Throughout research studies in conducted in the United States, African Americans score highest when compared to other ethnic groups. In a study conducted examining the social, psychological well-being in African American college students, it was found that, consistent with research, African Americans scored on the high end of the self-esteem scale and being significantly higher than Whites (p<.01). No self-esteem differences were observed for the participants who put more or less stock in their ethnic identity. The personal identity variable did not show significant relation to self-esteem (Reitzes & Jaret, 2007). Black participants also scored higher on self-esteem scales in a study conducted in 2012. (Zeigler-Hill, Wallace, & Myers, 2012). …show more content…
The findings of these studies are in tandem with previous studies conducted regarding the Black self-esteem advantage (Twenge & Crocker, 2002). The study conducted in 2012 used a procedure known as the bogus pipeline, which uses psychological equipment to ostensibly allow researchers to detect if individuals are lying. This was used in the study to examine whether impression management influenced the high self-esteem scores of African Americans. The study found that when the bogus pipeline procedure was employed African Americans reported more modest levels of self-esteem (Zeigler-Hill et al., 2012). This lends itself to impression management being an important factor in the high scores of African American self-esteem. Another study of 371 undergraduates suggested that, when compared to Whites, the self-esteem of Blacks is less dependent on the opinions of others.
Study 1 examined self-esteem as it applies to race and also the domains on which it is based. Contingent self-esteem was measured using the Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale (CSWS). As seen in other studies, African Americans scored higher on the self-esteem scale than whites. On the CSWS, whites reported higher scores in family love and support, outdoing others in competition, physical appearance, virtue, and other’s approval; Blacks scored higher on God’s love; and there was no difference found for academic competence (Zeigler-Hill, …show more content…
2007). A sample of 394 African Americans from a historically Black university was taken to examine whether perceived racism moderates the association between self-esteem and psychological distress. A study of perceived racism among African Americans found that self-esteem was negatively associated with psychological distress. It did find that the two-way interaction of self-esteem and perceived racism significantly predicted psychological distress (p<.01) (Chao, Longo, Wang, Dasgupta, & Fear, 2014). Another study, which used a sample of 471 from which data was collected via telephonic interview, found that the relationship between reflected appraisals of race (ex. participant’s feeling that others they came into contact with felt that their race held importance) and self-esteem did not yield a significant result for men or women of different races (Jaret, Reitzes, & Shapkina, 2005). Researchers used data from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) to examine whether individual internalization will be associated with low levels of self-esteem in black adults and also to examine whether that association depends on how close participants feel to other blacks.
This study found that the rejection of positive stereotypes and acceptance of negative stereotypes were negatively and significantly related to self-esteem and positively correlated with each other. Racial group closeness, gender, and skin tone were found to be strongly and closely related to Black adult’s self-esteem. Participants who felt close to other Blacks were found to be likely to report high self-esteem and also it was found that Blacks who felt low and medium levels of closeness tended to report an increase in self-esteem upon accepting negative stereotypes. As found in Twenge and Crocker 2002, location or region was found to be related to self-esteem and participants who lived in the south were found to have high self-esteem when compared to participants in the North East or North Central States. The majority of Black participants in this study reported self-esteem above a 3.0 on a 1 to 4 scale (Brown, Sellers, & Gomez,
2002). Age and Self-Esteem A study examined age and race based variation in within-person changes in self-esteem over a six year period using a sample of 3,617 adults starting at age 25 interviewing them up to 4 times. Consistent with findings by Twenge and Crocker 2002, the study found that self-esteem decline late in life especially in African Americans (Shaw, Liang, & Krause, 2010). African American Narcissism Historically research has suggested that African Americans score higher in narcissism than other ethnic groups. One research study showed that African Americans (M = 16.7, SD = 6.5) and Hispanics (M = 16.5, SD = 6.4) are slightly, but significantly (p>.05) more narcissistic than their Asian (M = 14.9, SD = 6.5) and White (M = 14.8, SD = 6.8) counterparts (Foster, Campbell, & Twenge, 2003). These are similar findings to the highest levels of self-esteem found in African Americans. This study also found that the participants in the study who were from the United States reported the highest levels of narcissism and had an average score on the NPI of 15.3 (SD= 