Q.U.E.S.T. Research Journal Volume III

Q.U.E.S.T. Quality Undergraduate Education and Scholarly Training Journal Summer 2020 | Volume III

The QUEST Program was initiated in 2018 by the Department of Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt. The ideas and opinions contained in this publication solely reflect those of the authors and not New York University. All work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works License.

To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org

Q . U . E . S .T. QUALITY UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AND SCHOLARLY TRAINING

Summer 2020 | Volume III

Editor-in-Chief Michelle Vardanian

Cover Art Melissa Ceren

Layout & Design Director Jordan Morris

2020 Quest Scholars Tyra Andrus AnaCristina Bedoya Melissa Ceren Rakim Griffin Nancy Hernandez Fatima C. Gutierrez Jhong Onyinye Nnajiofor Adela Ochoa Duc Pham Jessica Pitts Medina Shah

Faculty Mentors Natalie Brito (ISLAND) Elise Cappella (UPK) Anil Chacko (FACES) Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng William Tsai (CEH) Norissa Williams (LRP)

Lab Mentors Ashley Greaves (ISLAND) Deanna Ibrahim (LRP) Jia-Lin Liu (Cherng) Brittany Matthews (FACES) Victoria Monte (CEH) Martha Moreno (Cherng) Jessica Siegel (UPK) Sarah Claire Vogel (ISLAND)

contents

Research Proposals 06

The role of breastfeeding in the association between physiological reactivity in early infancy and inhibited temperament in late infancy

• Tyra Andrus •

12

Code-switching behavior between caregiver-child goal-oriented interactions within latinx communities

18

Factors contributing to integration of childhood-arrival, undocumented Chinese immigrants living in New York City

• AnaCristina Bedoya •

23

Undermatching in New York City’s public education: The consequences of selectivity in admissions for ethnic minority families

• Melissa Ceren •

28

Using Black beauticians as peer counselors to reduce self-esteem and appearance-related anxiety issues for Black qomen

33

The effects and impact of parental stress on children’s ADHD Symptoms: A Proposal

• Nancy J. Hernandez •

41

It takes a village: The Latinx caregiver and school principal relationship

47

• Fatima C. Gutierrez Jhong •

• Adela Ochoa •

• Rakim Griffin •

The impact of low-quality Pre-K for low-Income Black and Hispanic children

• Onyinye Nnajiofor •

54

Happily Americanized? The role of acculturation in the ideal affect-wellbeing link among immigrants

• Duc Pham •

66

Holding it together: The relationship between the Strong Black Woman schema and depressive symptomatology

• Jessica Bernice Pitts •

74

Strong Black woman schema as a moderator of substance abuse due to childhood adversity

• Medina Shah •

QUEST Scholars

I.S.L.A.N.D. Infant Studies of Language and Neurocognitive Development PI: Natalie Brito Mentor: Ashley Greaves + Sarah Claire Vogel The Infant Studies of Language and Neurocognitive Development (ISLAND), directed by Natalie Brito is a developmental psychology lab interested in the impact of the social and language environment on early neurocognitive development. The ultimate goal of the lab is to understand how to best support caregivers and create environments that foster optimal child development.

The Role of Breastfeeding in the Association Between Physiological Reactivity in Early Infancy and Inhibited Temperament in Late Infancy Tyra Andrus

Implications of Breastfeeding

T

he American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies receive all nutrition from breastfeeding without the introduction of other nutritional supplements until the age of six months (Centers for Disease and Control Prevention [CDC], 2019). There are well-known benefits of breastfeeding for infants, such as lower risks of obesity, higher intelligence quotient (IQ) scores, and a reduced risk for asthma, among others (GrummerStrawn & Rollins, 2015). However, breastfeeding is not always a feasible option. Some mothers have reported that they did not consider breastfeeding as an option because their babies never seemed full without the addition of formula or baby food (Thulier & Mercer, 2009), stating that the infants displayed signs of distress and irritability after breastfeeding. de Lauzon-Guillain and colleagues (2012), found that at three months of age, infants who were exclusively breastfed scored higher in negative affect when compared to formula-fed babies. They also found that breastfed babies showed higher signs of distress, showed fewer signs of excitation such as smiling and laughing, and were difficult to soothe when compared to formula-fed babies. Early signs of difficult temperaments may limit the duration that able mothers are willing to breastfeed.

Early Temperament and Social Anxiety Inhibited temperaments in infancy are known to predict social anxiety later in childhood (Schwartz et al., 2003; Tang et al., 2020). Children who exhibited behavioral inhibition in infancy have been found to have higher rates of social anxiety than uninhibited children (Biederman et al., 2001; Hirshfeld-Becker et al., 2007). Children who are characterized as behaviorally inhibited are avoidant, resistant, and show restraint when in or presented with novel situations. Infants who were breastfed demonstrated similar temperaments when examined by researchers (Lauzon-Guillain et al., 2012). Infants that show signs of behavioral inhibition are more likely to acquire symptoms of anxiety in early childhood than uninhibited children

(2020) found evidence supporting that behavioral inhibition continues into middle childhood; children who scored as behaviorally inhibited as infants also scored as reserved or introverted as adults. The aforementioned studies demonstrate that there are similarities in temperament between infants who are breastfed and infants who are behaviorally inhibited.

Physiological Measures of Temperament Along with behavioral measures, physiological measures have also been used to predict temperament. Fox et al. (2015) found that when measured at four months, negative reactivity was determined to be an accurate predictor of wariness and avoidance at 14 months of age.

Additionally, they found that negative reactivity reflects early temperament of behavioral inhibition.

There is a positive correlation between reactivity and behavioral inhibition to unfamiliar events (Kagan et al., 1987). Kagan and colleagues (1987) found that heart rate could be used to detect differences in reactivity between behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited infants. Thus, monitoring an infant’s heart rate during stressful tasks can measure reactivity, which can be used to examine inhibited temperaments in early childhood. Using physiological measures such as heart rate allows researchers to quantify an infant’s temperament instead of making inferences from their behavior.

Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding Habits and Social Anxiety There are clear racial and health disparities in breastfeeding in the United States, in addition to competing messages regarding the benefits of this approach. According to the CDC (2015), 29.5% of white women exclusively breastfeed their six-month-old children while only 17.2% of Black mothers exclusively breastfeed their children.

Exclusive breastfeeding has also been found to more likely be done by middle-aged white women from affluent neighborhoods (Yourkavitch et al., 2008). Racial minorities are less likely to exclusively breastfeed their children up to or past six months and they are also more likely to have

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undiagnosed symptoms of social anxiety as adults (Goetter et al., 2020). In a study examining infants who were breastfed until six months of age, researchers found infants to be at lower risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when compared to infants who breastfed for any period of time; they also found that infants who breastfed for some period of time were at lower risk for an ASD diagnosis when compared to infants who were never breastfed (Ghozy et al., 2020). Based on the aforementioned studies, longer durations of breastfeeding can lead to behavioral inhibition, which has been linked with the development of social anxiety. However, racial minority mothers breastfeed their infants for shorter periods of time and have higher chances of having undiagnosed symptoms of social anxiety than white mothers. Studies show that there are discrepancies concerning how breastfeeding moderates the relationship between behavioral inhibition and social anxiety.

Current Study Few studies have examined the role that duration of breastfeeding plays in neurodevelopmental disorders from infancy to early childhood, especially in minority groups. Based on the aforementioned studies, breastfeeding in early infancy may lead to decreases or increases in negative affect and social anxiety in early childhood. Studies have examined how early reactivity can predict temperament and whether those studies differ between sexes, but not between different ethnicities or races (Fox et al., 2015). The current study seeks to examine whether there is an association between physiological reactivity at three months of age and parentreported temperament at 12 months of age and how this association is moderated by breastfeeding in a socioeconomically and racially diverse population.

The primary hypothesis is that infants at three months who display higher levels of reactivity will also show higher levels of avoidance at 12 months.

Secondly, we hypothesize breastfeeding will moderate this relationship in some way but due to conflicting evidence in the literature, an estimated direction of the relationship cannot be made.

Methods Participants Participants in the current study were recruited from the NYC metropolitan area and participated in the Stress, Home, Environment, Language, and Learning (SHELL) study conducted at New York University (NYU). The current study is a secondary

secondary analysis of the previously collected data.

Approximately 120 infants at three months of age were enrolled in the SHELL study with their mothers.

Data was collected from the mothers and infants when the infant was three, nine, and 12-months of age. The sample was racially and ethnically diverse with 20% identifying as Black, 10% as Asian, 31% as white, 25% as two or more races, and 13% as ‘other.’

Additionally, the sample also identified as 50% Hispanic/Latino.

Measures

Heart Rate. To test physiological reactivity at three months, the researchers administered the Still Face Paradigm (SFP). Infants have a limited language system at this developmental stage, thus, the SFP is used to evaluate their reaction to stress and affective development (Tronick et al., 1978). Maternal behavior and infant coping abilities have been found to play a large role in an infant’s psychophysiological responses to stress (Conradt & Ablow, 2010). Infants’ and mothers’ heartrates were monitored before and during faceto-face interactions throughout the test using an electrocardiogram (ECG) for this study. The pretest ECG heart rate measurement will give a baseline heart rate for the infant from two minutes of free play. Heartrate will also be monitored for an additional two minutes during the “still face” (stress response) interaction between mother and baby.

Food Diaries. To examine the role of duration of breastfeeding in early affect and later temperament, mothers were asked to keep a daily log of their infants’ food intake at 12 months for two days. The mothers were not told which two days to log the food diaries but were asked if the two days represented their normal food habits. This included how often, if at all, they were breastfed throughout the day. Additional breastfeeding information was collected at 9 months of age from the mothers (see Appendix A).

Parent Reported Affect. To examine avoidance/approach and affective behaviors in infants, parents completed the short version of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire- Revised (IBQ-R) at 12 months of age (Enlow et al., 2016). The IBQ-R is a scale widely used for measurements of temperament in infancy. A complete list of subscales and items in the IBQ-R are listed in Appendix B. The mothers filled out the surveys based on their children’s perceived behavior. In the current study, only questions in subscales concerning surgency, negative affect, avoidance, and approach were used

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(See Appendix B). A sum score was used for each total scale (surgency and negative reactivity) as well as for each subscale (avoidance and approach).

Procedure The data were collected in Dr. Natalie Brito’s lab at NYU. The study is a longitudinal-design in which data was collected from infants at three, nine, and 12 months of age. At three months of age, the SFP was used to test physiological reactivity to stress in interactions between mother and child. Upon arrival, mothers were given consent forms and reviewed it with researchers before the start of the experiment.

Contingent on their approval, mothers were told by researchers that ECG electrodes would be placed on the mother’s and infant’s chest to monitor their heart rates. A camera was then set to record the subsequent interactions. For the first two minutes, the mother was instructed to interact normally with her child to establish a baseline heartrate. This phase was referred to as free play. After free play, the mother was instructed to immediately display a neutral expression to her infant for two minutes.

This was referred to as the still face phase. She was instructed not to pick them up or respond to their behavior. For the last two minutes of the experiment, the mother was instructed to resume free play with her infant. Heartrate measurements from the EEG and recorded footage from the experiment was interpreted by researchers. Mothers were instructed to complete food diaries for themselves and their infant for two days (see Appendix A). Within the food diaries, they were asked to list the amounts and brands of foods given to the babies and for their own consumption. Researchers input the food amounts into MyFitnessPal, a food tracking app, where the calorie, protein, and fat values will be calculated.

Results It is expected that will be variability in the duration of breastfeeding within the first year of life for the infants in the current study. For analyses, the infant’s baseline heart rate measured during the free play phase will be subtracted from the infant’s heart rate measured during the still face phase. This will give an accurate reactivity score at each phase of the SFP. Research has found that infants high in negative reactivity display higher signs of distress during the still face phase of the SFP than infants who are low in negative reactivity (Barbosa et al., 2020). Thus, it is expected that infants who are high in negative reactivity will have a faster heart rate during still face than infants who are low in negative

reactivity will have a faster heart rate during still face than infants who are low in negative reactivity.

Infants high in negative reactivity will also take longer to return to baseline heartrate when free play is resumed.

A sum score will be used for each subscale of the IBQ-R. Questions marked with an asterisk in Appendix B will also be summed to measure avoidance or approach for the infants at 12 months of age. It is expected that infants who are high in negative reactivity at three months of age will score higher in avoidant temperament at 12 months of age. Those who are lower in negative reactivity will be higher in approach at 12 months of age. Infants who were high in negative reactivity at three months and had avoidant temperaments at 12 months will have also been breastfed for longer periods of time.

Discussion Negative affect in early infancy has been suggested to have predictive validity of avoidant temperament in the late stages of childhood.

In a previous study, infants who were breastfed scored higher in negativity reactivity as reported by their mothers (de Lauzon-Guillain et al., 2012).

Other studies show that breastfeeding can be a protective factor (Ghozy et al., 2020). The current study sought to find the association between physiological reactivity at three months of age and parent-reported temperament for their infants at 12 months of age. Similar to findings in previous studies, it is expected that infants who display higher physiological negative reactivity also score higher in avoidance on the IBQ-R at 12 months of age. It is also expected that this relationship will be strengthened by the duration of breastfeeding.

Infants who are breastfed for longer periods of time may be more prone to more difficult temperaments until 12 months of age. Possible reasons for why negative affect is related to breastfeeding is that infants who are breastfed feel less full than infants who are formula-fed which causes them to have more difficult temperaments. Mothers who breastfed also may be unable to readily feed their infants as often as formula-fed infants. This can be problematic for the mother-infant dynamic and can lead to additional, preventable stressors for mother and infant. Infants with inhibited temperaments are also at higher risk of developing social anxiety in early childhood (Biederman et al., 2001). This is important for racial/ethnic minority mothers and infants because people of color are more likely to have undiagnosed symptoms of social

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anxiety (Goetter et al.,2020). However, the specific direction of the relationship among duration of breastfeeding, inhibited temperament, and social anxiety is unknown so more research should be done on that topic.

de Lauzon-Guillain, B., Wijndaele, K., Clark, M., Acerini, C.

L., Hughes, I. A., Dunger, D. B., Wells, J. C., &

Ong, K. K. (2012). Breastfeeding and infant

temperament at age three months. PLoS

ONE, 7, Article e29326.

A potential limitation of this study could be due to the construction of the IBQ-R. Because this measure has primarily been used and validated with white, high SES families, past studies have suggested that the IBQ-R can be influenced by SES and sociodemographic factors (Enlow et al., 2017). Participants in the current study are socioeconomically and racially diverse, which could cause discrepancies in the results due to the validity issues of the measure. Future studies should use additional scales that consider race and SES in a diverse sample to increase validity. Future studies should also examine what levels of approach and avoidance are considered to be balanced for an infant with respect to their environment and how this can be influenced by the duration of breastfeeding. More research on this topic can contribute to the growing field of psychology and help to eliminate mental health discrepancies amongst racial minorities. Social anxiety also affects a large amount of the population and is usually most prominent in early to late adulthood.

Research on how breastfeeding is related to social anxiety can promote early intervention.

Enlow,

M. B., White, M. T., Hails, K., Cabrera, I., & Wright, R. J. (2016). The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised: Factor structure in a culturally and sociodemographically diverse sample in the United States. Infant Behavior and Development, 43, 24–35.

Fox, N. A., Snidman, N., Haas, S. A., Degnan, K. A.,

& Kagan, J. (2014). The Relations between

Reactivity at 4 Months and Behavioral Inhibition

in the Second Year: Replication across Three

Independent Samples. Infancy, 20(1), 98–114.

Ghozy,

S., Tran, L., Naveed, S., Quynh, T. T. H., Helmy Zayan, A., Waqas, A., Sayed, A. K. H., Karimzadeh, S., Hirayama, K., & Huy, N. T. (2020). Association of breastfeeding status with risk of autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review, dose-response analysis and metaanalysis. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 48, Article 101916.

Goetter, E. M., Frumkin, M. R., Palitz, S. A., Swee, M.

B., Baker, A. W., Bui, E., & Simon, N. M. (2020).

Barriers to mental health treatment among

individuals with social anxiety disorders and

generalized anxiety disorders. Psychological

Services, 17(1), 5-12.

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Tang, A., Crawford, H., Morales, S., Degnan, K.

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Appendix A FOOD DIARY If you can please indicate brand names and quantities for prepackaged foods. For homemade meals and snacks please indicate ingredients, e.g. “salad with chicken and feta cheese.” If the baby takes formula, please indicate which type.

