults (N = 157) participated in an online survey to respond to measures on demographic information, therapist cultural humility, centrality with their race x sexual orientation (Black LGB centrality), and therapeutic outcomes. Results showed that therapist cultural humility was a significant predictor of therapist satisfaction but not future utilization of counseling services while controlling for age and socioeconomic status among Black LGB adults. The analyses found that Black LGB centrality was not a significant moderator in the association between therapist cultural humility and therapist satisfaction, and only significant in the relation between future utilization of counseling services for participants who reported high levels of Black LGB centrality. Recommendations for future clinical practice and research efforts are provided.Item Connection in the Lives of LGBTQ+ South Asians: A Phenomenological Study(2023) Pasha, Amber Maryam; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Connection has been found to be an important factor for LGBTQ+ wellbeing as it pertains to the relationships between stigma, discrimination, and psychological distress, and LGBTQ+ people of color in particular are known to face intersectional minority stress at high levels. This study examined the role of connection specifically for LGBTQ+ South Asians, a population which is highly underrepresented within both LGBTQ+ and South Asian literatures. Fifteen LGBTQ+ second-generation South Asian adults, aged 19-35, were interviewed about their insights regarding connection and disconnection within their own lived experience. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and revealed common experiential themes across the group of interviewees, which reflected three distinct forms of connection participants deemed as distinctly meaningful: i) interpersonal connections and context ii) intrapersonal connection, and iii) indirect connection. Subthemes reflected unique challenges, joys, struggles, and examples of LGBTQ+ South Asian resilience in each of these life areas. Implications of these findings are discussed for counseling professionals, higher education professionals, community organizations, and others seeking to better understand and support the wellbeing of this population.Item Getting on the Same Page: Associations of Immediacy and Client-Therapist Alliance Congruence(2022) Hillman, Justin William; Kivlighan, Jr., Dennis M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined the within-dyad association of immediacy (i.e., a skill that therapists use to work with the therapeutic relationship in the here-and-now) with the strength and congruence of the working alliance across 1352 sessions of 58 adult community clients seeing 11 doctoral student therapists in individual psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapy. As a preliminary step, the factor structure and validity were tested for the Metacommunication in Session Questionnaire–Client Form (MSQ-C), a client-rated measure of immediacy adapted from the supervisory MSQ (Calvert, Deane, & Grenyer, 2020). After every session, clients and therapists completed the Working Alliance Inventory–Short Revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) and clients completed the MSQ-C. Factor analysis supported a two-factor structure for MSQ-C (Open Communication and Managing Disagreement/Discomfort factors). Validity of the MSQ-C was supported by predicted correlations with measures of helping skills, sessions quality, alliance, and therapist reported immediacy use, although some associations varied depending on the client or therapist rater perspective. Results of multilevel, latent variable models found that when clients reported more immediacy in a session compared to their average session, they tended to report a stronger alliance; and this effect was strongest in earlier sessions, weaker in magnitude in middle sessions, and non-significant in later sessions. Results of multilevel truth-and-bias models showed that therapist alliance ratings were temporally congruent with client alliance ratings, but client-perceived immediacy did not predict alliance congruence. Limitations and future directions are discussed.Item PREDICTING POLICY: EXAMINING PERCEPTIONS OF ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, COLOR-EVASIVE RACIAL ATTITUDES, AND BELIEFS ABOUT CAPITALISM(2022) Sharma, Rajni; Kivlighan, Dennis; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines how beliefs about capitalism, color-evasive racial attitudes, and perceptions about wealth distribution predict redistributive economic policy preferences. I hypothesized that beliefs about capitalism, perceptions of wealth distribution, and color-evasiveness predict policy preferences when controlling for Satisfaction With Life (SWLS) and that critical consciousness action (CA) will moderate this relationship. Approximately 510 individuals completed the Costs of United States Corporate Capitalism (CCC) scale, Colorblind Racial Attitudes Scale (COBRAS), the Critical Action subscale of the Critical Consciousness Scale, ratings of wealth distribution, and questions about their policy preferences through an online survey distributed through MTurk. Results indicated that the CCC and COBRAS subscales predicted policy preferences, over and above demographic variables. Findings from this project may inform how individuals make decisions about policy preferences and on a broader scale, inform solutions for decreasing inequity in the U.S. