College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Discrimination

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE PERCEIVED CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CLIMATE MEASURE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS (PCRC)
    (2021) Daye, Alyssa Lauren; O'Neal, Colleen; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study makes the contribution of developing a measure that provides voice to African American students, offers a broader view of their school experiences than existing cultural responsivity measures, as well as consequences for their academic outcomes. The present study reports the development and initial validation of a measure of perceived culturally responsive climate for African American adolescents (PCRC). The study relies on the existing longitudinal Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS) dataset, a public use dataset collected from 1991-2000. The present study uses two waves of data from participants aged 13 to 18, and the subsample consists of 533 African American youths in Wave 3 (49.3% female; mean age of 14) and 399 African American youths in Wave 4 (51% female; mean age of 17). With the goal of creating a novel measure capturing youth perceptions of cultural responsiveness by both teachers and the school climate, this study combined student self-reported Wave 3 MADICS questionnaires of meaningful and culturally responsive curriculum, high academic expectations, teacher discrimination, peer discrimination, autonomy and self-advocacy, and school social support (i.e., teacher and peer support). Results indicated that a second order factor structure best fit the PCRC measure; the PCRC measure demonstrated adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability; and the PCRC predicted later math and non-math subject academic ability self-concept for African American adolescents. The study holds implications for schools, educators, and school psychologists hoping to give voice to African American student perceptions of culturally responsive teaching practices and school climate.
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    ESSAYS ON SKILLS AND VICTIMIZATION
    (2015) Sarzosa, Miguel; Urzua, Sergio; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Recent literature has shown that skills are not only essential for the development of successful adults, but also that they are malleable and prone to be affected by many experiences. In this dissertation, I explore these two sides of skills and development. I use skills as a vehicle to study the consequences victimization events have on adult outcomes, and as the channels through which the gaps in those adult outcomes materialize. I use novel longitudinal surveys and rely on an empirical strategy that recognizes skills as latent constructs. First, I estimate the treatment effects being bullied and being a bully in middle school have on several outcomes measured at age 18. I find that both, victims and bullies, have negative consequences later in life. However, they differ in how non-cognitive and cognitive skills palliate or exacerbate these consequences. Then, I move on to investigate the channels that open the gaps in adult outcomes between victims and non-victims. I estimate a structural dynamic model of skill accumulation. I allow skill formation to depend on past levels of skills, parental investment and bullying. Also, I allow bullying itself to depend on each student's past skills and those of his or her classmates. I find that being bullied at age 14 depletes current skill levels by 14% of a standard deviation for the average child. This skill depletion causes the individual to become 25% more likely to experience bullying again at age 15. Therefore bullying triggers a self-reinforcing mechanism that opens an ever-growing skill gap that reaches about one standard deviation by age 16. Finally, under the light of skills, I explore how other type of victimization, namely discrimination against sexual minorities, creates income gaps against non- heterosexual workers. I estimate a structural model that relies on the identification of unobserved skills to allow schooling choices, occupational choices and labor market outcomes to be endogenously determined and affected by the sexual preference of the worker. The results show that difference in skills, observable characteristics, and tastes for tertiary education and type of occupation, contribute to at least half of the income gaps non-heterosexuals face.
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    Taking Racism to Heart: The Effects of Race-Related Stress on Cardiovascular Reactivity for Black/White Biracial People
    (2013) Franco, Marisa Gina; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This within-groups experimental study examined whether two race-related stressors--social invalidation and discrimination from family--affect cardiovascular reactivity for Black/White Biracial adults (N = 60). This study also tested whether racial centrality moderates the link between race-related stress and cardiovascular reactivity. A mixed model was used to analyze differences in cardiovascular reactivity across control and racial stressor conditions. Findings revealed that discussing experiences of discrimination from family lowered systolic blood pressure. In contrast, in the recovery period following discussion of discrimination from family, systolic blood pressure increased. Social invalidation did not have any effects on cardiovascular reactivity. There was not support for the moderating role of racial centrality in the relationship between racial stress and cardiovascular reactivity.