Baby’s Food diary Day 1: Date: Friday, May 31, 2019 -----------------------------------------------------------------Breakfast: Breast milk (she was not feeling well so didn’t eat any solid foods in the morning) Lunch: Grilled chicken and hamburger patty pieces (home made), steamed broccoli (home made) Afternoon Snack (if applicable): Breast milk Dinner: Roasted chicken with lemon, sautéed bok choy Dessert: Blueberries Day 2: Date :6/1/2019 ---------------------------------------------------------------Breakfast: Breastmilk Scrambled egg Lunch: grilled chicken (home made), raspberries and blackberries

Afternoon Snack (if applicable): Multigrain cracker and breastmilk in sippy cup Dinner: Salmon and green beans Dessert: blueberries Mom’s food diary Day 1: Date: ------------------------------------------------------------------Breakfast: Hot water and lemon + Granola with 1/3 banana and almond milk Morning Snack (if applicable): Half and apple with peanut butter + Water Lunch: Two poached eggs on multigrain bread with avocado water Afternoon Snack (if applicable): Plain greek yogurt with blueberries Dinner: Roasted lemon chicken with bok choy Dessert: Apple slices Day 2: Date: ------------------------------------------------------------------Breakfast: Hot water and lemon + 2 fried eggs, 1 piece of multigrain toast, 1⁄4 avocado and slice of cheese Lunch: Water + Sandwich with grilled chicken (from previous nights’ dinner), tomato and avocado Almond Bark Bites (2 pieces – chocolate) Afternoon Snack (if applicable): water + Half a pear with almond butter Dinner: Water + Salmon burger, green beans and salad Dessert: None

1. Please indicate whether this diary is a good representation of your child’s normal diet. a) Yes, it’s normal ______ b) This diary is slightly different than what my child normally eats Viviana has not been feeling well, so her appetite was less than the regular on Friday. ______ c) This diary is very different than what my child normally eats _____ 2. If the food diary is not normal, please indicate in what way. (e.g. “more sugar snacks than usual”)

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Appendix B Infant Behavior Questionnaire – Revised – Very Short Form (Enlow et al., 2016): Items by Scale I. Surgency

II. Negative Affect

1. When being dressed or undressed during the last week, how often did the baby squirm and/or try to roll away?

3. When tired, how often did your baby show distress?

2. When tossed around playfully how often did the baby laugh? *7. How often during the week did your baby move quickly toward new objects?

8. When put into the bath water, how often did the baby laugh?

13. When placed on his/her back, how often did the baby squirm and/or turn body?

14. During a peekaboo game, how often did the baby laugh? *15. How often does the infant look up from playing when the telephone rings?

*4. When introduced to an unfamiliar adult, how often did the baby cling to a parent?

9. When it was time for bed or a nap and your baby did not want to go, how often did s/he whimper or sob?

10. After sleeping, how often did the baby cry if someone doesn’t come within a few minutes?

16. How often did the baby seem angry (crying and fussing) when you left her/him in the crib?

17. How often during the last week did the baby startle at a sudden change in body position (e.g., when moved suddenly)?

22. At the end of an exciting day, how often did your baby become tearful?

20. When visiting a new place, how often did your baby get excited about exploring new surroundings?

23. How often during the last week did the baby protest being placed in a confining place (infant seat, play pen, car seat, etc.)?

21. How often during the last week did the baby smile or laugh when given a toy?

*28. When introduced to an unfamiliar adult, how often did the baby refuse to go to the unfamiliar person?

26. When hair was washed, how often did the baby vocalize?

29. When you were busy with another activity, and your baby was not able to get your attention, how often did s/he cry?

27. How often did your baby notice the sound of an airplane passing overhead?

36. How often did your baby make talking sounds when riding in a car?

37. When placed in an infant seat or car seat, how often did the baby squirm and turn body? *Note: Questions used to measure approach are noted with an asterisk

32. When the baby wanted something, how often did s/ he become upset when s/he could not get what s/he wanted? *33. When in the presence of several unfamiliar adults, how often did the baby cling to a parent? *Note: Questions used to measure avoidance are marked with an asterisk avoidance are marked with an

Code-Switching Behavior Between Caregiver-Child Goal-Oriented Interactions within Latinx Communities Adela Ochoa

F

amilies and schools play an important role in children’s development (Scott-Jones, 1995).

Children spend hours at home and school, two environments that could potentially be significantly different. Still, in both environments, children tend to continuously be learning and expanding their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing (Ginsburg, 2007) and researchers argue that parent-child interactions are particularly important in defining children’s academic performance (Ginsburg et al., 1992; Scott-Jones, 1995). However, these interactions may vary significantly depending on multiple home environment factors such as parent education, household income, and language.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a factor to be examined in relation to caregiver-child relationships.

That is, does coming from a low-income household have an effect on these dyadic interactions? There is previous evidence suggesting that this may be the case. Delgado-Gaitan (1992) argues that, despite some Mexican-American parents having a poor educational background, Mexican-American parents tend to show a great belief that education is a key factor for social mobility. A research study suggests that education comes with high value to these parents because they are aware of the opportunities they lack due to their own limited education. (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992). Still, there seems to be a gap in the communication between the two because parents use their own culture (i.e., how they were raised) to teach their children how to act, think, and feel (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992).

Additionally, the way caregivers talk with their children is a widely important factor in their acquisition of cognitive and linguistic abilities (Eisenberg, 2002). The use of multiple languages is a particular circumstance that is not highly considered in research. Speaking more than one language is commonly associated with codeswitching, a linguistic phenomenon that occurs in interpersonal communication between bilinguals and multilinguals (Abalhassan & Alshalawi, 2000), and is associated with various cognitive benefits such as an increase in skills relating to executive

functioning (Calvo & Bialystok, 2014). Still, much of the literature on code-switching focuses on structured language itself, but it does not extend to investigate observable social dimensions (Abalhassan & Alshalawi, 2000), which may include linguistic topics such as tone, attitude, assertiveness, or aggressiveness when speaking a particular language.

Previous studies found that middle-class mothers tend to discuss more complex concepts with their children (Eisenberg, 2002) and tend to adopt ‘teacher-talk’ habits such as correcting, asking questions with known answers, and hyperarticulating (Fernandes, 2019), approaches that have shown to benefit child language development.

However, researchers have also found that workingclass mothers ask more directive questions as compared to middle-class mothers. Directive language may serve different purposes between caregiver-child interactions. Parents might utilize directive language to grab the child’s attention (e.g., “Look at this”) or to encourage behavior (e.g., “Try again”) (Fitzgerald et al., 2013; Flynn & Masur, 2007). Additionally, and contrary to previous researcher’s expectations, children from workingclass families also ask more questions than middleclass children about the task. Maternal teaching has been associated with offering positive feedback, asking many questions, and giving fewer directions and demonstrations by previous literature (Moreno, 1991). According to past studies, maternal teaching is not traditionally common for working-class mothers when working with school-like tasks (e.g., block building) compared to home-like tasks (e.g., playing with homemade dough). Families from low-income households then express feeling more comfortable with home-like tasks rather than school-like tasks although they are both educational exercises for the child (Kermani & Janes, 1999). Consequently, child school-like behavior (i.e., asking questions) is not anticipated given that mothers were also not expected to initiate an interaction involving aspects of maternal teaching (Eisenberg, 2002). In essence, SES has shown to have a strong influence on these types of interactions.

Ochoa

The difficulty of tasks may be particularly crucial when examining parent-child interaction (Eisenberg, 2002). Aside from SES, behavioral differences when analyzing simple tasks (i.e., a coloring task) versus a more challenging, goal-oriented task (i.e., a puzzle task) should be considered when evaluating caregiver-child interactions. Eisenberg (2002) references that parents of Mexican descent may feel more comfortable answering a child’s question when it is directed to a specific school-like task, rather than non-educational contexts because questions may instead be seen as rebellious acts (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992). This suggests that parents unconsciously elicit certain behaviors based on their expectations given different environments: children asking questions within an educational context may be more well-received by their parents as opposed to asking within other contexts that may be perceived as challenging parental authority.

Examining behavioral differences and extending results to all bilingual caregiver-child dyad interactions can be complex when considering a multitude of cultural differences. Thus, to narrow down the subject sample, we plan to look at bilingual, Latinx, Spanish-speakers who vary in SES. TamisLeMonda and colleagues (2019) have examined the concept of respect and parent calm authority (i.e., asserting their authority and expectations in a calm manner) along with child affiliated obedience (i.e., behaviors that demonstrate respect) by rating Latinx mothers based on their sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, positive and negative regard, detachment, and intrusiveness when studying mother-child interaction. By assessing the child’s positive and negative mood, as well as overall interaction engagement with the given task, it was determined that high parent calm authority does not necessarily translate to an intrusive behavior, such as pushing an agenda on the child. In fact, in Latinx culture, respectful behavior in children is seen as a sign of successful parenting (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2019). Given the results of this recent study, we observe how parents from Latinx culture in our sample express their authority through the use of language in goal-oriented tasks.

The current study will examine whether switching between two languages, Spanish and English, is tied with a change in behavior. Previous research has critically examined maternal teaching in minority communities and the impact it has on child development (Moreno, 1991), but very little research has looked into the interacting behavior tied to code-

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switching. Research on Latinx culture suggests that parents hold children to a specific standard of respect that is tied to their behaviors based on the language used (Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2019). Thus, we hypothesize that caregivers of lower SES will use more directive language in Spanish than their higher SES counterparts, particularly later in the task when the child attempts more difficult puzzles.

Additionally, we expect our hypothesis to hold true for dyads who are predominantly Spanish-speakers.

Method Participants Participants were 12 Spanish-English speaking caregiver-child dyads from New York City. The 12 children (i.e., seven males, five females) were between the ages four and twelve (M = 7.3 years). Our sample of 12 adults (i.e., five males, seven females) did not report their age. We instead recorded their education level in years (M = 11.2 years). All 24 participants identified their ethnicity as Hispanic/ Latino. Participants were recruited through Sunset Spark, an organization dedicated to providing quality science and technology classes for underresourced families. Families and researchers had an optional meet and greet at Sunset Spark prior to beginning the study to familiarize families with the study and the assistants, answer any questions about the study, and develop a rapport for comfort.

Participants with developmental disorders (e.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder, Apraxia) were excluded from the current analysis.

Measures We measured language and behavior change by analyzing caregiver statements and questions. We looked at the number of times a caregiver asked a directive question (i.e., “Can you put that one here?”), gave a command (i.e., “Put this one here.”), and gave negative feedback to their children (i.e., “That’s not right.”). We compared these forms of communication to positive statements caregivers provided about the task (i.e., “That looks great!”) and the child’s performance (i.e., “You are good at this.”) (Winsler et al., 1999).

To efficiently microcode each video, we used Datavyu, a Java-based application developed for precise coding and data visualization. For each video, we looked at micro-behaviors such as both caregiver and child look, touch, and questions and statements as part of other analyses. The codebook was developed by our research assistants (see

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Appendix A for more details), and the codes were used by various team members including graduate students and research assistants. This data is a subset of a larger study- therefore, both caregiver and child wore electroencephalogram (EEG) nets for other analyses.

Procedure This IRB-approved study took place at Sunset Spark in Brooklyn, New York. Once situated, the research assistant reviewed the consent form with the caregiver and the assent form with the child. Once they had the participant’s consent, the experimenter explained the task and began by giving the family questionnaires to complete on home language environment and SES using REDCap (Harris et al., 2019).

For the purpose of this study, we specifically looked at the Tangram puzzle task as our goal-oriented task. The caregiver and child sat across from each other and had five minutes to complete as many puzzles within the given time frame. Prior to the start of the task, researchers explained that the child will be working on some puzzles; the total number of possible puzzles to complete was not revealed to remove time as a confounding variable. Caregivers were told that they were allowed to help the child as needed to solve the puzzle. However, they were not instructed to use a specific language to avoid a possible confounding variable due to researcher directions. Once one puzzle was completed, the experimenter gave the dyad the next puzzle, with each puzzle subsequently increasing in difficulty.

Participants were videotaped throughout the entirety of the study. Once the study came to an end, subjects were debriefed and thanked for their time and participation.

Results Code-switching is common in bilingual interactions (Abalhassan & Alshalawi, 2000), and this study aims to investigate if these switches produced changes in caregiver behavior. Out of the 12 children, only one completed the 10 puzzles within the fiveminute time frame. However, our study accounted for the total time spent with the completed puzzles as opposed to the number of puzzles completed.

We expect to see a shift in the use of directive questions and statements, commands, and negative feedback when caregivers interact with their children and speak their native or first language.

Given that all participants reported speaking Spanish at home, we expect directive language to

be more frequently used in Spanish. Based on prior research, we do not expect to see a main effect between SES and frequency of directive language statements between dyads. Eisenberg (2002) found that working-class parents and middle-class parents elicit similar behaviors when interacting (i.e., completing a puzzle task) with their children in educational settings (e.g., a research setting), thus, we expect this to be the same in our study as well.

Additionally, we expect direct language to increase and/or be more salient as the difficulty in the puzzle task increases.

Discussion The current study focuses on identifying potential behavior changes when caregivers switch languages while completing a task with their child. The findings of this research will play an important role in children’s development and success across educational settings. However, we want to specifically highlight the interactions for the underrepresented population. Our observations may serve as a starting point to bridge the gap between two environments, home and school, that may be quite distinct. Previous researchers have suggested that parents may potentially benefit from parent training that will support the process of identifying effective language use to optimize children’s learning opportunities (Robinson et al., 2009). Parents with limited educational backgrounds and parents from under-resourced communities may particularly benefit from such training. (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992; Robinson et al., 2009). Training parents, caregivers, and teachers to use the most effective language may highly benefit children’s development and ease their transition from the home environment to an educational environment.

We further consider the limitations of the study. It may not be appropriate to generalize the effects of parent-child interaction for various reasons. First, although working with a within-subjects sample, we consider our sample size to be small given that there is considerable variation within the 12 dyads, including child age, first year of English exposure, child-caregiver language, and school language (see Table 1). Second, we look specifically at the child’s age being a possible confounding variable.

Given that the oldest child was the only one who completed all 10 puzzles within the five-minute time window, we could expect this child to have had more experience with the puzzle. Older children have more developed language skills which are very

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likely to play a role in these types of interactions.

Finally, our study was limited to looking at Spanish language only. As previously mentioned, children adopt the values of the caregiver, which could look significantly different even when looking at other Latinx cultures (i.e., Mexican versus Central American) (Delgado-Gaitan, 1992). Thus, we cannot generalize our findings due to cultural differences in different Spanish-speaking countries.

It is important to consider tackling this study from various perspectives to account for the limitations found in our study. Having a strict child age range as well as tasks that are similar to school tasks based on the child’s grade level should be considered in future research to account for possible confounding variables. Additionally, since we are interested in finding whether early language choice (i.e., directiveness) benefits or challenges children in educational settings outside their home, future researchers should use a longitudinal approach to investigate child development and parent language use across the years. By tracking caregiver-child interactions, we hope to clearly see how codeswitching behavior evolves over the years and the effects it may have on the child’s academic success.

References

Eisenberg, A. R. (2002). Maternal teaching talk within

families of mexican descent: Influences of

task and socioeconomic status. Hispanic Journal

of Behavioral Sciences, 24(2), 206-224.

Fernandes, O. A. (2019). Language workout in bilingual

mother-child interaction: A case study of

heritage language practices in russian-swedish

family talk. Journal of Pragmatics, 140, 88-99.

Ginsburg, H. P., Bempechat, J., & Chung, Y. E. (1992).

Parent influences on children’s mathematics. The

intergenerational transfer of cognitive skills, 1,

91-121.

Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The importance of play in

promoting healthy child development and

maintaining strong parent-child bonds.

Pediatrics, 119(1), 182-191.

Harris,

P. A., Taylor, R., Minor, B. L., Elliott, V., Fernandez, M., O’Neal, L., ... & Duda, S. N. (2019). The REDCap consortium: Building an international community of software platform partners.

Journal of biomedical informatics, 95, 103208.

Kermani, H., & Janes, H. A. (1999). Adjustment across

task in maternal scaffolding in low income

Latino immigrant families. Hispanic Journal of

Behavioral Sciences, 21, 134-153.

Robinson, J. B., Burns, B. M., & Davis, D. W. (2009).

Maternal scaffolding and attention

regulation in children living in poverty. Journal

of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(2),

82-91.

A., & Bialystok, E. (2014). Independent effects of bilingualism and socioeconomic status on language ability and executive functioning Cognition, 130(3), 278-288.

Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1992). School Matters in the

Mexican-American Home: Socializing

Children to Education. American Educational

Research Journal, 29(3), 495–513.

Flynn, V., & Masur, E. F. (2007). Characteristics of

maternal verbal style: Responsiveness and

directiveness in two natural contexts. Journal of

Child Language, 34(3), 519-543.

Moreno, R. P. (1991). Maternal teaching of preschool

children in minority and low-status families: A

critical review. Early Childhood Research

Quarterly, 6(3), 395-410.

Abalhassan, K. M., & Alshalawi, H. G. (2000). Code switching behavior of Arab speakers of English

as a second language in the United States.

Intercultural communication studies, 10(1), 179 188.

Calvo,

Fitzgerald, C. E., Hadley, P. A., & Rispoli, M. (2013). Are

some parents’ interaction styles associated with

richer grammatical input? American Journal of

Speech-Language Pathology, 22(3), 476-488.

Scott-Jones, D. (1995). Parent-child interactions and

school achievement. In B. P. Ryan, G. R. Adams,

T. P. Gullotta, R. P. Weissberg, & R. L. Hampton

(Eds.), The family-school connection: theory,

research and practice (pp. 75–107). essay, Sage.

