|
...scores patterns consistent with their representation of pro-Black, anti-Black, or mixed perspective.
**********
In the last 20 years there has been a proliferation of potentially useful, but conceptually overlapping, paper-and-pencil measures that assess African Americans' perspectives related to culture and ethnicity (e.g., Jones, 1996; Sabnani & Ponterotto, 1992; Utsey, 1998). Empirical studies have used such measures to demonstrate the relationship of African Americans' racial perspectives both to their personal functioning and to their reactions to oppression (Bowman, 1992). For example, the endorsement of scale items indicative of valuing one's Blackness, culture, and African heritage is positively correlated with indices of self-esteem (Chambers et al., 1998; Goodstein & Ponterotto, 1997; Phelps, Taylor, & Gerard, 2001). Conversely, the endorsement of items indicating that one does not have a positive and stable Black identity is related to psychological distress (Carter, 1991; Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Pyant & Yanico, 1991). Constructs measured by scales such as these are described below, and their overlap is used in the development and evaluation of parsimonious underlying dimensions.
One of the most cited and well-received models of African American adults' racial perspectives is Cross's (1971) Nigrescence model of racial identity (Ponterotto, 1989). Racial identity is composed of "attitudes, thoughts, feelings and behaviors toward oneself, as a member of a racial group, and toward members of the dominant and non-dominant racial group(s)" (Carter & Boyd-Jackson, 1998, p. 108). In the Nigrescence model, African Americans experience a series of stages ranging from perceiving Blackness as something to be degraded to having a positive sense of security with their own Blackness (Parham & Helms, 1981). In the first Nigrescence stage, Preencounter, African Americans adhere to White standards, values, and beliefs and espouse society's anti-Black views. In the Encounter stage, they have upsetting racial experiences that destroy their previous racial assumptions, which lead them to feel confused and to search for a new Black identity. When they enter the Immersion stage, race becomes very salient; they develop a pro-Black stance and denigrate everything White. Theoretically, the pro-Black attitudes of people in the Immersion stage are only minimally internalized, and they may also have guilt regarding any previously held anti-Black feelings. Finally, in the Internalization stage, they resolve internal racial conflicts to where they have a pro-Black frame of reference and are simultaneously appreciative of the contributions of other races and cultures (Cross, 1971, 1978; Parham & Helms, 1981). Correlation findings are consistent with the degree to which each stage is theorized to be positive and stable. For example, Preencounter and Immersion attitude scores are positively related to psychological distress (Carter, 1991; Parham & Helms, 1985b; Pyant & Yanico, 1991), and Internalization attitude scores are positively related to self-esteem (Goodstein & Ponterotto, 1997).
One construct that appears to overlap conceptually with the Nigrescence stages is Afrocentricity (Sabnani & Ponterotto, 1992). This construct refers to (a) awareness of one's African identity and cultural heritage, (b) recognition of Black survival priorities, (c) participation in the development of Black people, and (d) recognition of oppression (Baldwin, 1981). Thus, like persons in the Internalization stage of racial identity, Afrocentric persons are theorized to have a positive sense of their own Blackness, and Afrocentricity scores are positively related to self-esteem (Chambers et al., 1998). Moreover, like persons in the Immersion stage of racial identity, Afrocentric persons are theorized to view race as an important aspect of their experiences.
A third potentially overlapping construct relevant to how African Americans cope with racism and oppression addresses the extent to which individuals internalize negative stereotypes about their own group (e.g., Jewell, 1983; Willis, 1990). Negative stereotypes indicate internalized negative in-group racial attitudes, in that if one has accepted the negative societal view of African Americans, one may also have negative views of the self (Niemann, O'Connor, & McClorie, 1998). Such a negative view of Blackness appears to be very similar to the Preencounter stage of racial identity. Thus, it is likely that endorsement of negative in-group stereotypes might also be related to African Americans' psychological distress.
The theories underlying these racial constructs are complex and multidimensional (e.g., Baldwin, 1981; Cross, 1995), and there has been little theoretical literrature or empirical research to clarify how scores on instruments measuring these contructs are interrelated (Brookins, 1994; Parham, 1993; Penn, Gaines, & Phillips, 1993; Phillips, Penn, & Gaines, 1993). The authors of the scales intended to measure different constructs; however, there appears to be significant conceptual overlap among them (Sabnani & Ponterotto, 1992). Thus, a search for underlying components common to scores from instruments that measure racial perspectives is timely and needed to better understand the nature of the constructs assessed by these scales (Worrell, Cross, & Vandiver, 2001). Principal-component analysis (PCA) has been shown to identify underlying components common to scores from potentially related scales that measure other constructs such as perfectionism (Suddarth & Slaney, 2001), cognitive functioning (Case, Demetriou, Platsidou, & Kazi, 2001; Watkins, Greenawalt, & Marcell, 2002), and personality traits (Lorr, Youniss, & Kluth, 1992). Thus, I used PCA to identify the dimensions that underlie racial perspectives.
The foregoing review suggests that underlying pro- and anti-Black dimensions may account for the conceptual overlap among these racial constructs, which I evaluated in this study. I used PCA to determine whether scores on racial scales share components that embody pro- and anti-Black dimensions. If so, shared variance between Afrocentricity and Internalization racial identity attitude scores would embody a pro-Black component, and shared variance between Preencounter racial identity attitude scores...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development
Challenges of Internet-based assessment: measuring career decision-mak..., April 01, 2004
Acknowledgment., April 01, 2004
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