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.Item Cognitive Mechanisms of Trauma from Police Encounters among Black Individuals(2022) Yee, Stephanie Elza; Shin, Richard Q; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Black Americans historically have had a contentious relationship with police due to the violence they have endured at the hands of law enforcement (Nadal et al., 2017). Previous research has demonstrated the vast psychological consequences of intrusive police encounters (DeVylder et al., 2017). However, trauma is a largely understudied psychological outcome of police encounters for Black citizens (Bryant-Davis et al., 2017). Research on discrimination attributions for events has implicated cognitive attributions as an important predictor of the relationship between potentially racist incidents and mental health outcomes (Major & Dover, 2016). Additionally, cognitive appraisal has been identified as a very important mechanism of trauma (Sherrer, 2011). The current study seeks to fill the gaps in the literature by examining the relationships between intrusiveness of police encounters, cognitive appraisal, discrimination attributions, and trauma symptoms. Additionally, attitudes towards police are examined as a moderator on the relationship between intrusiveness of police encounters and discrimination attributions. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.Item The Effects of Subtle Racial Discrimination on Mood: Examining the Mediating Role of Cognitive Appraisal for Asian Americans(2022) Ahn, Lydia; Kivlighan, Dennis M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present study examined the effects of inducing the cognitive strategies of self or other-blame in response to a racist situation on situational mood with Asian American emerging adults. I manipulated responses to racism using a 2-group (randomized, between-subjects experimental design) to examine differences in self- versus other-blame. Participants watched a vignette about a common subtle racism event and were randomly assigned to the self or other-blame condition. Those in the self-blame condition were assigned a speech task to describe what they could have done to change the situation and those in the other-blame condition were asked to describe how the perpetrator is racist. After the manipulation check, there were 120 total Asian American emerging adults (Mage = 20.04, SD = 2.18; 60.8% female) in the sample; specifically, 100 participants in the other-blame condition and 20 participants in the self-blame condition successfully completed the experimental task. Multiple path analyses were used to examine the effects of the condition (self vs. other-blame) on vocal acoustics and language used during the speech task, and in turn their self-reported anger and depression, while controlling for critical consciousness and prior depression and anger. Vocal pitch mean and range were measured through the software Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2005) and language words were assessed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2015), while anger and depression were measured through the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF; Shacham, 1983). Results indicated that those in the other-blame group had greater pitch mean and used more positive emotion words, cognitive mechanism words, and less tentative words. There were no differences in self-reported anger and depression between the two conditions. Implications touched on the importance of racism attributions on speech and language.Item Investigating Islamophobia: Identifying Risk and Protective Factors in the Muslim American Community(2021) Ashai, Shereen; Shin, Richard; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Muslim Americans have experienced considerable anti-Muslim discrimination as a result of ongoing exposure to Islamophobic rhetoric and hate crimes (Khan & Ecklund, 2012; Kunst et al., 2012). Like other forms of oppression, Islamophobia operates at an interpersonal and institutional level (Helms, 2016). This study explored societal and interpersonal anti-Muslim discrimination experienced by 188 Muslim adults in the United States. Vigilance, community connectedness, and social support were investigated as potential moderators in the relationship between societal and interpersonal anti-Muslim discrimination and psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and stress). Results suggested that vigilance exacerbated the relationship between societal anti-Muslim discrimination and anxiety. Social support initially buffered the effects of interpersonal anti-Muslim discrimination and depression; however, this finding was not substantiated when controlling for the influence of COVID-19 related stressors. There was no evidence to suggest the moderating effects of community connectedness. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.