Tamis-Lemonda, C. S., Caughy, M. O., Rojas, R., Bakeman,

R., Adamson, L. B., Pacheco, D., …Pace, A. (2019).

Culture, parenting, and language: Respeto in

Latine mother–child interactions. Social

Development, 29(3), 689–712.

Winsler, A., Diaz, R. M., McCarthy, E. M., Atencio, D. J., &

Chabay, L. A. (1999). Mother-child interaction,

private speech, and task performance in

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Psychiatry, 40(6), 891-904.

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Table 1. Participant Language Diversity

ID

Age (years)

First English Exposure (age in years)

Caregiver- Child Language

School Language

201

5

0

English Dominant

N/A

202

10

5

Equilingual Spanish/ English

Equilingual Spanish/English

203

5

0

Equilingual Spanish/ English

Equilingual Spanish/English

204

8

0

Spanish Dominant

Exclusively English

205

10

0

Spanish Dominant

Exclusively English

206

12

6

Equilingual Spanish/ English

N/A

207

5

3

Equilingual Spanish/ English

N/A

215

10

4

Equilingual Spanish/ English

Exclusively English

216

6

0

English Dominant

Exclusively English

217

6

5

Spanish Dominant

N/A

221

4

0

English Dominant

Dominantly English

223

7

0

English Dominant

N/A

Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng Lab PI: Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng Mentors: Jia-Lin Liu + Martha Moreno

Dr. Cherng is a sociologist in Department of the Applied Statistics, Social Science, and Humanities (ASH) whose scholarly & community-based work focuses on the social lives of marginalized youth. Dr. Cherng’s research examines the social relationships in the lives of minority & immigrant adolescents in the US, gender & ethnic differences in education in China, and cultural & social capital transfers between adolescents in the US.

Factors contributing to integration of childhood-arrival, undocumented Chinese immigrants living in New York City AnaCristina Bedoya

M

edia and politicians often depict undocumented United States (US) immigrants as Latinxs, mainly from Mexico (Flores & Schachter, 2018). Though estimates indicate that immigrants from Mexico do make up a large portion of the United States’ undocumented population (about 59%), immigrants from China are also numerous and are among the top ten undocumented groups in the US (Baker, 2018; Hoefer et al., 2012). Research on undocumented childhood-arrival outcomes also typically focus on Latinx populations (Allard, 2015; Schmid, 2013) although a notable 13% undocumented immigrants are estimated to come from Asian and South Pacific countries (Baker, 2018). In New York City (NYC) specifically, the second largest group of foreign-born residents is from China, following residents from the Dominican Republic (State of Our Immigrant City Annual Report, 2018). Despite their prevalence in the US, undocumented, childhood-arrival immigrants from China are seldom focused on in immigrant research.

This makes it difficult for public programs and schools to accommodate for the challenges that this population may face when integrating into US society.

Research has shown that immigrant children are disproportionally affected by social-emotional problems when compared to children born and raised in the same country (Aronowitz, 1984).

As they get older, childhood, juvenile, and young adult immigrants have a higher risk of developing mental and physical health problems than adult immigrants because of the social (e.g., making friends, communicating with others) and emotional challenges (e.g., longing for home, familiarity, old friends) that come with immigrating in the midst of critical developmental years (Gong et al., 2011; Leu et al., 2008). For example, many childhood-arrival immigrants struggle with language barriers at school which puts a strain on their academics and the relationships they try to form with peers and teachers (Liu, 2020). Another factor contributing to poor mental health outcomes in these immigrants is the uncertainty and risk that comes with being

undocumented (Gong et al., 2011). Due to cultural norms regarding the invalidity of non-physical health issues, members of non-western cultures typically do not seek professional help for mental health issues (Cheung, 2009). This issue is exacerbated in the undocumented East Asian-Pacific Islander immigrant community as there tends to be a resistance toward applying for public programs (Clough et al., 2013). Considering these factors, undocumented childhood arrivals from China are likely in a uniquely vulnerable position in NYC when it comes to experiencing negative integration outcomes later in life. For the purposes of this study, integration refers to immigrants contributing to their host country’s economic, educational (a factor that especially holds true for child immigrants), societal, and cultural aspects, while not relinquishing their own identity (Entzinger & Biezeveld, 2003).

Unsuccessful integration includes being unable to find steady employment due to language or cultural barriers and an inability to integrate cultural beliefs with the host country’s laws and values (e.g., an American employee would likely view a manager teasing them in front of their coworkers as a form of endearment whereas a Chinese employee may take offense and perceive that they have “lost face,” losing the respect of others).

Past research has identified a number of variables that may impact integration by way of psychosocial stressors in Asian immigrant populations, which include: 1) socioeconomic status (SES); 2) subjective social status/perceived SES; and 3) age at immigration (Leu et al., 2008). Actual SES, which has typically been measured by education and income, has been used as a predictor for certain health conditions (Leu et al., 2008). Self-reported measures of subjective/perceived social status however, have been found to better predict mental health in adulthood (Leu et al., 2008). In other words, when immigrants perceived themselves as being part of a higher social status, they, on average, had better mental health outcomes than immigrants who perceived themselves as having a lower social status. This occurred whether their perception was aligned with reality or not (measured by their actual SES). Immigrants ranging in age

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from childhood to emerging adulthood typically have worse integration outcomes than their adultarrival counterparts (Gong et al., 2011). Despite this, immigrants who arrive at a younger age are better suited to learning a new language and integrating into the US education system, demonstrating that age is likely a moderator for integration of immigrant youth (Leu et al., 2008).

Though Leu and colleagues present well-supported factors that may influence the integration of Asian immigrants in the US, they fail to consider how immigration status and perceived social support may also impact integration (2008). Research supports that more secure immigration statuses (i.e., being a citizen is more secure than possessing a Green Card and having a Green Card is more secure than being enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA) correlate with better mental health outcomes (Gong et al., 2011). Additionally, ethnographic data has suggested that these factors are paramount when considering the integration of Chinese immigrants in NYC, especially in tandem with age at arrival (Liu, 2020). For example, in two of Liu’s (2020) interviews conducted with siblings aged 26 (male) and 23 (female) who arrived in the US at the ages of 12 and nine respectively, the themes of social support and immigration status, in addition to age at arrival, seemed to correlate with the overall integration outcomes; the female sibling, who moved to the US at a younger age than her brother, reported that she felt she had a responsible and supportive friend group. In contrast, her brother, who moved to the States at a slightly later time in development, claimed he had a friend group filled with “bad influences.” Additionally, the sister felt no shame tied to her uncertain immigration status in the US, while her brother reported that he did feel shame related to this social factor. When asked, the female sibling reported she felt that her primary identity was American while her brother felt more Chinese. Though this data cannot be generalized to a population, it gives important insight regarding the difference in self-perception, sense of belonging, psychosocial health, and integration after entering the US at different ages.

Current Study In the current study, we aim to assess the impact that actual and perceived SES, age at arrival, immigration status, and perceived social support have on the integration of undocumented Chinese immigrants who arrived to the United States as children. We predict the following:

1. Higher perceived and actual SES will be highly correlated with positive integration.

2. Age at arrival will prove to moderate the effects of actual and perceived SES, and immigration status on integration. We further assert that age at arrival will reveal two “sweet spots” where integration begins to improve for immigrants who are approximately between zero and five-years-old, as well as for those who are 25 and older.

3. Perceived social support and immigration status security will moderate the effects of actual and perceived SES on integration.

Methods Research Design Procedure Participants will be recruited from New Yorkbased, Chinese-American community organizations through the use of on-site research assistants and flyers. Exclusion criteria will include immigrants who were not born in China, participants who do not identify as having Chinese heritage, individuals over the age of 65 and immigrants who arrived to the United States at the age of 35 or later. We aim to survey a minimum of 300 participants.

Qualifying participants will be emailed a screening questionnaire to determine their eligibility and be compensated $10. Qualifying participants will be emailed questionnaires detailed in the measures section using Qualtrics. If participants do not feel comfortable taking the questionnaires in English, translated questionnaires will be provided.

Translations will be completed by two traditional Mandarin and two simplified Mandarin nativetranslators with passing TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores as suggested by Su and Parham (2002). To further ensure validity, the questions will be back-translated until there are no mistakes between translations. Additionally, a pretest trial will be done where participants give feedback regarding the instructions and comprehensibility.

Measures Upon intake, the following demographic information will be collected: date of birth, age of arrival to the US gender and racial identity, and education level achieved in the United States and China (if degree is not transferable to the US).

The Immigration Policy Lab (IPL-24) Integration Index. For the purposes of this proposal, integration will be measured using the

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using the IPL-24, a multidimensional measure of immigrant integration developed by researchers at Stanford and ETH-Zurich University (Harder et al., 2018). It is a 24-item questionnaire with six domains of integration: psychological, social, economic, political, linguistic, and navigational. The index provides a score from zero to one with zero being “not well integrated,” and one being “well integrated.” One psychological question is “how often you feel isolated from American society” with a scale ranging from “never” to “always.” An example of a social question is, “in the last 12 months, how often did you eat dinner with Americans who are not a part of your family?” with a scale ranging from “never” to “almost every day.” An economic question is, “what is your household’s total annual income from all sources?” with options ranging from “under $15,000” to “$165,001 and above.” A political question on the scale is, “how well do you understand the important political issues facing the United States?” with options ranging from “very well” to “not well at all.” A linguistic assessment in the measure is, “In a conversation, I can speak about familiar topics and express personal opinions,” with the options ranging from “very well” to “not well at all.” An example of a navigational question is, “in this country, how difficult or easy would it be for you to search for a job (find the proper listings)?” with the options, “very difficult” to “very easy.”

Subjective Socioeconomic Status Scale.

Perceived social status will be measured by the widely used Subjective Socioeconomic Status scale (Adler et al., 2000; Leu et al., 2008). The scale comprises of a picture with a 10-rung ladder.

Participants are asked to indicate where they land if the top rung is the “best-off” people in the country and bottom is the “worst-off” people in the country they’re in. For this study, participants rated this measure with United States as the country they are in.

Kuppuswamy’s Socioeconomic Status Scale. Actual SES will be measured by Kuppuswamy’s SES scale for rural and urban populations revised for 2019 (Wani, 2019). The scale uses a composite score to categorize participants into five distinct social classes (e.g., lower, upper lower, lower middle, upper middle, and upper). It assigns numerical values to the level the head of the family has attained in their: 1) education (i.e., scored one to seven with one being illiterate and seven having a professional degree); 2) occupation (i.e., scored one to 10 with one being unemployed

and 10 being professional); and 3) monthly income (i.e., scored from one to 12 with one being less than $2,640 and 12 being $52,734 and above). A higher score indicates a higher SES.

Multidimensional Scale of Social Support. Social support will be measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Social Support (Zimet et al., 1988). The 12-item scale includes a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “very strongly disagree,” scored as one to “very strongly agree,” scored as five. The scale includes questions such as, “I can talk about my problems with my friends” and measures social support provided by participants’ families, friends, and significant others. Higher scores suggest more social support than lower scales.

Immigration information.

Immigration information will be collected regarding participants’ status and support in coming to the United States using the following three prompts: “I had at least one friend or family member in the United States who helped me immigrate (Yes or No),” “I can leave the United States without worries of reentering the country later,” and “I worry about reentering the United States if I leave the country.” The last two will be measured by a five-point Likert scale, one being “strongly disagree” and five being “strongly agree.”

The first question is a demographic question while the last two will create a composite score called “immigration security” with a score of 10 being the least worried about immigration status and 2 being the most worried.

Planned Analyses We plan on conducting three correlational analyses with integration and social support, integration and actual SES, and integration and perceived SES, with age at arrival and immigration security moderating the effects. We plan on using Hayes’ moderation Model 2 in which two distinct variables moderate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables (Hayes, 2017).

Anticipated Results We expect for integration to be positively correlated with perceived social support. We also expect for age at arrival and immigration security to moderate the effects, with increased immigration security having a synergistic relationship with the correlation (i.e., the correlation will be stronger when immigration security is stronger). Age at arrival is also predicted to have a synergistic relationship with the correlation for immigrants arriving to the United States at the

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age of five or younger and the age of 25 or older (i.e., the correlation will be stronger when age of arrival is less than or equal to five years and more than or equal to 25 years). Ages between five and 25 are expected to have poorer integration scores.

We also expect for integration to positively correlate with both perceived and actual SES. We expect to see that perceived SES will have a stronger correlation with integration than actual SES based on past research, which suggests that actual SES is a better predictor of integration (Leu et al., 2008).

Additionally, we believe that the moderators of age at arrival and immigration security will influence the correlation in the same ways described above.

Discussion Successful integration into a host country is essential for the economic and psychosocial wellbeing of immigrants. This study aims to shed light on several factors that may impact an immigrant’s integration into American society. By doing so, we hope to contribute to targeted interventions for immigrants who are struggling with living in the United States. Using the well-supported frameworks of SES and social support, we elucidate the struggles that undocumented, childhood-arrival Chinese immigrants may face when living in NYC. The proposed study will likely have some limitations.

These results cannot be generalized to all Chineseoriginating immigrants in the United States, as this population is concentrated in New York City (i.e., an urban environment that has historically been a hotspot for immigrants), and random recruitment across a population can prove difficult. Additionally, human error while using Qualtrics may skew the data, and the use of a digital platform may alienate participants who do not have internet access. The proposed sample size may not be large enough so that a wide range of ages and SES diversity are sampled. Lastly, due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions being asked, participants may not be candid in their answers. Despite these limitations, the results of the study may inform social workers and school counselors on the unique circumstances that this immigrant group faces, thus leading to more effective strategies to support the successful integration of Chinese immigrants.

Future studies should include larger sample sizes and broader measures of psychosocial health (e.g., surveying depression and anxiety). Including semistructured psychiatric interviews may also help to create a more compelling and complete narrative regarding the struggles that childhood-arrival Chinese immigrants face in New York City.

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(2000). Relationship of subjective and objective

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Undermatching in New York City’s public education: The consequences of selectivity in admissions for ethnic minority families Melissa Ceren

T

he New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) accentuates educational equity and proposals for school reform, however, the public education system encounters challenges in implementing adequate guidance to support families’ academic needs (Sattin-Bajaj et al., 2018).

For students attending a zoned public school, which is determined entirely based on neighborhood and family income, their families depend on the quality of the education available for their children to obtain sufficient resources to prepare for the high school admission process (Abdulkadiroglu et al., 2013).

However, access to educational opportunities, particularly in NYC public schools, is insufficient and schools lack the necessary resources needed to advise students and their families about selecting appropriate high school choices.

The socioeconomic status of those applying for college in the United States plays a vital role in regards to the accessibility of resources and opportunities available to each family, these students in the decision-making process fall behind for their placement and/or potential acceptance to a selective or nonselective high school. Many of these low-income and ethnic minority families whose children apply to high school experience undermatching, which occurs when a student applies to a postsecondary school consisting of a selectivity level (i.e., a percentage of students who are admitted to the institution), below the high selectivity level, where the student would have had a likely chance of acceptance based on academic achievements and qualifications. However, the notion of undermatching has not been used to examine high school selection, which may reveal racial inequalities that occur during the choice process well before college selection.

This proposed study will utilize a database consisting of students in NYC public schools within the five boroughs (i.e., Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) that applied to high school during 2012 in order to examine the following question: Are students from ethnic minorities more likely to undermatch during their high school application

process? We expect that the findings will demonstrate that underrepresented students will have a significantly high probability of undermatching in the most selective institutions after controlling for a set of demographic and academic performance variables. Such research will be able to unpack questions about educational policy and assess the qualification levels and the probability of undermatch rates within the NYC DOE public school system that have impacted minority students’ educational experiences.

Academic Undermatch Prior studies on academic undermatch suggest that students who are academically unprepared for high school admissions and selections are more likely to choose and attend nonselective postsecondary institutions (Smith et al., 2012).

In regard to controlling demographic, academic, and school-level predictors (Roderick et al., 2008; Rodriguez, 2015), Latino students have shown higher rates of undermatching compared to their peers. Furthermore, Smith et al. (2012) had further concluded that Black students did not attend selective four-year institutions and have a less chance of opportunities than white and Latino students. Additionally, students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) had a higher rate of undermatching and only one-third of firstgeneration students were admitted to selectivity institutions opposed to students with higher SES or students who have parents with a higher academic degree (Bowen et al., 2009). Furthermore, they found that students attending nonselective postsecondary institutions had lower graduation proportions and were academically unprepared in high school courses. Overall, undermatching has impacted admissions of low-selectivity, neutral, and high selectivity institutions among students from SES backgrounds (Smith et al., 2013).

NYC DOE High School Application and Admission Process The NYC public middle school system requires students to apply to at least 12 high schools, categorized by rankings, which are submitted beginning in December (Sattin-Bajaj et al., 2018;

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guidance counselors, the students’ lists of choices are submitted to each high school, with supplemental student materials (e.g., recommendations, GPA); subsequently, the schools rank the students based on the applications provided. Notably, NYC public schools utilize a recruiting strategy known as “limited unscreened,” which prioritizes students who have attended informative sessions or open houses at any of the high school admissions fairs with their families is reported in the annual high school directory. Within these information sessions and open houses, students sign the rosters of their top schools, which are considered during their recruitment selection, leading to preferred admissions for these specific students (Rodriguez, 2015).