6.8). The ethnic difference remained even when age and income level were controlled for in the study (Foster et al., 2003). In 2011, researchers conducted three studies. The first of the two studies found that Blacks had the highest scores for self-esteem on the NPI and that this was true even when gender, self-esteem level, and socially desirable responses. Study 2 results were consistent with the first study with Blacks reporting higher self-esteem scores than Whites. The final study found that the higher scores of African Americans held true, producing similar results on the Narcissistic Grandiosity Scale, Psychological Entitlement Scale, PDQ-4+, Poisonous Pedagogy subscale of the OMNI, and Narcissistically Abused Personality subscale of the Omni with effects ranging from small to medium. This study also found that there were not ethnic differences in scores for the Exploitative, Hiding the Self, Grandiose Fantasy, Devaluing, and Entitlement Rage subscales of the PNI; Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, and Narcissistic Personality Dimension of the OMNI. Another notable finding was that Whites reported higher scores on the Contingent Self-Esteem and the Self-Sacrificing Self-Enhancement subscale of the PNI, and the PDQ-4+ (Zeigler-Hill & Wallace, 2011). High levels of Narcissism could account for the high self-esteem scores of African Americans Although African Americans score the highest on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) scale, research has been conducted to examine whether narcissism has increased over the years. A meta-analysis conducted in 2008 showed an overall increase of narcissism among college students with a sample that contained African Americans in addition to other ethnicities from the 1980s to 2006. Over the course of the study, the percentage of African Americans that earned Bachelor’s degrees increased from 6% to about 9% The study showed that, since 1982, scores on the NPI for college students have increased 0.33 standard deviations (Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman, 2008a). The makeup of college students in this study was overwhelmingly white and African Americans only made up 6% to 9% of the participants in the study. In another study conducted in 2008, no statistically detectable increase of narcissism was found in African Americans (p = 0.252) from 1996 to 2008 (Donnellan, Trzesniewski, & Robins, 2008). Discussion Research has shown that African Americans have the highest self-esteem scores when compared to other ethnicities in the US. Zeigler et al. 2007, suggested that impression management influences high self-esteem scores in African Americans. Socially desirable response theory may also account for the high self-esteem score for African Americans. High narcissism scores on the NPI scale found in African Americans suggest that their self-esteem may be bolstered by narcissistic traits and thus call into question the notion of a Black self-esteem advantage. Future research should be conducted on whether the high levels of self-esteem in African Americans are due to high levels of narcissism or if the high levels of self-esteem are attributed to threatened egotism. Another topic that should be addressed by future research is if African American’s high levels of self-esteem are due to cultural individualism.
Ghettos, low-riders, hip-hop, rap, drugs and crime, it has got to be a Black man right? Saggy pants, unintelligible language, lazy, and the lists continue to both stereotype and describe Blacks. Do Black Americans perpetuate their own discrimination? Are Black Americans creating their own low status in society? Black people around the world have been hypnotized into believing all their failures in life are due to discrimination, but are they correct? Blacks are often their own worst enemies, often the cause of their own disasters, and many don’t see that until it’s too late, if ever. Discrimination and prejudice are imposed upon Blacks, often because the culture they live in is not “acceptable” to the dominant society. On the other hand, an understandable reason for Blacks actions is often due to unattainable opportunities towards the American Dream.
While it advocates for a Black Psychology perspective it also combines it with traditional Eurocentric psychological methodology. - Charles Thomas, Joseph White, and William Cross Radical School - This school of thought places emphasis on an African worldview analysis as essential to understanding the psychology of people of African descent. (Karenga, 2010) presents that Black psychologists who subscribe to the Traditional school of thought recognize the need for a change in the attitudes pertaining to the psychological assessment of African Americans however still utilize Eurocentric
I am a small town, young African American girl. I know first hand how racial stereotypes can affect someone 's life in a negative way. In the essays “Living in Two Worlds” by Marcus Mabry and “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples both authors explore the effects of racial stereotypes, using notably many similarities and differences throughout each essay.
Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.
Cokley, Kevin. "The Impact of College Racial Composition on African American Students' Academic Self-Concept: A Replication and Extension." Journal of Negro Education 71.4 (2002): 288-96. JSTOR. Web.
