Mixed Race Studies

Mapping “Race”: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research

Rutgers University Press
2013-08-12
256 pages
6 figures, 8 tables, 6 x 9
Paper ISBN: 978-0-8135-6136-3
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8135-6137-0
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-8135-6138-7

Edited by:

Laura E. Gómez, Professor of Law, Sociology, and Chicano Studies
University of California, Los Angeles

Nancy López, Associate Professor of Sociology
University of New Mexico

Forward by:

R. Burciaga Valdez

Researchers commonly ask subjects to self-identify their race from a menu of preestablished options. Yet if race is a multidimensional, multilevel social construction, this has profound methodological implications for the sciences and social sciences. Race must inform how we design large-scale data collection and how scientists utilize race in the context of specific research questions. This landmark collection argues for the recognition of those implications for research and suggests ways in which they may be integrated into future scientific endeavors. It concludes on a prescriptive note, providing an arsenal of multidisciplinary, conceptual, and methodological tools for studying race specifically within the context of health inequalities.

Table of Contents

• List of Figures and Tables
• Foreword by R. Burciaga Valdez
• Preface
• 1. Introduction: Taking the Social Construction of Race Seriously in Health Disparities Research / Laura E. Gómez
• Part I: Charting the Problem
  • 2. The Politics of Framing Health Disparities: Markets and Justice / Jonathan Kahn
  • 3. Looking at the World through “Race”-Colored Glasses: The Fallacy of Ascertainment Bias in Biomedical Research and Practice / Joseph L. Graves Jr.
  • 4. Ethical Dilemmas in Statistical Practice: The Probelm of Race in Biomedicine / Jay S. Kaufman
  • 5. A Holistic Alternative to Current Survey Research Approaches to Race / John A . Garcia
• Part II: Navigating Diverse Empirical Settings
  • 6. Organizational Practice and Social Constraints: Problems of Racial Identity Data Collection in Cancer Care and Research / Simon J. Craddock Lee
  • 7. Lessons from Political Science: Health Status and Improving How We Study Race / Gabriel R. Sanchez and Vickie D. Ybarra
  • 8. Advancing Asian American Mental Health Research by Enhancing Racial Identity Measures / Derek Kenji Iwamoto, Mai M. Kindaichi, and Matthew Miller
• Part III. Surveying Solutions
  • 9. Representing the Multidimensionality of Race in Survey Research / Allya Saperstein
  • 10. How Racial-Group Comparisons Create Misinformation in Depression Research: Using Racial Identity Theory to Conceptualize Health Disparities / Janet E. Helms and Ethan H. Mereish
  • 11. Jedi Public Health: Leveraging Contingencies of Social Identity to Grasp and Eliminiate Racial Health Inequality / Arline T. Geronimus
  • 12. Contextualizing Lived Race-Gender and the Racialized-Gendered Social Determinants of Health / Nancy López
• Notes on Contributors
• Index

School counselors’ perceptions of biracial students’ functioning

Columbia University
September 2010
178 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3400544
ISBN: 9781109673753

Mai Margaret Kindaichi

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University

The number of biracial school-aged youth has continued to increase dramatically (Jones & Smith, 2001), and has drawn timely attention to the extent to which practicing school counselors address biracial youths’ concerns in a culturally competent manner. This study examined the perceptions of a nationally-based random sample of 203 White school counselors who provided their assessment of a students functioning (i.e., GAF) and case conceptualizations (i.e., multicultural case conceptualization ability [MCCA]; Ladany et al., 1997) in response to a summary of a fictitious student. In the summary, the student was identified as White, Black, Asian, Biracial Black-White, Biracial Black- Asian, or Biracial Asian-White; the student summaries were identical less the racial background of the identified student. Potential differences in assessments of students’ functioning and inclusion of racial-cultural information in case conceptualizations were examined across the six student conditions, which yielded non-significant results. Nearly 89% and 93% of participants failed to address race or culture in their conceptualizations of students’ presenting concerns and treatment conceptualizations, respectively. Additionally, school counselors’ denial of racism (i.e., color-blind racial attitudes) was shown to moderate their inclusion of racial-cultural information in their treatment conceptualizations across students’ racial backgrounds. Implications of the findings, future research directions, and multicultural education in school counseling curricula are discussed.

Table of Contents

• CHAPTER I
  • INTRODUCTION
    • Multicultural Counseling Competence in School Counselors
    • Color-Blind Racial Attitudes
    • Attitudes toward Multiracial Youth
    • Overview of the Dissertation Project
• CHAPTER II
  • LITERATURE REVIEW
    • Multicultural Counseling Competence in School Settings
    • Explanation of Terms
    • Research concerning Biracial Individuals
      • Unique Challenges in Research Concerning Biracial and Multiracial Individuals
      • Perceptions of Biracial and Multiracial Individuals and Interracial Marriage
      • Empirical Literature on Biracial Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being and Adjustment
      • Summary Models of Biracial Identity Development and Identity Resolution
      • School Professionals’ Attitudes toward Biracial and Multiracial Children and Adolescents
    • Color-Blind Racial Attitudes
    • Summary and Research Questions
• CHAPTER III
  • METHOD
    • Research Goals
    • Participants and Sampling Method
    • Sample
    • Instruments
• CHAPTER IV
  • RESULTS:
    • Preliminary Analyses
    • Main Analyses
      • Question 1
      • Question 2
      • Question 3
      • Question 4
      • Question 5
    • Summary
• CHAPTER V
  • DISCUSSION
    • Limitations
    • Implications for Education and Training
    • Future Research Directions
• REFERENCES
• APPENDICES
• APPENDIX A. SAMPLE SURVEY PACKET
• APPENDIXB. COLOR-BLIND RACIAL ATTITUDES SUBSCALES
• APPENDIX C. ATTITUDES TOWARD MULTIRACIAL CHILDREN CODING
• APPENDIX D. CODING SCHEME FOR MULTICULTURAL CASE CONCEPTUALIZATION ABILITY

List of Tables

• Table 1. Summary of Stage Progressions in Linear Biracial Identity Development Models
• Table 2. Demographic Characteristics of Participants
• Table 3. Participants’ Demographic Information across Student Conditions
• Table 4. Participants’ Descriptions of School Counseling Settings
• Table 5. Mean GAF, MCCA Etiology, and MCCA Treatment Scores across Student Conditions and Participants’ Race/Ethnicity
• Table 6. Mean CoBRAS Subscale and AMCS Scores by Student Condition and Participants’ Race/Ethnicity
• Table 7. Correlations among White School Counselors’ Experience, Race-Related Attitudes, Case Conceptualization Ability, and GAF Scores
• Table 8. Analysis of Variance in GAF by Student Conditions (N=201)
• Table 9. Hierarchical Regression of School Counselors’ AMCS and CoBRAS Scores on GAF Scores for Biracial Students (N = 83)
• Table 10. Analyses of Variance in MCCA Etiology and MCCA Treatment by Students’ Backgrounds (N=201)
• Table 11. Multivariate Analysis of Variance in MCCA Etiology, MCCA Treatment, and GAF Scores
• Table 12. Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses for Moderator Effects

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Frequency Distribution of MCCA Etiology Scores Offered by White School Counselors across Student Conditions
• Figure 2: Frequency Distribution of MCCA Treatment scores offered by White School Counselors across Student Conditions
• Figure 3: Interaction Effect of Color-Blind Racial Attitudes across Student Conditions on Mean MCCA Treatment Scores

Purchase the dissertation here.