Children of immigrants and applying to high schools in NYC Immigrant parents that were raised outside of the United States face multiple barriers while navigating the school system for their children, which include – but are not limited to – language barriers, as well as lacking the necessary educational knowledge regarding expectations of their children by schools; these disadvantages can influence children’s future academic careers (Sattin-Bajaj et al., 2018).

Therefore, uninformed immigrant and ethnic minority parents rely on school administrators and counselors, who oversee the high school admissions process and are required to administer finalized applications then enter it into the high school enrollment submission portal (Deutschlander, 2017).

Since low-SES ethnic minority families are unknowledgeable and not confident about the academic and financial requirements about high school (Immerwahr, 2003), these students from low-SES backgrounds depend mostly on counselors to prepare them in high school planning. Even students who are applying to college admissions rely on school counselors for college planning, for instance, counselors who work at low-SES institutions tend to focus mostly on standardized test passing scores rather than information that is associated with college going (Perna & Thomas, 2009). Researchers (Bouffard, 2009) have found that only a small portion of immigrant and ethnic minority parents do not attend informative conferences and meetings due to lack of communication of the school and its class websites or e-bulletin boards. For instance, Sattin-Bajaj et al. (2018) has concluded that school conferences held at NYC public schools are neither evaluated

QUEST C3

nor supervised by the NYC DOE; therefore, these findings identified that middle school counselors had limited time and lack the appropriate training to inform both children and their families about the high school application process.

The NYC DOE advises parents and students to communicate with the school’s counselors about the high school application process (e.g., attending open house dates, registrations, compiling final applications). However, it is questionable if ethnic minority families are receiving adequate or sufficient resources, particularly with counselors that do not have the necessary training to relay the critical information needed by families (Sattin-Bajaj et al., 2018). Therefore, ethnic minority parents often utilize their own educational experiences or anecdotes to teach their children about the caveats and successes within academics for their children’s future scholastic choices (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011).

Overall, this style of support suggests that parental involvement is significant in academic undermatch, specifically in parent-child conversations can influence application, choice, and enrollment.

Methods This proposed study employed a logistic regression model to predict the probability of ethnic minority students undermatching to a high selectivity high school during their high school application. For the purpose of this study, we classified high selectivity schools as those with an average mathematics New York State Regents score of 80 and above and an acceptance rate of below 60%. With these parameters, we observed that these high selectivity schools comprise of a low acceptance rate, hence, the regression model will predict the rate of undermatching of minority students for these institutions. The study utilized administrative student data from the NYC Department of Education and investigated the relationship between multiple quantitative variables, which included: 1) those who applied to high school for Fall 2012; 2) ethnic backgrounds; 3) students who were recipients of free or reduced lunch; 4) gender; and 5) being foreign-born, over 1) age; 2) Grade point average from 8th grade; 3) scores from the English Language Learners (ELLs) examination; and 4) the NYC borough that each applicant lived in.

Demographics The probability of undermatch also included demographic characteristics as factors in the analysis. The school data collection included

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demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, income level, racial background, geographic area, and the attended educational primary and postsecondary institutions).

School-level Predictors The Fall 2012 High School survey database involved 412 primary and postsecondary schools (including specialized high schools) involving 47,000 students who applied to public high schools that were stratified by NYC boroughs (e.g., Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx, excluding Staten Island). Therefore, given the focus of academic undermatch, analyses were restricted to students matched to top post-secondary choices, which in total was 29 schools.

Academic Performance. We are also examining how non-selective, neutral, and very selective high schools contributes to dropout rates, accept both the grade point averages in the 8th grade to 12th grade, and their elementary, intermediate, high school test scores (e.g., NYS English and Mathematics Regents examinations), and the English Language Learners examination scores in primary and postsecondary institutions.

Results To address the research question of minority students undermatching at schools with high selectivity, the recurrent finding that undermatching occurs to minority or those with low SES supports this hypothesis as referred on Table 1. We analyzed the New York State Education Department’s Board of Regents Mathematics examination and the percentage of matched students for every high school. We then estimated the probabilities of students’ acceptance into the 29 high selectivity high schools, controlling for the academic performance and school-level predictor variables. Shown below are the results of a non-interaction effects model (Figure 1) and interaction model of borough and race (Figure 2) where we tested whether the effect of race on matching to high selectivity schools changed depending on the borough. Figure 1 shows that students who racially identified themselves as Asian and resided in Queens, NY were most likely to have a higher match rate to selective high schools.

However, the interactive graph (Figure 2) displays the effect that students who identified as white who lived in the Bronx had a higher match rate to selective high schools; therefore, the interaction graph demonstrates the effect of race is different across different boroughs.

Discussion The results of this study show that undermatching is a prevalent disadvantage in education within NYC’s public institutions. Additionally, our analysis found a logistic relationship between high selectivity of school and student race. Specifically, ethnic minority students who undermatch are not enrolling into selective postsecondary institutions that correspond to their academic achievements, which is a controversial finding given that NYC pledges equity and excellence in their institutions (NYC DOE, Equity and Excellence 2020). The result also demonstrates that undermatching is prevalent among underrepresented students from low-SES conditions, which suggest that they lack enough resources needed to attend suitable selective institution that match to their academic qualifications.

Limitations for this study included the year that the data was collected, the small sample size of high schools, and specifically examining only NYC institutions. Furthermore, Staten Island was not included in our analysis of selective institutions, since there are insubstantial high selective institutions.

Therefore, future studies should examine all five of NYC boroughs and the relationship of supplemental materials (i.e., parental outreach, required attendance of school fairs, and standardized test preparation) in NYC postsecondary institutions can possibly diminish college undermatching. This strategy commissions researchers and education policymakers in New York to further investigate the impact of undermatching rates that targets ethnic minority students residing in NYC’s boroughs and more accessible resources related to academic preparation during the high school application process.

References Abdulkadiroglu, A., Agarwal, N., & Pathak, P. A. (2012).

Sorting and Welfare Consequences of

Coordinated School Admissions: Evidence from

New York City. Unpublished working paper, MIT. Abdulkadiroglu, A., Hu, W., & Pathak, P. A. (2013). Small

high schools and student achievement: Lottery based evidence from New York City (No.

w19576). National Bureau of Economic

Research.

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QUEST C3

Bouffard, S. M. (2009). Tapping into technology: Using

the Internet to promote family–school

communication. In N. E. Hill & R. K. Chao (Eds.),

Families, schools, and the adolescent:

Connecting research, policy, and practice (pp.

147–161). New York, NY: Teachers College.

Bowen,

W. G., Chingos, M. M., McPherson, M. S., & Tobin, E. M. (2009). Crossing the finish line: Completing college at America’s public universities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Deutschlander, D. (2017, March). Academic undermatch:

How general and specific cultural capital

structure inequality. In Sociological Forum (Vol.

32, No. 1, pp. 162-185).

Equity and Excellence. (n.d.). Retrieved September 01,

2020, from https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about us/vision-and-mission/equity-and-excellence Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental

involvement in education: An explanatory

model. Educational review, 63(1), 37-52.

Immerwahr, J. (2003). With diploma in hand: Hispanic

high school seniors talk about their future

(Report No. National Center Report No. 03-2).

San Jose, CA: National Center for Public Policy

and Higher Education, and Public Agenda.

NYC High School Admissions Guide. (n.d.). Retrieved

September 01, 2020, from https://www.schools.

nyc.gov/enrollment/enroll-grade-by-grade/high school/nyc-high-school-admissions-guide Perna,

L. W., & Thomas, S. L. (2009). Barriers to college opportunity: The unintended consequences of state-mandated testing. Educational Policy, 23(3), 451-479.

Roderick, M., Nagaoka, J., Coca, V., & Moeller, E. (2008).

From High School to the Future: Potholes on

the Road to College. Research Report.

Consortium on Chicago School Research. 1313

East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.

Rodriguez, A. (2015). The road to undermatch:

Understanding the differences between White

and Latino student predictors of undermatch.

Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, 7(2),

149-168.

Sattin-Bajaj, C., Jennings, J. L., Corcoran, S. P., Baker Smith, E. C., & Hailey, C. (2018). Surviving at the

street level: How counselors’ implementation

of school choice policy shapes students’ high

school destinations. Sociology of Education,

91(1), 46-71.

Smith, J., Pender, M., & Howell, J. (2013). The full extent of student-college undermatch. Economics of Education Review, 32, 247–261.

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Appendix A Table 1 Selectivity of institutions with high regent scores and low acceptance rates NYS Regents Math Scores [0-20]

Match 1

[20-40]

[40-60]

[60-80]

[80-100]

[0-20]

0

0

0

19

1

[20-40]

7

0

8

110

9

[40-60]

4

2

6

105

19

[60-80]

6

0

1

59

14

[80-100]

1

0

1

29

9

Figure 1 Students matching to selectivity institutions (No Interaction)

Figure 2 Students matching to selectivity institutions in NYC boroughs (Interaction)

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F.A.C.E.S. Families and Children Experiencing Success PI: Anil Chacko Mentor: Brittany Matthews The Families and Children Experiencing Success Lab (FACES) is directed by Anil Chacko. The lab was developed to serve the families of youth exhibiting disruptive behavior disorders such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, and other conduct disorders. Its research aims to understand how to develop the most effective prevention, intervention, and service models for youth with disruptive behavior disorders and related conditions, or those at high risk for developing them.

Interviews | 25

Using Black Beauticians As Peer Counselors To Reduce Self-Esteem and Appearance-Related Anxiety Issues For Black Women Rakim Griffin

C

olorism and texturism are two forms of phenotype biases that have been prevalent within the African American community for many years.

Colorism can be broadly defined as the deeply socialized and harmful view that lighter skin is more beautiful, desirable, and attractive than darker skin (Walker, 2011). Texturism revolves around the idea that hair that is not straight, curly, or long is not as preferable as coily, coarse, and afro-like hair (Shepherd, 2018). Studies trace back the origins of colorism and texturism in America to racism and slavery. During slavery, especially in the south, lighter slaves were more likely to be manumitted, receive education, learn trade skills, and perform less strenuous jobs (Hunter, 2002). As they were deemed more intelligent and favorable given their European ancestry or European-like physical features (Hunter, 2002). Even after the emancipation, societal preference for lighter colored African Americans existed. In fact, data shows that lighter skin individuals receive more education, income, wealth, and other social privileges compared to those with darker skin (Hunter, 2002; Dixon et al., 2017).

These two phenotype biases have been embedded into African American culture; being selfperpetuated by the community itself. Looking back to the early 1900’s, light- and dark-skinned people often self-segregated based upon skin and hair.

The “brown paper bag test,” “blue vein rule,” and “comb test,” were common tools used to create this division. These particular social constructs operated by excluding dark-skin people from clubs, social organizations, fraternities/sororities, and churches if their skin was darker than a brown paper bag, if their skin color did not permit visualization of vein color, or if a comb could not pass through their hair with ease (Maddox & Gray, 2002). Until today, lighter skin African Americans still have many privileges and more favorable social outcomes than darker skin African Americans. Studies have shown that lighter skin men receive less outgroup and ingroup discrimination compared to darker skin men (Uzogara et al., 2014). Hunter (2002) sheds

light on the existence of phenotype biases within the African American community by explaining the beauty hierarchy that exists for black women.

One example used explains how skin and hair texture has an effect on African American women’s marriage and relationship status (Hunter, 2002). In this case, those with lighter skin tones and less afrocentric hair textures are considered more socially desirable (Hunter, 2002). These contexts highlight how phenotypes carry “social capital” and those with privilege have the ability to create economic, educational, and financial benefits (Hunter, 2002).

It is especially important to also examine the mental and emotional impact colorism and texturism has on black women. Emphasis is placed on this demographic specifically because women have been historically held to higher beauty standards than men (Thompson et al., 2001). Reason being is that men more often use wealth, status, height and positions of power to indirectly override skin and texture-related biases (Thompson et al., 2001). On the contrary, both skin and hair textures have been used as a social determinant of many African American women’s intelligence, success and attractiveness (Neal & Wilson, 1989). These biases also show to have a negative effect on selfperception, esteem, worth and confidence for dark skin women. (Thompson and Keith, 2001; Burnett, 2015). Thompson and Keith (2001) showed that Black women expect to be judged based upon skin tone and dark skin women and have more negative expectations based upon the way they’ll be perceived.

The interpersonal and structural disadvantages created by these two phenotypes biases on African women are the main influencers of the current study.

It explores the idea that training black beauticians as peer counselors may be one potential way to combat self-esteem and appearance anxiety issues created by colorism and texturism. Researchers theorize that those who participate in the peercounseling intervention would have lower rates of appearance-related social anxiety and higher rates of self-esteem compared to the comparison control

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control group intervention.

QUEST C3

that

would

not

receive

the

Basis for these hypotheses lie within the fact that peer counselors have shown to be effective at providing services to individuals with mental health difficulties (Miyamoto & Sono, 2012). The peer support model is based upon the principle that people who have common experiences are able to help provide empathy, validation, information, and hope for individuals who are dealing with mental health issues (Repper et al., 2013). Within this study, Black beauticians were chosen to serve as peer counselors for women affected by mental issues related to skin and hair. They were deemed as the right individuals for this task because many beauticians are black women who have personal experiences with skin color and hair texture biases.

It was hypothesized that black beauticians are likely to be empathetic and compassionate when administering services to participants which may positively facilitate the care being administered.

Black beauticians also play a vital role in this study because they work with skin and hair as professions. This is significant because it will allow for conversations about skin and hair-related issues to occur with a certain degree of prior knowledge and understanding. In addition, salon and beauty environments are directly related to the services provided and issues at hand. Oftentimes, salons are racially homogeneous and this factor can create a sense of belonging for people who go there. These spaces allow for conversations about identity, personal experiences, and sensitive topics to happen openly and freely. All of these factors were expected to have a positive impact on the participants’ experience within the peer counseling intervention.

A similar approach, where mental health and hair care services have been integrated, has been modeled in a prior study (Mbilishaka, 2018). This existing approach is called “Psychohairapy”, an ideology that aims to address the negative impact hair has on some Black women’s spiritual and mental health (Mbilishaka, 2018). This model identified hair as an underrecognized psychological stressor and suggested training hair care specialists to administer mental health care to their clients as a result (Mbilishaka, 2018). The “Psychohairpy” model trains participants by hosting four workshops that address different aspects of texturism. This includes lessons on the history of hair, listening skills, mental illness in communities of color, and specific therapeutic techniques related to hair.

The current study uses a similar approach as the “Psychohairpy” model. It differs primarily because it is an experimental design that incorporates extended peer counseling approaches for both skin and hair related issues.

Methods Participants The target population of this study will be Black women experiencing anxiety and self-esteem issues related to their appearance. The sample size will be 60 Black women dealing with appearance-related anxiety and self-esteem issues. Ads would be posted online, in beauty shops, mass transit systems and other various spaces in communities of color for recruitment. The posters will include questions such as “Do you wish you can change your hair/ skin because it is not “attractive”?”, “Do you often feel overwhelmed when people stare at you for extended periods?”, “Are you stressed by pressures to change your hair or skin color?”, “Do you wish your appearance was different?” These posters will advertise the 8-week beauty and peer counseling intervention administered by black beauticians. It will also specify the aims to address Black women’s struggles with self-esteem and anxiety related to their skin, hair, and overall appearance.

A scannable quick response (QR) code will be attached to the advertisements. After scanning this code it will lead to a survey that will assess selfesteem and anxiety associated with appearance.

This will include questions such as “How confident do you feel wearing your hair in its natural state?”, “Do you believe that your skin is beautiful?”, and other ones associated with skin and hair perception.

Additionally, ten Black women beauticians will be recruited and trained as peer counselors.

Those selected will be qualified people who have successful businesses and great client reviews.

Businesses will be considered successful if they have stable and consistent amounts of customers.

Reviews will be deemed “great” if the majority of client reviews are positive and appreciative of the services they receive. Once the beauticians are recruited, they will receive free peer specialist training from the New York Peer Specialist Certified Training provided by the Academy of Peer Services (NY Peer Specialists, 2020).

In order to recruit them, posters and ads will be used that indicate free peer counselor training for beauticians. Beauticians would be recruited similarly

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to the participants; however, the advertisements would instead promote the benefits of having a peer specialist certification and providing mental health services for clients dealing with identityrelated issues. Ads will also explain the benefits of having these skills for clients dealing with identityrelated issues, communities of color, and people.

Beauticians will be compensated $1,000 at the eight-week intervention.

Procedure This study will be a randomized control trial. The 60 Black women recruited into the study will be randomly assigned to either the peer counseling intervention group (30 participants) or the control group (30 participants). The intervention group will receive an 8-week peer counseling intervention delivered by ten trained Black beauticians.

Each trained beautician (10 total) will receive three participants to counsel. Measures will be administered to both groups before the intervention and after the 8-week intervention is completed.