It must be noted that for the purpose of avoiding redundancy, the author has chosen to use the terms African-American and black synonymously to reference the culture, which...
Decades of research has shown us that African Americans have been depressed for hundreds of years. Although the Declaration of Independence states “All men are created equal,” that rule did not apply to African Americans. By the end of the Civil War more than 180,000 black soldiers were in the United States Military. After the Civil War, many Africa...
I have heard a white person tell a black person, that he or she does not act black. I have also heard the statement, “I am not racist, I have a lot of black friends.” When I hear statements like these, it makes me think that people are trying to negatively compare white and black people, even if they are not meaning to. Although I wish we could combat prejudice in the society, I don’t think that we can ever truly stop it, and racism will always be a problem in America” (Friedman, 2007). Unless people stop forming negative stereotypes about different races other than their own, prejudice and discrimination towards races will always be apparent, and passed down to
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., & Holder, A. (2008). Racial microaggressions in the life experience of Black Americans. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(3), 329.
"African American Communities and Mental Health." Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. .
being black and being a woman. Scholars convey that African American women are involved in what’s called the “double threat” where membership in more than one oppressed social group results in cumulative risk outcomes (Brown 2000; Chavous et. al 2004; Childs 2005; Steele 1992; 1997). Black women may also experience stress due to unrealistic stereotypes. For example, research has revealed that black women experience “double threat” when they apply for housing from a white landlord. Results conclude that white landlords perceive black women as the “black single mother” stereotype, therefore they refuse to provide them with adequate housing (Iceland and Wilkes 2006; Roscigno et al. 2009). Black women actively seek to resist the positive and negative stereotypes for fear that embodying them will result in validation of those categorizations (Chavous et al. 2004; Fries-Britt & Griffin 2007; Rollock, Gillborn, Vincent & Ball 2011; Settles 2006; Steele 1997). Black women may not have intended to perpetuate stereotypes in the presence of others, but are subjected to social pressures to normalize these stereotypes for others and pigeonhole themselves in counteractive representations of black women (Childs 2005; Wilkins 2012). Steele (1992) described this process as “stereotype threat” which occurs when individuals perceive that negative stereotypes about their group as
Low self-esteem is caused in childhood, the separating of mothers from their children. This happened often during slavery and is passed on from generation to generation. These adults suffer from lack of love and commitment. Blacks who suffer from neurosis also tend to have an overwhelming sense of helplessness and a wide range of
Racial Identity Theory consists of five assumptions: Every member of society belongs to one or more groups of people; Belonging to a group influences a person’s worldview; The United States is a race centered society and operates on a hierarchy of racial groups; A racist social environment influences the process of racial identity development; As one develops socially, one grapples with racial identity (Brown et al., 1996; Helms, 1984, 1990, 1995; Parker, 1998; Ponterotto, 1993; Pope-Davis & ...
The oppression that African American individuals endured for years, is still being practice with racial discrimination and prejudice. One strength of identifying as African American is the increase of belongingness that gave me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. However, this was not always the case. Growing into an adult gave me the advantage to travel and meet other African Americans that I believed shared some of the same historical and ethnic background. In this time period I was introduced to what is called within-group differences, which is the differences among the members of a group (Organista, 2010). Wanting to be around individuals that I believed to have a common core with was one of my flaws, but while traveling with individuals that I thought was like me I experienced that I had nothing in common with some of my travel friends. One of my friends stated that we had nothing in common with each other, because of our different social economic status, education and employment. At first I was offended, however, after taking psychology of ethnic groups in the United States there was a sense of understanding that not all individuals that look alike, are alike. This assumption that all groups function
For my senior thesis research, I examined the relationship of African self-consciousness and psychological well-being in college students of African descent. I found that these participants had very high levels of African self-consciousness, however, they displayed low levels of psychological well-being. An understanding of Black cultural identity, heritage, and experiences that sustained Black life were revealed as factors that contributed to a high level of African self-consciousness. This suggests that students who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) tend to have higher African self-consciousness because they have been immersed in their history and culture. The atmosphere at HBCUs allows the students to feel embraced and accepted for who they are, without apology. I presented a poster on these findings at the Association of African Black Psychologists Student Circle conference, emphasizing that efforts should be directed towards educating African Americans about their cultural identity and the benefits of being in tune with yourself