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    The Interaction of Race and Social Status in Determining Discrimination
    (2012) O'Brien, Julia Diane; Stangor, Charles; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This research examines the interaction of race and social status in determining stereotypes and discrimination. Through six experiments, I demonstrate that because High Status Blacks are stereotyped positively and similarly to High Status Whites in domains related to economic resources (Pilot Study), they are perceived as competitors when economic resources are scarce. As such, they face increased discrimination (relative to Low Status Blacks) in economic-resource relevant domains (Study 1b), particularly when these resources are scarce (Study 1a). I demonstrate that this discrimination is driven by Zero-Sum Beliefs about the social status hierarchy and competition for resources (Study 2 and Study 3b). I also present novel evidence of the ironic effect of having strong Zero-Sum Beliefs for those who are internally motivated to control prejudice (IMS; Plant & Devine, 1998; Study 3b). I discuss these findings in the context of the Instrumental Model of Group Conflict (Esses, Jackson, and Armstrong, 1998) and research on racial prejudice and discrimination, and also apply these findings to broader issues regarding the social mobility of Black Americans.
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    The duality of bias: Predictors of racially motivated Differential Test Functioning in interview evaluations
    (2011) Aiken, Juliet Renee; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Despite continued interest in and research on discrimination, the complex nature of the process through which it emerges has not been adequately explored. In the current study, I assessed racially-motivated Differential Test Functioning (DTF) and its drivers in an interview context. Specifically, I investigated patterns of DTF-for, DTF-against, and no DTF across three studies. Moreover, I predicted five patterns of responding using in-group belonging (rater race and ethnic identity), prejudice, and motivation to hide prejudice. Results indicate that patterns of responding indicative of DTF-against blacks, DTF-against whites, and no DTF emerged in both student and adult samples. Additionally, in-group belonging and a motivation to hide prejudice appear to predict bias-against, whereas a low in-group belonging may result in no DTF. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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    Organizational Characteristics as a Justification of Employment Discrimination
    (2010) Siegel, Eric Forrest; Stangor, Charles; Hanges, Paul J.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This research explores the processes behind discrimination within organizations using the Justification-Suppression (JS) model. According to the JS model, internal cognitions, called justifications, can disinhibit prejudice and cause discrimination. The policies and characteristics of an organization can be a source of the justifications that lead to discrimination within organizations. To explore this hypothesis, participants completed a hiring simulation task. In this experiment, the racial makeup of the company was manipulated so that the company was either homogeneously White or racially diverse. In addition, company communications, in the form of e-mails, were manipulated to change the company's tolerance for discrimination. Both the demographics and communications manipulations led the participants to discriminate in their hiring decisions. When both demographics and communications indicated discrimination was acceptable, the degree of discrimination was greater than when there was a single source of justification. This implies that an organization's characteristics can lead to increased discrimination.
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    The cardiovascular and psychological effects of coping with perceived ethnic / racial discrimination.
    (2009) Gholkar, Radha; Smith, Barry D.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Most previous studies have demonstrated the superiority of active coping, but less is known about the role of coping in perceived ethnic and racial discrimination. The purpose of this study was to examine whether active or passive coping is more effective in situations of low vs. high perceived controllability over a discriminatory event. Fifty-two African-American participants were randomized to one of four conditions: High Control / Active Coping; High Control / Passive Coping; Low Control / Active Coping; and Low Control / Passive Coping. Before and after the coping task, participants played a simulated computer game in which they were ostracized due to race. Continuous measures of heart rate and blood pressure were collected, in addition to periodic measurements of mood, anxiety, and self-efficacy. It was first hypothesized that active coping and high controllability would be associated with greater decreases in cardiovascular reactivity / recovery, negative mood, and anxiety. Second, it was hypothesized that there would be an interaction between coping and control. Finally, it was hypothesized that individuals in the Low Control/Passive Coping condition would exhibit less cardiovascular reactivity / recovery, negative mood and anxiety, and higher self-efficacy when the uncontrollable discriminatory event was reintroduced. Data were analyzed using reactivity and recovery scores in a series of ANCOVAs. Results supported the benefits of active coping and high controllability, specifically in reference to negative mood. However, active coping was also associated with significantly longer diastolic blood pressure and heart rate recovery times. Furthermore, significant interactions were observed between coping and control for negative mood and anxiety. However, results did not support the hypothesis that the Low Control/Passive Coping group was more resilient during the second discriminatory event compared to the other groups, as this group scored significantly lower on subjective self-efficacy than all other conditions. Post hoc analyses largely confirmed these findings, but also demonstrated additional null results. Results suggest high controllability and active coping may be more advantageous for self-reported psychological than for cardiovascular indices, providing support for the concept of John Henryism. Implications for future work, including basic and applied research, are discussed.