Intervention The primary goals of this study is to help participants reduce appearance-related anxiety and increase self-esteem for Black women. Therefore, the intervention used in this study will be eight weeks of weekly peer counseling provided by trained beauticians. Within the program, Black women will receive hair and beauty services along with peer counseling support from their beauticians.

The beauticians will be trained using the New York Peer Specialist Certified Training provided by the Academy of Peer Services to become certified peer specialists (NY Peer Specialists, 2020). This training is free. Experts of peer support and mental health services conduct these trainings within this accredited program. At the completion of the training, beauticians will have learned a variety of peer counseling and therapeutic skills.

After the completion of this program beauticians will be required to complete an intensive 1-week program in which they will learn about mental health and hair/skin. This training will be similar to the “Psychohairapy” approach in which it will include lessons on the history of Black hair/skin, listening skills, mental illness in communities of color, specific therapeutic techniques related to hair/skin, and other culturally relevant topics (Mbilishaka, 2018).

Using the information and techniques learned from their training, each beautician will be instructed to

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provide eight weeks of peer counseling and beauty services to the women in the intervention group.

During the duration of these sessions beauticians will provide mental health support and counseling. They will be aware that the main goal of their sessions is to ultimately help increase self-esteem and reduce appearance-related anxiety for participants.

The thirty participants in the control group will have no contact with the ten trained beauticians. Three weeks after completing the survey they will receive the three scales via email. At this point they will be instructed to answer them honestly and without the presence of others in order to move forward with the counseling services advertised in the posters used for recruitment. A disclaimer will be sent to ensure participants that responses are anonymous and do not have an effect on the type of treatment they receive. After finishing the scales, participants will then be offered eight free weeks of counseling from a licensed psychologist of their choice.

Measures Three measures will be used for this study: (1) Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (Hart et al., 2008); (2) Hair and Skin Based Social Appearance Anxiety Scale, which will be adapted from the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale by the author of this paper; and (3) the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965).

Social Appearance Anxiety Scale. In order to test if beauticians’ peer counseling techniques are efficient enough to reduce appearance-related anxiety, the social appearance anxiety scale will be used. The social appearance anxiety scale has been tested and considered a valid measure of one’s social anxiety related to their overall appearance (Hart et al., 2008). It is a 16-item self-report scale used to measure rates of appearance-related social anxiety (Hart et al., 2008). Example items are “I am concerned people would not like me because of the way I look” and “I get nervous when talking to people because of the way I look” (Hart et al., 2008). It is rated on a 5-point Likert Scale. Higher ratings on this scale indicate more anxiety and less confidence (Hart et al., 2008).

Hair and Skin Based Social Appearance Anxiety Scale. Since hair and skin were major components of this study, the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale was adapted by this author to incorporate these aspects. Adapting this scale was important given that there are not any validated scales that measure appearance-related anxiety

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QUEST C3

associated with hair and skin. This scale consisted of 10 questions that were similar to the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (Hart et al., 2008). The key difference was that within the terms “hair” an “skin” were incorporated into the questions.

Example items are “I am often afraid that people think hair looks bad,” “I feel uncomfortable when I think others are noticing flaws with my skin,” and “I concerned people will find me unappealing because of my skin color.” This scale was also rated on a 5-point Likert Scale. Higher ratings on this scale indicates more anxiety and less confidence with hair and skin (Hart et al., 2008).

Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. Since one of the main goals of the beautician training was to increase their clients’ self-esteem, The Rosenberg Self Esteem scale was used (Rosenberg, 1965).

This scale is a 10-item scale that measures selfworth by measuring both positive and negative attitudes (Rosenberg, 1965). Within it, a Likert scale format was used and these ranges were from strongly agree to strongly disagree. There were positive and negative questions included within the scale. Examples of positive questions are “I take a positive attitude towards myself,” and “I feel that I have a number of good qualities.” Higher ratings on this scale indicate higher self-esteem. Examples of negative questions include “I feel I do not have much to be proud of,” and “All in all, I’m inclined to feel that I am a failure.” Higher ratings on this scale indicate lower self-esteem.

Planned Analysis The study will use a paired samples t-test to measure significant differences in rates of selfesteem and appearance-related anxiety pre and post intervention between the intervention and control groups.

Anticipated Results Peer counseling has been proved to be a valid way of helping people with a variety of different mental health issues and challenges (Miyamoto & Sono, 2012). Therefore, it is expected that the New York Peer Specialist Certified Training would be an adequate resource to train beauticians to help their clients with their identity issues (NY Peer Specialists, 2020). It is expected that there will be a significant increase in rates of self-esteem and a significant decrease in rates of appearance-related anxiety for participants in the intervention group.

It is hypothesized that the intervention group who received counseling services from their beauticians will have higher rates of self-esteem compared to

the control group after the intervention. It is also expected that the intervention group will have lower rates of appearance-related anxiety after the completion of their intervention compared to the control group.

Discussion Many African American women deal with a variety of issues related to their identity as a result of colorism and texturism. These two phenotype biases have been deeply rooted in American society and as a result they operate and still exist within African American culture. Until this day Black women are affected educationally, financially, professionally, romantically, and psychologically (Hunter, 2002; Dixon et al., 2017). For these reasons this study attempts to address emotional stress related to skin color.

Another primary goal of this study was to create more mental health resources for the African American community (specifically Black women).

This is important because minorities have less access to mental health resources, especially compared to white communities (McGuire & Miranda, 2008).

In addition, they are also more likely to delay or fail to seek mental health treatment (McGuire & Miranda, 2008). Negative stigmas of mental health, fear of doctors, and economic status may also all play a role for these outcomes (Hall et al., 2015) For these reasons, Black beauticians are considered to be suitable peer counselors because they share identities, experiences, and common struggles with Black women while simultaneously reducing costs and increasing access to mental health care services. Integrating mental health care into existing spaces that people already utilize can further increase mental health service engagement for Black women.

Limitations and Future Directions Training beauticians to become peer counselors was one of the key aspects of this study. One major limitation of this is related to the fact that African American mental health issues are often stigmatized and unaddressed. This factor may interfere with participants’ willingness to share their sensitive experiences and emotional trauma. If participants do not open up about their specific hair and skinrelated issues, it may impact how much beauticians will be able help. Another potential limitation of this study is that outside experiences and variables may impact participants’ responses on each of the three scales used. The results cannot be fully attributed to the peer counseling received throughout the course

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of the eight week program. Factors such as mood and current emotional states can affect responses on all three of the self-report scales used.

One unique aspect of this study is that it plans to create more access to mental health resources to people who do not have access to traditional forms of psychological support. In the future, researchers can continue to identify more practical and accessible spaces where peer counselors and other mental health resources can be implemented. The current study only examines the impact of colorism and texturism on African American women; however, these two biases impact men and other races. Going forward this model can be advanced by applying the contexts and methods to other minority groups, genders, and professions. Doing so will further increase mental health support for people battling identity issues and further advance the peer counseling model.

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The Effects and Impact of Parental Stress on Children’s ADHD Symptoms: A Proposal Nancy J. Hernandez

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ttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly diagnosed within school-aged children with a prevalence rate of 5.29% (Polanczyk et al., 2013).

The diagnosis of ADHD pertains to characteristics such as inattentiveness, high levels of hyperactivity, and difficulty controlling impulsive behaviors in more than two settings (e.g. school, home, etc.)

(American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013).

Children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD have short attention spans, typically leading to the inability to focus on an individual task (Bögels et al., 2008). The experience of ADHD symptoms interferes with the expected development of children; consequently, parents of children with ADHD report more challenging experiences raising their children compared to families with typically developing children (Bögels et al., 2008). The hardships that these families experience include the navigation of their children’s diagnoses, the seeking and the utilization of therapy, and the involvement with the overall healthcare system (Corcoran et al., 2017). The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends that parents receive parent training to improve their parenting techniques, potentially benefiting the symptoms of their children with ADHD (Padilla & Parsons, 2019).

Researchers (2020) also highly suggested that parents should participate in parental training if their child or adolescent develops complex ADHD (e.g., comorbidity, moderate to severe functional impairment, uncertainty of diagnosis, or poor response to treatment). Poor understanding of their child’s ADHD diagnosis contributes to significantly high levels of parental stress (Tzang et al., 2009). Children with ADHD may heighten the amount of stress that their parents experience through the externalization of child conduct and emotional problems (Leitch et al., 2019; MuñozSilva et al., 2017). Parental stress may deteriorate the development of challenging behaviors (e.g., attentional problems and ADHD symptomology) that children with developmental delays express (Neece, 2014). The objective of a long-term

improvement (e.g. parent-child interactions, school functioning and, peer relationships) in parental interventions may be of great beneficence in the ADHD population (Barbaresi et al., 2020).

Mindful parenting allows for the prosperity of children through the development of listening, emotional awareness, and self-regulation qualities (Duncan et al., 2009). The overall goal of mindfulness is to be aware, to be consciously attentive in the moment, and to nonjudgmentally unfold situations or experiences moment by moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). Mindfulness therapy allows for improvements in the personal goals of parents, externalizing symptoms of children, and overall happiness of families (Bögels et al., 2008). Mindfulness may be applied in different environments, and it is not limited to application in individual settings (Van der Oord et al., 2012). The flexibility of engaging in mindfulness in different environments may allow providers to directly target and benefit the ADHD population; since, in order to be diagnosed with ADHD, a child has to demonstrate symptoms in more than two settings (APA, 2013). For example, mindfulness training can be applied to better children’s academic progress by directly helping with homework assignments when they become distracted within the school or home setting (Van der Oord et al., 2012).

Child ADHD symptoms demonstrate a direct relationship with variability in harsh parenting behaviors (e.g., more corporal punishment, less supervision, and more inconsistent discipline), which influences the consistency of parenting behavior (Li & Lansford, 2018). Parents of children with ADHD who participated in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) therapy, have reported experiencing less stress and improved mindfulness (Miller & Brooker, 2017). MBSR has helped parents of children with developmental delays decrease their stress levels while simultaneously improving their children’s behavior problems (Neece, 2014).

Through mindfulness parenting (i.e., adjustment to a non-judgmental, here-and-now attention, and intentionality in their parenting style), children’s

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behavior problems (Neece, 2014).

Through mindfulness parenting (i.e., adjustment to a non-judgmental, here-and-now attention, and intentionality in their parenting style), children’s attention and hyperactivity difficulties may improve (Bögels et al., 2010). The direct effects of lower parental stress on child ADHD symptoms may seem unclear within the literature. The parental hope, pressure, and outlook may influence the child’s motivation, which may also distract them from their academic work and intensify their symptoms. MBSR therapy can potentially help with these specific variables that may be affecting the children’s mind, intellect, and efficacy.

Through the proposed study, we ask whether a parental MBSR training can positively impact ADHD symptoms in school-aged children. Based on previous literature (Van der Oord et al., 2012), we expect to see a decrease in parental stress through MBSR, which will also lead to an improvement in child ADHD symptoms, demonstrating a bidirectional relationship between parental stress and child ADHD symptoms (see Figure 1).

Methods Participants The study will involve parents of children aged six to twelve-years old who have been diagnosed with ADHD. Participants will have to give consent to access medical records to confirm their ADHD diagnosis. Additionally, the participants will have to be tested through professionals at our research lab to support the ADHD diagnosis. The sample size will be made up of 100 families and teachers, half of the sample will be randomly assigned to the MBSR intervention group and the other half assigned to the waitlist/control group. Parent participants will be recruited through a university database, parenting groups, and community fairs. Families will also have to consent to allow their children’s teachers to be contacted through telephone, email and/or postal letters; the teacher’s information will be requested through the parents. Teachers will be asked to participate in a few questionnaires about their student’s behavior and symptoms. To have an age and gender appropriate diverse sample, a stratification will be performed in accordance to age and gender groups to separate the children’s parents in equally separate testing groups (i.e., the MBSR intervention group and waitlist/control groups). To reduce participant attrition and promote engagement, a large sample will be recruited and

child care will be available and provided by research assistants during their scheduled appointments.

Procedure This study will be a randomized control trial comparing parents in an MBSR intervention group with parents in a waitlist/control group. The MBSR intervention will be delivered by an MBSR instructor who has been trained in practice techniques from a stress reduction clinic.

Measures will be administered before the start of treatment, four weeks into treatment, post-treatment, and at an eight-week follow-up point to collect progression data. Data collection will be scheduled separately from the MBSR intervention at the four time points: week 1, week 4, week 9, and week 17.

Time-Points of Assessment The pre-intervention time point will serve as a baseline of the children’s ADHD symptoms and behavior, and parental stress. The ADHD symptoms will be measured through our prospective measurement tools described in the materials and measures section.

A mid-intervention time point will occur four weeks into the MBSR intervention. We do not expect to see statistically significant results at the second time-point when testing in the intervention group.

However, we do expect to see minimal improvement in the children’s ADHD symptoms when comparing the MBSR intervention group to the waitlist/control group.

Proceeding one week after the intervention ends, a post-intervention time point will take place.

When measuring at this time point, we expect to see the stress perceived by the parent decrease in the MBSR intervention group, while in the wait-list group, it remains the same throughout the study.

As the parental stress relieves itself through the MBSR program, we expect to see better control of the ADHD symptoms in the children with ADHD. This time point will serve to see the impact that the MBSR training had compared to the wait-list group on the children with ADHD. There will be a follow-up assessment time point eight weeks after the intervention ends. We expect to see the parental stress remain at a low level for the intervention group, with the parents trying to implement what they learned in the program, within their everyday life. Conversely, we expect to see the children with ADHD improve their control of ADHD

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QUEST C3

improve their control of ADHD symptoms during the follow-up time-point more.

Intervention The intervention used for this study will be KabatZinn’s MBSR program. The MBSR program was originally developed to treat anxiety in both general and anxious population and is now used to benefit ADHD populations (Kabat-Zinn et al., 1992; Neece, 2014). See Appendix A for a weekly breakdown of the content covered in the MBSR treatment.

Parents’ schedules will be accommodated for the sessions to prevent a high dropout rate. Sessions will be recorded upon consent to strengthen the fidelity of the intervention.

Measures

Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3). The BASC-3 (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015) measures a variety of internalizing and externalizing behavior with a total of 175 items (Moore & Woodcock, 2017). The child’s behavior and emotional functioning may be measured through this assessment tool (Fosco et al., 2020).

Parent participants have the option to choose either never, sometimes, often or almost always (i.e., a 0-3 Likert scale) on the items (e.g., “is easily distracted”, “avoids other children”, “is overly aggressive” and “is unable to slow down”) on the Parent Rating Scales, Child (BASC-3-PRS) (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2015).

The parent rating scales, the teacher rating scales and the self-report of personality versions of the BASC-3 will be administered to parents, teachers, and children respectively.

The Conners Third Edition (Conners 3).

ADHD symptoms will be measured by the newest revision of the Conners Rating Scales- Revised, developed in 1997 (Conners, 2008). The Conners 3 is a comprehensive diagnostic assessment tool for children ages six to eighteen (Conners, 2008). The new, updated scale’s benefits include the linkage to the DSM-5, assessment of executive functioning, assessing inattention, and other factors directly targeting ADHD. The full-length Conners 3 scale has 110 items, including content scales for inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and defiance/aggression.

It includes items such as “Has a short attention span” and “Argues with adults” which are answered on a 4-point Likert scale. Higher scores on each scale indicate higher levels of ADHD symptoms in comparison to the normative group. The full-length scale obtains the parent, teacher and self-report versions (Conners, 2008). It will be administered to

parents, teachers, and children at each time point throughout the study. Research assistants will help children fill out the forms if they need assistance reading the items. The Conners 3 remains to be mainly a diagnostic tool, this measure will be used to support the ADHD diagnosis and measure ADHD outcomes throughout the study.

The Parenting Stress Index, Fourth Edition (PSI- 4). The PSI-4 gauges the stress experienced by parents in parenting in 120 items (Abidin, 1990). The index collects information on child characteristics, parent characteristics, and situational/demographic life stress. The PSI-4 assesses items such as the parents’ interaction with their children, their degree of social support and how their health is impacted due to the parental stress (Abidin, 1990). Example items include “When my child misbehaves or fusses too much, I feel responsible, as if I didn’t do something right,” “There are quite a few things that bother me about my life” and “I enjoy being a parent” which are answered on a 5-point Likert Scale. Higher scores indicate higher levels of parenting stress (Abidin, 1990).

Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The PSS (Cohen, 1994) was designed to measure how unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded adults feel about their life. The time period that the scale measures tries to encapsulate the participant’s stress from their last month. The short 10-item scale includes questions such as “In the last month, how often have you felt things were going your way?” and “In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on top of things?” The scale measures from never, almost never, sometimes, fairly often to very often, the higher the number, the higher the perceived stress is (Cohen, 1994).

Planned Analysis To determine whether the MBSR intervention significantly reduces parent stress and child ADHD symptoms, the study will use a within groups Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to measure significant differences in parent ratings of stress as well as parent, teacher, and child ratings of child ADHD symptoms across time points. The study will use a between groups ANOVA to measure significant differences between the MBSR intervention group and wait-list groups for parent ratings of stress as well as parent, teacher, and child ratings of child ADHD symptoms at each time point. Additionally, there will be a correlational analysis to determine whether decreases in parent stress and decreases in ADHD symptoms are associated with each other.

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Anticipated Results We expect parents who participated in the MBSR intervention group to have lower levels of stress, as measured by average scores on the PSI-4 and the PSS, at the mid-intervention time point compared to the wait-list group. We expect a statistically significant reduction in stress levels at the postintervention time point, as found in Neece (2014).

Furthermore, we expect a statistically significant reduction in parent stress levels to be maintained at the follow-up time point. We expect the effect size of the intervention on parent levels of stress will be a medium to large effect (Bögels et al., 2008; Neece, 2014).

We believe that children of parents in the MBSR intervention group will show decreases in ADHD symptoms, as measured by the BASC-3 content scale, compared to the children of parents in the wait-list control group at the post-intervention and follow-up time points. We do not expect to see a statistically significant decrease in ADHD symptoms at the mid-point however, we do expect to see a minimal decrease. In the post-intervention and follow-up time points, we believe that there will be statistically significant decreases in ADHD symptoms. However, we expect the effect size of the intervention on child ADHD symptoms to be small, yet still significant. Lastly, we expect that parent stress will be significantly correlated with child ADHD symptoms.

Discussion This proposed study will contribute to the parenting literature as it examines the potential bi-directional relationship between parental stress and their children’s ADHD symptoms. With parental participation in the intervention, there can be statistically significant data to expand the literature supporting the suggested bi-directional relationship.

Holding these findings, the field can move on to see how we can prevent the negative implications that parent stress may have on children by providing a type of prevention or support program. The data will demonstrate the influence that the parental stress has on child ADHD symptoms.

Mindful parenting programs may reduce parental stress and reduce children’s externalizing symptoms. Previous findings that delivered mindful parenting programs were limited by small sample sizes and methodological issues (Townshend et al., 2016). This study will utilize a strong design (e.g., randomized controlled trial, large sample size and, a

and assessments (validated scales) to explicitly explore the impact of parental stress on child ADHD symptoms and behavior through the use of a mindfulness parenting program.

Potential limitations Since this intervention asks for a large time commitment, we expect about a quarter of our sample to drop out of the study, as this reflects the percentage that generally discontinues treatment in other studies (Bögels et al., 2008). Furthermore, teachers’ attrition rates will be noted since the teachers may be discouraged from completing lengthy and extensive measures frequently.

Additionally, the measures include all self-reported data, including more observational tasks within sessions may be beneficial however, it will make visits longer which participants may not relish.

Moreover, the study considers the control as a wait-list group; this is a limitation due to the lack of evidence that the improvements relate to the engagement in the treatment. Homework assignments will be tracked within the MBSR program; however, ambiguity will be involved considering if the parents are applying their mindfulness techniques correctly (i.e. technique or situation). A parent support group may serve as a more beneficial control group to compare and contrast the effects of the group meetings and the MBSR intervention.

Future directions Future studies should consider the outcomes of the large time commitment to target and strengthen the measures that are used. Moreover, a school intervention could be helpful through the application of more measures addressing the symptoms of children by a school psychologist.

Generally, less self-report measures and more observational measure should be included in future studies. Exploring how parental stress affects the parent-child relationship can possibly improve through interventions for parental stress. Next steps include research on possible mediators on the relationship between parent stress levels and child ADHD symptoms, if such a relationship exists. Possible mediators could include changes in parental disciplinary habits or the effects of parental stress on the amount of positive attention and praise they give to their child.

The field already knows that parents of children with externalizing disorders experience higher

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QUEST C3

levels of stress (Theule et al., 2013). Therefore, researchers, teachers, psychologists, doctors, and parents should collaborate on prevention programs that target parental stress to better children’s well-being. Prevention, instead of intervention, will be important for mitigating the harmful impacts of parent stress on child ADHD symptoms upon diagnosis.

References Abidin, R. R., & Loyd, B. (1990). Parenting Stress Index.

(3rd ed.) Charlottesville, VA: Pediatric

Psychology Press.

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

(DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Publishers.

Barbaresi, W. J., Campbell, L., Diekroger, E. A., Froehlich,

T. E., Liu, Y. H., O’Malley, E., ... & Chan, E. (2020).

Society for developmental and behavioral

pediatrics clinical practice guideline for the

assessment and treatment of children

and adolescents with complex attention-deficit/

hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Developmental

& Behavioral Pediatrics, 41, S35-S57.

Bögels,

S., Hoogstad, B., van Dun, L., de Schutter, S., & Restifo, K. (2008). Mindfulness training for adolescents with externalizing disorders and their parents. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 36(2), 193-209.

Bögels, S. M., Lehtonen, A., & Restifo, K. (2010). Mindful

parenting in mental health care. Mindfulness,

1(2), 107-120.

Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1994).

Perceived stress scale. Measuring Stress: A

Guide for Health and Social Scientists, 10, 1-2.

Conners, C. K. (2008). Conners 3. MHS. Corcoran, J.,

Schildt, B., Hochbrueckner, R., & Abell, J. (2017).

Parents of children with attention deficit/

hyperactivity disorder: A meta-synthesis, part I.

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal,

34(4), 281-335.

Duncan, L. G., Coatsworth, J. D., & Greenberg, M. T.

(2009). A model of mindful parenting:

Implications for parent–child relationships

and prevention research. Clinical child and

Family Psychology Review, 12(3), 255-270.

Fosco,

W. D., Kofler, M. J., Groves, N. B., Chan, E. S., & Raiker, J. S. (2020). Which ‘working’ components of working memory aren’t working in youth with ADHD?. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1-14.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions

in context: past, present, and future. Clinical

Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144-156.

Leitch,

S., Sciberras, E., Post, B., Gerner, B., Rinehart, N., Nicholson, J. M., & Evans, S. (2019). Experience of stress in parents of children with ADHD: A qualitative study. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 14(1), 1690091.

Li, J. J., & Lansford, J. E. (2018). A smartphone-based

ecological momentary assessment of parental

behavioral consistency: Associations with

parental stress and child ADHD symptoms.

Developmental Psychology, 54(6), 1086.

Miller, C. J., & Brooker, B. (2017). Mindfulness

programming for parents and teachers of

children with ADHD. Complementary Therapies

in Clinical Practice, 28, 108-115.

Moore,

B., & Woodcock, S. (2017). Resilience, bullying, and mental health: Factors associated with improved outcomes. Psychology in the Schools, 54(7), 689-702.

Muñoz-Silva, A., Lago-Urbano, R., Sanchez-Garcia, M., &

Carmona-Márquez, J. (2017). Child/adolescent’s

ADHD and parenting stress: The mediating role

of family impact and conduct problems

Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2252.

Neece,

C. L. (2014). Mindfulness‐based stress reduction for parents of young children with developmental delays: Implications for parental mental health and child behavior problems.

Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 27(2), 174-186.

Padilla,

R., & Parsons, M. H. (2019). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder outcomes following remotely administered self-help training for parents. Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 25(5), 350-359.

Polanczyk, G. V., Willcutt, E. G., Salum, G. A., Kieling,

C., & Rohde, L. A. (2014). ADHD prevalence

estimates across three decades: an updated

systematic review and meta-regression analysis.

International Journal of Epidemiology, 43(2),

434-442.

Reynolds, C. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2015). Behavior

assessment system for children–Third Edition

(BASC-3). Bloomington, MN: Pearson.

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Samuelson, M., Carmody, J., Kabat-Zinn, J., & Bratt,

M. A. (2007). Mindfulness-based stress

reduction in Massachusetts correctional

facilities. The Prison Journal, 87(2), 254-268.

Theule,

J., Wiener, J., Tannock, R., & Jenkins, J. M. (2013).

Parenting stress in families of children with ADHD: A meta-analysis. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 21(1), 3-17.

Townshend, K., Jordan, Z., Stephenson, M., & Tsey, K.

(2016). The effectiveness of mindful parenting

programs in promoting parents’ and children’s

wellbeing: A systematic review. JBI Database of

Systematic Reviews and Implementation

Reports, 14(3), 139-180.

Tzang,

R. F., Chang, Y. C., & Liu, S. I. (2009). The association between children’s ADHD subtype and parenting stress and parental symptoms. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 13(4), 318-325.

Van der Oord, S., Bögels, S. M., & Peijnenburg, D. (2012).

The effectiveness of mindfulness training for

children with ADHD and mindful parenting for

their parents. Journal of Child and Family

Studies, 21(1), 139-147.

Figure 1. The bi-directional relationship between parent stress and child ADHD symptoms.

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QUEST C3 Appendix A.

MBSR Intervention Week Number Week 1

MBSR Treatment 2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises (e.g. body scan meditation, sitting meditation, and mindful stretching exercises) + assigned homework (e.g. to practice their mindfulness techniques at home) (Samuelson et al., 2007)

Week 2

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

Week 3

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

Week 4

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

Week 5

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

Week 6

7- hour intensive and mainly silent ‘meditation retreat session’.

Week 7

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

Week 8

2- hour group session with mindfulness exercises + assigned homework

QUEST 2

U.P.K. Universal Pre-K Project PI: Elise Cappella Mentor: Jessica Siegel Universal Pre-K (UPK) is an initiative with NYU & NYC Schools Division of Early Childhood Education to foster a research-practice partnership to support the roll-out of universal pre-kindergarten through Pre-K For All improving the quality of its programming. This partnership aims to provide quantitative & capacity-building solutions to educational problems faced by the DOE-DECE.

Interviews | 25

It Takes a Village: The Latinx Caregiver and School Principal Relationship Fatima C. Gutierrez Jhong

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ccording to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, Latinx families represent 16% of the 308.7 million people residing in the United States (Ennis, RíosVargas & Albert, 2011). The 2020 census count is expected to show an increase in numbers for this growing minority. These are relevant statistics to the nation’s education system which is changing its demographic composition accordingly. The New York City Council (n.d.), supports these growing numbers by reporting 41% of the student population in New York City public schools as Latinx students during the 2018-2019 school year.

Latinx students and caregivers are statistically represented in the school system which highlights the importance of their engagement.

Parental engagement is a fundamental factor emphasized in educational research as it relates to children’s performance. The expectations on parents are high since their behavior in school settings influence children’s academic success and cognitive development (Jung & Zhang, 2016).

In other words, the stakes are high for Latinx parental engagement outcomes. The emphasis is on the parent or caregiver and not on the child.

Regardless of the child’s IQ, parental engagement was found to be related to the child’s academic performance (Topor, Keane, Shelton, & Calkins, 2010). It is important to note there are similarities and differences in parental engagement tools.

One measure includes factors such as language proficiency, child supervision, and presence in school (Jung & Zhang, 2016). Another parental engagement measure consists of parent-child communication and parents’ participation in children’s activities (Liu & Whites, 2017). Many, if not all, measures stress parent’s school presence as an essential component of engagement. McWayne & Melzi (2014), however, found that Latinx caregivers practice engagement in culturally diverse ways such as teaching their children about their country of origin traditions and food, sharing the difficulties of life without an education or encouraging the children to participate in home activities such as cooking. It is evident that common parental engagement measures in literature do not match

Latinx families’ practice. Floyd & Griffith (1998, as cited in Smith, 2009) found that in comparison to African American and Caucasian parents, Latinx caregivers have less direct interactions with their children’s school and report lower parental engagement scores. Evidently, not all parents are engaging in similar ways and this might raise red flags for school leaders, such as principals. Briefly, principals might conclude that Latinx caregivers are not engaged due to their physical absence on school grounds. Because this conclusion does not have all the facts, it is imperative that principals facilitate resources to address the cultural differences. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020) shows that due to the nature of their leadership role, principal duties include, but are not limited to, curriculum standards, school personnel management, student conduct, budget management, security protocols, and parental engagement related to students’ academic progress and behavior.

School principals’ leadership is in a unique position to address and increase parental engagement, especially in groups that face culture-related barriers. Paulinna (2020) finds that negative teacher perceptions, language barriers and unfamiliarity with the school system are among the most relevant obstacles Latinx caregivers experience. For Latinx caregivers to change their parental engagement trends, the support of a culturally competent professional is vital. Pope, Reynolds, and Mueller (2004) define multicultural competence as the awareness, knowledge, and skills to collaborate with individuals who have different cultural identities.

As a result, this study proposes increasing the cultural competence of principals to increase Latinx parental engagement and support the academic success of a rising minority student population. The goal of this study is to test a cultural competence intervention for school principals in NYC’s prekindergarten schools to address this ongoing concern in the city’s school system. We hypothesize that increasing principals’ cultural competence will increase parental engagement among Latinx caretakers. The School-Wide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC) will be used to guide the cultural competence intervention for

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for school principals throughout the school year in a combination of quarterly workshops and monthly one-on-one coaching sessions. It is an instrument created to conduct cultural audits which includes a clear set of important cultural considerations in an academic setting such as school mission and curriculum (Nelson et al., 2008).

Methods Participants Building from the successful partnership between researchers at New York University (NYU) under the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Project (UPK) and early education leaders in the Division of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education (DECEDOE) in NYC, 20 Pre-K schools will be randomly selected to participate in the study. It is important for the sample to be representative of NYC’s five boroughs. Pre-K schools must serve a majority Latinx student body of 80% or above. They will be randomly selected only from a poll of sites that meet this criterion. From the recruited sites, 10 will be randomly selected to be in the treatment group and 10 will be randomly assigned to the control group. In the recruitment stage, the research team will inquire about any planned or active parental engagement efforts or cultural competence training for principals during the study’s timeline. This will decrease major differences between sites and ensure that there are no active advantages in either group. From the 20 pre-k schools, 20 principals (one principal per site) will be recruited through initial phone calls and scheduled meetings. During the in-person meeting, principals will receive a letter of explanation, outlining all parts of the study, and give formal written consent to participate. Upon leaders’ approval and support, 30 caregivers per school will be recruited via bilingual information flyers sent home with the student’s work or during after school pick up times. The goal is to complete recruitment efforts during the first three weeks of the school year. Bilingual recruiters will be available to share details and answer any questions caregivers might have in their preferred language, English or Spanish. To participate, caregivers will also be asked to complete a formal and written consent form. A locked drop off box will be placed in each site for caregiver’s convenience. A phone number and email address will be included in the forms to address any questions or doubts caregivers might have prior to filling out or submitting the form. To ensure confidentiality, all participants and school personnel involved will be notified that individual

participant information will not be released under any circumstances during or after the study. This will yield a total of 620 participants.

Study Design This proposed study will be a randomized control trial. Caregivers and school principals will undergo pre- and post-intervention measures. The school principals (n=20) will be tested for cultural competence using the Multicultural Competency Scale (MCS; Erdem, 2020). Caregivers’ parental engagement (n=600) will be measured using the Parental Engagement of Families from Latino Backgrounds (PEFL-English) and Participación Educativa de Familias Latinas (PEFL-Spanish; McWayne & Melzi, 2014). The availability of this tool in both English and Spanish will help capture an accurate measure of parental engagement without issues of misinterpretation since both questionnaires have been validated. Once baseline measures of Latinx parental engagement and school principals’ cultural competence are recorded, the proposed cultural competence intervention for school principals will be introduced to the intervention group. Once the training is complete, post intervention measures of parental engagement and school principal cultural competence will be calculated. Pre- and post-measures will help determine if the cultural competence intervention was successful in increasing school principal cultural competence and Latinx parental engagement.

Procedure The research team will schedule visits to the 20 NYC Pre-K sites and administer MCS to determine the baseline measure of school principal cultural competence. If in-person visits cannot take place due to schedule conflicts during the first three weeks of the school year, MCS questionnaires will be dropped off with directions to be completed and expected due dates. The research team will check in with principals via phone call or email two days prior to the pick-up dates to confirm questionnaires will be ready. With the support of school principals, a parent-teacher conference during the first week of school will be coordinated to measure parental engagement. First, a family demographic survey will be administered to the recruited caregivers with the help of bilingual researchers to ensure interpretation, verbal and written support is available for participants who request and need it (McWayne & Melzi, 2014). Then, PEFL questionnaires in English and Spanish will be

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QUEST C3

distributed. Once again, bilingual researchers will be available for support. All baseline measures are expected to be completed by the end of the first school month.

The principals’ intervention group will then start the cultural competence training led by specialized research team members. This training will include quarterly one-day cultural competence workshops to analyze and discuss relevant topics, and monthly one-on-one coaching sessions using the Schoolwide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist to give leaders plenty of opportunities and time to practice the learned theories (Nelson et al., 2008).

After rating observation areas on a scale from one to five, principals will be asked to provide evidence to support their ratings for each area. The coaching sessions will focus on addressing areas in which the ratings were three or below. principals will have time to increase their awareness of each considered area and create practical plans to address the needs of the student body with the help of their coaches. The intervention will be scheduled for 8 consecutive months, October to May. At the end of the school year, the research team will go back to all 20 pre-k sites to administer a post-intervention measure of parental engagement and principal cultural competence.

Measures

Family Demographic Survey. This 14 item survey has the purpose to show relevant and important family details including caregiver’s age, highest degree earned, country or countries in which education was pursued, employment status, marital status, family size, household size and composition, caregiving support (i.e. available friends and trusted family members to support with any family and child related matters including their country of origin), home language, caregiver’s racial and ethnic identity, country of origin, and number of years residing the United States (McWayne & Melzi, 2014). These items will be in multiple choice and short answer format. The survey will be available in both English and Spanish..

Parental Engagement of Families from Latino Backgrounds (PEFL-English and Spanish).

This measure (McWayne & Melzi, 2014) is a 43-item culturally relevant measure of family engagement in pan-Latino families rated on a 4-point Likerttype scale (1 = Never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes and 4 = frequently). It is available in both English and Spanish consisting of four main factors: foundational education, supplemental education,

school participation and future-oriented teaching.

The highest possible score for the self-assessment is 172 points demonstrating high levels of overall parental engagement. The lowest possible score is 43, showing low levels of overall parental engagement. It is important to note that the four questionnaire sections do not include the same number of items and results are recommended to be viewed in subscale (McWayne & Melzi, 2014). A high subscale score can help identify areas of success in parental engagement.

School-Wide Cultural Competence Observation Checklist (SCCOC). Nelson et al.

(2008) describe SCCOC as a cultural competence measure which includes observation areas such as school mission, curriculum, student interaction and leadership, teachers, teaching and learning, parents and outer community, conflict management, and assessments. This 33-item Likert-scale checklist was originally used by school counselors to promote advocacy for minority and diverse groups within the school body and conduct school culture audits. The scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) and helps the researcher identify to which extent they observe each cultural competence criteria within their school by means of the principal’s efforts. In addition, the SCCOC includes an evidence/documentation section for each item which principals are expected to complete and submit to help researchers select the most accurate score for each item. The highest possible score a principal can earn is 165 demonstrating exceptional levels of cultural competence in all 8 sections. The lowest possible score is 33 which shows poor level of cultural competence. Like the PEFL measure, results are recommended to be considered in subscale to identify which sections are proficient and which need improvement.

Multicultural Competency Scale (MCS).

Erdem (2020) describes the MCS as a 14-item self-assessment which includes three main factors: knowledge, awareness, and skill. The knowledge portion of the questionnaire has the goal of highlighting the participant’s willingness to learn about different cultures. The awareness section is focused on the participant’s self-awareness of their own cultural background. The skill section attempts to measure the participant’s ability to adapt to and implement materials or skills that will support the multicultural makeup of the academic environment.

The 5-point Likert rating scale identifies 1 as “it does not describe me at all” and 5 as “it completely describes me.” The highest possible score is 70 points

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which describes a highly multicultural competent educator, and the lowest is 14 points showing low levels of multicultural competence. Due to the assessment’s breakdown into three subsections, it is recommended to note each principal’s subscale scores to have a more detailed understanding of the results.

Planned Analysis First, a Shapiro-Wilk test will be used to test the normality of the scores. Then, MSC and PEFL measures will be used in a simple paired t test, a prepost analysis, to determine whether there will be a change after the cultural competence intervention is completed. This can yield either an increase or a decrease in principals’ cultural competence and Latinx caregivers’ parental engagement. An additional analysis will consider the influence of the family demographic results. The collected data will be summarized using descriptive statistics.

Anticipated Results In terms of the research hypothesis, it is anticipated that the cultural competence intervention will yield higher levels of principal cultural competence in the intervention group than in the control group.

Consequently, measures of parental engagement in the intervention group will be significantly higher than in the control group. Positive results will help the study move forward with a bigger sample group to strengthen the findings. See table 1 for anticipated trajectory of intervention results.

Discussion The proposed study offers a new approach to address the parental engagement trends in the Latinx population. Latinx families face specific barriers that have been misunderstood by leaders such as teachers and principals (Paulinna, 2020).

Research from the PEFL tool shows that Latinx caregivers have unique and culturally sound ways of engagement that include the family unit (McWayne & Melzi, 2014). These findings can start the conversation of how to create a school culture that promotes inclusivity and is aware of all cultures represented in the student body.

Increased cultural competence in school principals can influence creative and multicultural parental engagement initiatives. This can open positive lines of communication and a deeper understanding of each role for all adults involved in a Latinx child’s education.

Highlighting the need for principals’ cultural competence in schools benefits all members of the school (i.e. parents, teachers, students, leaders, etc.) and strengthens the academic community.

This awareness and action can improve the Latinx caregiver experience in the beginning of their child’s academic career and continue to strengthen their engagement throughout the years. Caregivers and principals play a defining role in the education of every child. Ensuring all adults are working towards the same goal for the benefit of each student can be a deciding factor in their future. Addressing these crucial relationships can help leaders make more culturally sensitive decisions such as allocating school funds on much needed initiatives and increase cultural competence training in teachers and other school personnel.

Limitations & Future Directions Although this study can help us illustrate important factors to improve Latinx parental engagement, it is important to acknowledge its limitations. First, the study only includes NYC Pre-K sites which means the results cannot be generalized to other school districts. In addition, Latinx students are the only represented racial minority group, which means the findings of this study cannot be used to support similar phenomena among other racial groups.

Lastly, the parental engagement measure is only culturally competent to Latinx caregivers, therefore using this measure on caregivers of diverse backgrounds can yield different results. Both the cultural competence tool guiding the intervention, SCCOC, and the parental engagement tool, PEFLEnglish and Spanish, are self-reported measures.

Due to the nature of the measures, participants may be inclined to exaggerate or select socially acceptable answers which can affect the accuracy of the results. In addition to social desirability bias, participants may recall supportive evidence, anecdotes, or patterns of behaviors, selectively or may not be able to recall any evidence at the time.

The participant biases that can affect questionnaire responses are significant enough for future researchers to contemplate other measures.

Future studies can consider a combination of tools to yield a more accurate measure of parental engagement and cultural competence. In addition to completing the PEFL-English or Spanish questionnaire, a trusted adult in the life of the caregiver (i.e. an active neighbor or acquaintance in the life of the caregiver and student) can participate in the study to complete a different measure such

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as a semi-structured interview. This second measure can help corroborate the results of the caregiver’s self-reported questionnaire. A holistic approach can be examined for the cultural competence measure where not only principals self-report, but the different sections of the MCS are used to host interviews with individuals within the school that can speak to the different efforts made by principals (e.g. students, caregivers, teachers, student aids, and other staff).

Lastly, a future study can consider including students’ academic performance as an additional measure to explore whether increasing Latinx parental engagement and cultural competence in school principals has a positive influence on their school readiness levels. These results have the potential to show whether the cultural competence intervention plays a role in addressing the education gap affecting Latinx students. This is also an important opportunity to consider a longitudinal study that tracks parental engagement and academic performance outcomes throughout Latinx students’ elementary school years.

References Bureau

of Labor Statistics. (2020). Elementary, Middle, and High School Principals. https://www.bls.gov/ ooh/management/elementary-middle-and-highschool-principals.htm#tab-2

Ennis, S. R., Ríos-Vargas, M., & Albert, N. G. (2011). The

Hispanic Population: 2010. 2010 Census Briefs.

Erdem,

D. (2020). Multicultural competence scale for prospective teachers: Development, validation and measurement invariance. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 87, 1-28.

Jung, E., & Zhang, Y. (2016). Parental involvement,

children’s aspirations, and achievement in

new immigrant families. Journal of Educational

Research, 109(4), 333–350.

Liu, Z. & Whites, M. J. (2017). New Tools for Old

Problems: Education Outcomes of Immigrant

Youth: The Role of Parental Engagement. The

Annals of the American Academy of Political

and Social Science, 674, 27.

McWayne, C. M., & Melzi, G. (2014). Validation of a

culture-contextualized measure of family

engagement in the early learning of low-income

Latino children. Journal of Family Psychology,

28(2), 260–266.

Nelson, J. A., Bustamante, R. M., Wilson, E. D. &

Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2008).

New York City Council. (n.d.) School Diversity in NYC.

https://council.nyc.gov/data/school-diversity-in nyc/ Paulinna, G. A. (2020). Authentic Parental Engagement

of Hispanic Caregivers in the schools: Defining

Barriers and School-based Strategies (Doctoral

dissertation, Alliant International University,

2020). Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC. Pope, R. L., Reynolds, A. L., & Mueller, J. A. (2004).

Multicultural competence in student affairs. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smith,

S. D. (2009). Leading in Diverse Schools: Principals’ Perceptions of Building Relationships with Hispanic/Latino Families. Dissertation, Georgia State University.

Topor,

D. R., Keane, S. P., Shelton, T. L., & Calkins, S. D. (2010). Parent involvement and student academic performance: a multiple mediational analysis. Journal of prevention & intervention in the community, 38(3), 183–197.

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Appendix Anticipated trajectory of intervention results

The Impact of Low-Quality Pre-K for Low-Income Black and Hispanic Children Onyinye Nnajiofor

A

growing body of evidence suggests that high-quality pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) is a key factor in preventing school failure and provides a child with lasting achievement academically and behaviorally (Valentino, 2018). In fact, children’s behavioral outcomes worsen as the number of hours they spend in low-quality Pre-K programs increases (McCartney et al., 2010). High-quality Pre-K programs are characterized as having emotionally and academically supportive teacherchild interactions in the classroom (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Children whose teachers create an organized and emotionally supportive classroom demonstrate improvements in self-regulatory and social behavioral outcomes, children who display problems in self-regulation appear to benefit even more (Pianta et al., 2019).

Furthermore, achievement gaps, which are the disparities in educational performance amongst subgroups of students, are seen between minority (non-white) children and their white counterparts, it is also seen between children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and higher SES backgrounds (Valentino, 2018).

Overwhelmingly, research has indicated that highquality Pre-K programs yield the greatest benefits for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Garces et al., 2002). The majority of rigorous Pre-K evaluations are of programs that serve children living in poverty, these evaluations overwhelmingly find that high-quality programs, both in quantity and quality of instruction, yield large benefits for poor and/or minority children (Valentino, 2018).

The access to programs with high-quality teacherchild interactions in Pre-K for positive academic and social outcomes is also necessary to consider.

National surveys of kindergarten teachers have reported that more than half of the children entering their classroom lack basic regulatory skills that are essential for a child’s successful transition into kindergarten (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2000).

The highest concern was for children living in lowincome families that are subjected to low-quality Pre-K programs with minimal resources which

resources which increases their likelihood for behavioral problems when they transition to kindergarten (Blair & Raver, 2012; Bulotsky-Shearer et al., 2020; McLoyd, 1998; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network [NICHD], 2005). The neighborhoods that Pre -K programs are in often influence the quality of the program, student to teacher ratio and the interactions the teachers have with their students (McCoy et al., 2015). This is because the structural quality, which is the physical space and materials present and used to support children’s learning, of the Pre-K programs within low-income neighborhoods are often limited in resources which directly impedes the academic development of the students (McCoy et al., 2015).

The implications on a child’s academic, socialemotional and behavioral development is based on the quality of the Pre-K program that they are enrolled in. The children that attend these lowquality programs often have the demographics of low-income and are racial minorities (Hamilton & Liu, 2017; McCoy et al., 2015; Valentino, 2018).

Preschool quality is often conceptualized into two factors: structural quality and process quality (McCoy et al., 2015). Process quality refers to the nature of the interactions between teachers and students, between the students themselves as well as the richness and learning opportunities within the classroom (Weiland, 2016). Structural quality refers to features that can be changed by structuring the setting of the classroom differently or putting different requirements for the teaching staff in place such as group size, student to teacher ratio and teacher qualifications (Yoshikawa et at., 2013). Studies have provided evidence that teacher-child interactions, along with moderate levels of emotional and organizational support, could play a role in educational achievement gains in Pre-K (Curby et al., 2009). For example, Pianta and colleagues (2019) found that improving the rigor of instructional content and the quality of teacher child interactions can improve children’s overall performance. This suggests that children’s overall performance will increase modestly when classrooms are more educationally focused and

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and structured, and teachers are supportive, responsive and involved with the children’s learning (Pianta et al., 2019). This study shows the positive impacts high-quality teacher-child interactions can have on a child’s academic and behavioral development which further emphasizes the need for low-income minority children to be exposed to these interactions in the classroom.

Furthermore, in 1990, Oklahoma established a Pre-K intervention program for disadvantaged children (Gormley & Gayer, 2015). Key provisions in the structural quality of their program were that all teachers must have a college degree and a certificate in early childhood education, the teachers had to receive the same compensation as public school teachers and the teacher to child ratio was 1:10 (Gormley & Gayer, 2015). Due to these provisions which led to more positive teacher-child interactions in the classroom, the entire sample of low-income children and minority children had an increase in their cognitive knowledge scores, their language scores and their motor skill scores (Gormley & Gayer, 2015). The impact of the Tulsa Oklahoma Pre-K program had the greatest effect on Hispanic children followed by Black children (Gormley & Gayer, 2015). This study shows that minority low-income children benefit academically from high-quality Pre-K programs due to the increase that was seen in their cognitive, language and motor skills scores. Importantly, this shows that interventions in teacher-child interactions in Pre-K programs yield promising results on Black and Hispanic children’s academic development.

Presently, about 70% of low-income children in the United States are enrolled in public Pre-K programs (Barnett et al., 2018). Unfortunately, typical public Pre-K programs in the US do not provide educational opportunities to improve children’s early learning (Pianta et al., 2019).

Research additionally suggests that Pre-K classrooms that serve low-income children are more likely to have teachers who have poor physical health, which may possibly act as another barrier to classroom quality (Johnson et al., 2019). Findings from this emerging body of research indicate that teachers who serve low-income children report more personal stressors, tend to score lower on classroom quality and report more negative relationships with their students (Johnson et al., 2019). Across all Pre-K settings, research suggests that poor and racial minority children are less likely to be in high-quality and educationally stimulating programs relative to their higher income white peers (Valentino, 2018).

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In fact, a 2010 case study of about 4,000 Georgia Pre-K classrooms revealed that Pre-K programs that had more minority and low income students had the lowest Classroom Assessment Scoring System Scores in comparison to programs with less minority and higher income children (Bassok & Galdo, 2015).

This frames the argument that there is an inequity in access to high-quality Pre-K education for racial minority low-income children.

After reviewing the research above, it is apparent that teacher-child interactions are an important part of determining the quality of a Pre-K program.

It is also apparent that minority children from lowincome families are more subject to low-quality Pre-K programs and that low-quality programs can have negative impacts on the children enrolled in them. There is a lack of data about the impacts of low-quality Pre-K on children as they progress in their education. There is also a lack of representative data from large school districts on the impacts of high-quality Pre-K on children’s academic and behavioral development which restrict the ability to generalize to larger populations. This has led to the aims of this study which are to explore the relationship between student demographics, including race and income, and Pre- K classroom quality in the NYC Pre-K for all systems as well as to see if Pre-K classroom quality is related to children’s academic and behavioral outcomes in kindergarten and first grade. Publicly funded Pre-K is often seen as a means to close the educational achievement gap in schooling, however this cannot be achieved if racial minority and low-income children are not attending the same high-quality Pre-K programs as their higher income and non-minority counterparts.

I hypothesize that low-income racial minorities are more subject to low-quality Pre-K programs than white, higher-income children and that low-quality Pre-K will have negative academic and behavioral effects after Pre-K on the children who attend them.

Methods Participants This study samples a total of 163 Pre-K for all sites in NYC; sites were randomly selected within each of the five boroughs in NYC to be representative of all New York City Pre-K for all sites. Of these 163 Pre-K sites, all participants were preschool children ages three to four. Of the 5,327 students in the sites 22% were black, 28% were Hispanic and 34% were white.

The percent of children living below the federal poverty line was 30%.

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Study Design Each of the 163 Pre-K for all sites will be examined using NYC’s publicly available data of Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) scores to examine the quality of teacher - child interactions in the classroom (Downer et al., 2011). Using the results gathered from CLASS, the sites with lower CLASS scores will be examined to see the racial demographics of the children in the site and the income level of their families. High and low CLASS scores will be determined based on emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support in the classroom. This information will be used to determine if racial minorities and lowincome children are more subject to low-quality Pre-K programs. To assess the implications of lowquality Pre-K programs on children’s academic and behavioral development, follow up assessments will be done with the children who were in Pre-K classrooms with low CLASS scores and high CLASS scores. The assessments will compare the differences in the children’s academic and behavioral development in kindergarten and first grade based on the quality of the Pre-K program that they attended. To examine the relationship of race and income in regards to Pre-K classroom quality in the NYC Pre-K for all system, this proposal will explore the race and income levels of children and families in low and high scoring programs.

Procedure The Universal Pre-K (UPK) research team will assess the publicly available Department of Education (DOE) data of NYC Pre-K CLASS scores to distinguish which sites are low-quality and which are high-quality. Once the low-quality sites are distinguished from the high-quality sites based on the CLASS scores, the racial demographics and the family’s income of the children enrolled at the Pre-K site will be attained and inputted in an Excel spreadsheet for later reference. The UPK research team will conduct follow up assessments with children in kindergarten and first grade to explore the long-term implications of low and high-quality Pre-K classrooms. Children with learning and developmental delays will be omitted from the data collection.

Measures

Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). The theoretical framework for CLASS suggests that the interactions that take place amongst teachers and students on a daily basis

are the primary mechanisms through which children learn (Mashburn et al., 2008). It is also an observational tool which provides a common language that focuses on classroom interactions that support student learning. The observers look for specific indicators of quality across three domains which are emotional support, classroom organization and instructional support (Pre-K for All Program Assessments CLASS, 2020). Emotional support examines aspects such as whether the classroom has a positive or negative climate, teacher sensitivity and whether the teacher has regard for student perspectives. Classroom organization examines behavior management, productivity and instructional learning. Instructional support examines concept development, quality feedback and language modeling (Pre-K for All Program Assessments CLASS, 2020). CLASS is rated along a 1-7 scale with a 1 or 2 indicating low-quality, 3,4 or 5 indicating mid-range quality and 6 or 7 indicating high quality (La Paro et al., 2004).

The Woodcock Johnson III Psychoeducational Battery (WJ-III). To assess the children’s academic achievement, four subtests from The Woodcock Johnson III Psychoeducational Battery (WJ-III) will be administered by the classroom teacher when the child is in kindergarten and first grade. The first subtest will be the LetterWord identification test which will assess the child’s literacy and reading skills (LaForte et al., 2014). The Picture Vocabulary subtest will require the child to identify objects in a series of pictures and this will assess language skills (LaForte et al., 2014).

To assess the child’s basic math skills the Applied Problems subtest and Quantitative Concepts subtest will be used. The Applied Problems subtest will assess the child’s math skills by requiring them to perform basic math calculations in response to orally presented problems and the Quantitative Concepts subtest will require the child to identify number patterns (LaForte et al., 2014).

Teacher Child Rating Scale. To assess the children’s behavioral outcomes, the Teacher Child Rating Scale (TCRS) will be used in kindergarten and first grade. The TCRS utilizes four dimensions of a child’s socioemotional skills which are frustration tolerance, task orientation, social skills and conduct problems and contains 42 items (Pianta et al., 2019).

The child’s teacher will use a 5-point Likert scale on the TCRS which ranges from (1 = not at all, 3 = moderately well, 5 = very well) to rate their students (Pianta et al., 2019). An example of a frustration tolerance item is “overly aggressive to peers,” a

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task orientation item is “Poor concentration, limited attention,” a social skills item is “Does not express feelings,” and a conduct problems item is “Disturbs others while they are working,” (Hightower et al., 1986). If the child gets a majority of fives and threes, this means that they have a high socioemotional competence, however if the child gets a majority of ones then they have low socioemotional competence (Pianta et al., 2019).

Planned Analysis A regression analysis will be used to analyze the relationship between the children’s academic and behavioral development, and the quality of the Pre-K program that they attended. Descriptive statistics will also be used to summarize the features of race and income in the data collected from the Pre-K sites. The mean percent of race and income at each Pre-K site will be examined as a continuous variable.

Results I anticipate that both race and income will be related to classroom quality in the sense that schools with lower CLASS scores will consist of a majority of Black and Hispanic students from low-income families, whereas schools with higher CLASS scores will consist of a majority of white students from higher-income families. I also anticipate that because of the low-quality Pre-K programs that Black and Hispanic low-income children receive, they will be negatively impacted in their academic and behavioral development and this disparity will be seen from kindergarten to first grade. This negative impact on behavioral development will be observed with the TCRS, which I anticipate will show that the children from low-quality Pre-K programs will have a low level of socioemotional competence. Additionally, it is expected that the WJ-III will show lower scores in literacy and math skills for children who attended low-quality Pre-K programs as compared to children who attend high-quality Pre-K programs.

Discussion The present study examines the implications of the quality of Pre-K classrooms, in terms of teacher-child interactions, for children’s academic and behavioral development. The anticipated results suggest that Black and Hispanic low-income children are more subject to low-quality Pre-K programs, which may negatively impact a child’s motivation to learn, socioemotional skills, behavioral skills and the development of positive peer relationships in the

long-term (La Paro et al., 2004). The anticipated findings that the majority of students in low-quality Pre-K programs are Black and Hispanic is consistent with prior research, which has shown that poor and minority children are less likely to be in highquality Pre-K programs that stimulate their learning in comparison to their white higher-income peers (Valentino, 2018).

Implications This study shows that Black and Hispanic children from low-income families are at a disadvantage in their academic and behavioral development because they are more likely to be subjected to low-quality Pre-K programs. In order to narrow the academic achievement gap in schools, interventions must be made in teacher-child interactions in lowincome schools to improve Pre-K classroom quality which may ultimately improve the academic and behavioral development of the children within these schools. For example, teachers from lowquality Pre-K programs can be trained to create a more positive climate in the classroom for their students and to be more sensitive to the needs of their students. In turn, this may lessen the academic and behavioral disparities seen in kindergarten and first grade for children from low-quality Pre-K sites.

Potential Limitations The present study expands our knowledge on who attends low-quality Pre-K programs in the NYC Pre-K for all systems and the implications for children’s behavioral and academic development from kindergarten to the first grade. However, limitations of this study must be acknowledged.

The first limitation is that this research cannot be generalized beyond New York City because it only examines children within the NYC Pre-K for all systems. As a result, it is possible that these findings do not generalize to other settings beyond NYC due to the present study’s sample. Secondly, this study only examines Black and Hispanic children, no other racial minorities were included in the studies sample. Third, this study does not go into detail on what type of interventions must be developed and delivered as it was beyond the scope of this study.

Future research can build upon this work to explore possible ways to intervene on this issue, such as training teachers on how to engage in high quality interactions with their students to help ensure their academic and behavioral success in the future.

Future studies should also explore more diverse samples in other settings beyond NYC.

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C.E.H. Culture, Emotion, and Health Lab PI: William Tsai Mentor: Victoria Monte The Culture, Emotion, and Health Lab (CEH) studies how people regulate their emotions, cope with stress, & how these processes lead to health & well-being. The research questions within the CEH Lab focus on how cultural tendencies & values can shape the development & use of these processes.

Happily Americanized?

The Role of Acculturation in the Ideal Affect-Wellbeing Link Among Immigrants Duc Pham

“A

nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” (p. 12) - Gandhi (1952) once said, certainly without insinuating the inescapable force of culture in dictating one’s thoughts, behaviors, and emotions particularly in a multicultural world nowadays. By establishing the implicitly approved and strictly abided codes about emotions, culture paves way for smooth and successful social interactions. However, despite its too evident yet oftentimes disregarded benefits in homogeneous societies, a (new) culture could place an immeasurable pressure on certain groups of immigrants by pushing them to conform to a set of beliefs about emotions at a questionable cost.

Take, for instance, a student of East Asian descent (i.e., from a collectivistic culture that values emotion restraint) attending a predominantly white, American institution (i.e., a culture that encourages individualism, pride, and the expression of strong positive emotion). Would they aspire to learn to express pride and elation upon receiving highachieving grades like their European American fellows would (Tsai et al., 2006)? And what consequences could accompany that desire to feel a sense of belonging to their surroundings – or more specifically, to acknowledge and express feelings like their American peers? One recent study has revealed that the desire to frequently experience the culturally valued, highly arousing positive states in America was linked with depressive symptoms among Chinese international students (Lin & Dmitrieva, 2019). This study, nonetheless, also indicated that becoming integrated in American society could serve as a shield against the deleterious effect of espousing high arousing positive states on well-being. In light of these findings, our present research aimed to understand the extent to which acculturating to American culture may impact the relationship between idealized emotional states and psychological well-being among Asian and Latinx first-generation immigrants.

The Impact of Culture on Emotion Past research has consistently highlighted two routes through which culture helps construct one’s emotions. First, culture exposes people to situations requiring emotional reactions that are compatible with culturally valued goals (Lin & Dmitrieva, 2019).

Second, culture plays a critical role in shaping values about different emotional experiences, which in turn may shape behaviors that lead to the desired emotional experiences (e.g., Sims et al., 2015). Empirical evidence has illustrated that one’s society, ranging from the socialization process to various discourses on media, teaches one how to appropriately express one’s emotions in a given culture. This construction of emotions can start as early as one’s infancy: children continuously receive parental feedback indicating and reinforcing the affective states they are supposed to experience in different contexts (Keller & Otto, 2009). The cultural socialization of feeling and expressing emotion continues when children begin to read storybooks; across culture, variations in portraying positive and negative emotions of characters correspond to their specific cultural values and help to distinctively construct emotion learning and preferences among preschoolers (Grady et al., 2019; Tsai et al., 2006; Wege et al., 2014). Beyond childhood, people tend to find themselves in social circumstances, both in real life (Boiger et al., 2013; Boiger et al., 2014) and in the media (e.g., books and magazines; Wong & Tsai, 2007), that facilitate culturally relevant emotions.

Due to the above-mentioned forces exerted by culture, there are a few important cross-cultural differences in perceptions, evaluations, and experiences of emotions. One such difference is the discrepancy between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. While people in individualistic societies, such as America, endorse autonomypromoting emotions (e.g., pride, anger) to achieve happiness, relatedness-promoting emotions (e.g., closeness, shame) are prevalent in collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asian cultures), where people seek happiness through a socially engaged perspective (Boiger et al., 2013; De Leersnyder et

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(Boiger et al., 2013; De Leersnyder et al., 2015; Uchida & Kitayama, 2009). Moreover, East Asian cultures typically see positive emotions through a cautionary lens due to their philosophical traditions of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism (Leu et al., 2011; Tugade et al., 2014); in a similar vein, some non-Western countries even reported aversion to happiness (Joshanloo et al., 2014). On the contrary, Western countries view position emotions in a more favorable way than Asians (i.e., showing a stronger preference for positivity and tendency to relish rather than dampen positive emotions; Ma et al., 2018).

Relatedly, one important aspect of emotion preference among different cultures is the predilection for experiencing high or low arousal positive emotional states. It is first worth noting that whereas individualists endorse influence goals (e.g., self-direction, achievement), collectivists prioritize adjustment goals (e.g., conformity and tradition; Tsai et al., 2006). Because influence requires action and adjustment requires suspended action for need assessment, people of two cultures can have two drastically different approaches to their environment: actively acting on others and the environment versus calmly observing the situation, respectively. Thus, it is unsurprising that European Americans show a stronger preference for higharousal positive (HAP) states (e.g., enthusiasm, excitement, euphoria), while East Asians value low-arousal positive (LAP) states (e.g., calmness, relaxation) more (Tsai et al., 2006). This discrepancy was manifest in cross-cultural studies that examine preschool children’s preferences for smiles and activities (Tsai et al., 2007) and adult media representations of happiness (e.g.., the content of best-sellers, emotions displayed by women on magazines; Tsai, 2007).

A compelling notion, however, is that not all collectivistic cultures encourage their people to understand and express positive states in the same way. The contrast between certain Latinx groups and Asian groups is a prime example. Opposite to the East Asian normative pressure to control and subdue emotional expressions for the sake of harmony (Heine et al., 1999, Markus & Kitayama, 1991), emotional expressivity is promoted in certain Latin American cultures, such as Mexico (Diener et al., 2000; Ruby et al., 2012). This discrepancy is highly attributable to the Latin American cultural script of simpatía, which encourages the maintenance of harmonious relationships by virtue of openly and vibrantly communicating positive

emotion, conviviality, and charm (Ramírez-Esparza et al., 2008). Indeed, one study found that Mexicans exhibited a preference for HAP states over LAP states, whereas Japanese individuals, as expected, indicated a stronger preference for LAP states over HAP states (Ruby et al., 2012). Most recently, it was demonstrated that emotions were expressed in the context of more arousing activities in Hispanic and Latinx storybooks than in Asian American storybooks (Grady et al., 2019). Collectively, these previous findings suggest that Latinx Americans value HAP states more, while Asian Americans identify more strongly with LAP states. More broadly, such a discrepancy between Latinx and Asian Americans should inform researchers’ efforts to seek a more nuanced understanding of emotional processes in different collectivistic cultures.

Affect Valuation Theory: Ideal Affect, Actual Affect, and Implications Affect Valuation Theory (AVT) offers three important premises regarding actual affect, ideal affect, and their significance, all of which have been bolstered by empirical studies. First, actual and ideal affect are different constructs: whereas the former refers to a response to an immediate event or a tendency to respond to certain types of outcomes, the latter involves a desired state that people strive to achieve, consciously or not (Tsai & Sims, 2016). To elucidate the difference, a few studies illustrated that when asked about their actual and ideal affective states, people indicated a stronger desire for positive than negative states (especially for individualistic people) and wanted to feel more positive than their actual feelings (Sims et al., 2015; Tsai et al., 2006).

Second, culture shapes ideal rather than actual affect. More concretely, culture teaches people which emotional states are desirable and virtuous and which are not. Indeed, previous work illuminated that neuroticism and extraversion, both of which are related to temperament, account for greater variance in actual affect than ideal affect, whereas cultural factors such as influence and adjustment goals influence ideal HAP and LAP states more than actual HAP and LAP states (Tsai et al., 2006; Tsai, 2007). Moreover, both European Americans and Asian Americans reported strong preferences for HAP states than Hong Kong Chinese individuals, whereas Hong Kong Chinese individuals reported valuing LAP states more highly than European Americans. Note that Asian Americans tend to espouse HAP states more than

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Hong Kong Chinese, regardless of their shared Asian descent, because the former group is more deeply involved in American culture than the latter. Taken together, these findings reinforce the idea that cultural factors shape ideal affect, while temperamental factors influence actual affect.

Last, ideal affect has been shown to predict a wide array of behaviors in day-to-day lives. In fact, ideal affect was found to help people form their perceptions of well-being and depression (Tsai, 2007). The more people endorse HAP states, the more they tend to conceptualize well-being in terms of feeling excitement and other HAP states, and the more likely they are to define depression as the opposite of HAP states, such as sluggishness and boredom. The daily behaviors that are shaped under the influence of ideal affect include thoughts about desired vacations, identifying trustworthy people (Sims et al., 2014), and numerous consumer preferences (e.g., music, physicians; Chim et al., 2015; Tsai, 2007; Sims & Tsai, 2015).

Emotional Fit, Emotional Enculturation, and Well-Being

Acculturation/

It is notably beneficial for people to emotionally “fit in” to their culture (De Leersnyder et al., 2014; De Leersnyder et al., 2015; Ryff, 1989). Specifically, one study found that people’s emotional fit (i.e., fit to their own culture’s emotional patterns) was linked with psychological well-being (De Leersnyder et al., 2015). Interestingly, this association was particularly strong when it comes to relatedness-promoting situations in Korea, and autonomy-promoting situations in America.

The concept of emotional fit specifically and the impact of culture on emotion in general are highly applicable for immigrants, particularly their emotional acculturation process. Emotional acculturation encompasses the changes in immigrants’ patterns of emotional experiences as a part of their assimilation process. Korean and Turkish immigrants have been found to adopt expected emotional patterns established by the host culture (De Leersnyder et al., 2011). Further, ensuring an emotional fit in the domain that was crucial to the cultural mandate likely promoted psychological well-being (De Leersnyder et al., 2015). Overall, emotional acculturation is an adaptive strategy that seemingly improves mental health.

Despite the various empirically supported benefits of emotional acculturation, its underlying mechanisms are still relatively understudied. However, we

would expect a new culture to exert changes on immigrants’ emotions through the same two routes via which culture typically shapes emotion (Grady et al., 2019). First, immigrants are introduced to new contexts of emotions, which makes room for new host-appropriate emotions to be learned.

Second, the host culture exposes immigrants to new beliefs about emotions, through which process they learn how to assign appropriate values to different emotions. Eventually, they construct and make sense of their environment in a way that promotes culturally accepted emotional experiences. In addition, according to AVT’s second premise (Tsai et al., 2006), acculturation should inevitably influence ideal rather than actual affect. Moreover, what accompanies the changes in affective states is the acculturative changes in self-concept, which is consistent with the finding that emotional experiences compatible with valued aspects of the self promote well-being (Ford et al., 2015). Understandably, whereas the ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states is linked with depressive symptoms among Americans, the discrepancy in LAP states shares the same connection with depressive symptoms among East Asians (Tsai et al., 2006). The authors further argued that discrepancies in actual and ideal affective states should also be associated with other similar measures such as life satisfaction and well-being.

Together, previous research indicates that the acculturative process likely influences immigrants’ preferences for emotional experiences and their impact on well-being.

Using the same rationale, a recent study extended Tsai et al.’s (2006) finding by testing whether acculturation (i.e., the cultural socialization to mainstream culture) moderates the link between ideal-actual affect discrepancy and depressed mood among Chinese students in the United States (Lin & Dmitrieva, 2019). Specifically, it was expected that the ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states would be associated with depressive symptoms among more acculturated people, and the discrepancy in LAP states would be linked with depressive symptoms among less acculturated people. However, neither hypothesis was supported in this study, with the implication that given their short amount of time in America, the Chinese students were still continuously experiencing acculturative changes and deemed the idealactual discrepancy in HAP states as temporary.

Further, underlying the unsupported hypothesis about ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states is

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the problematic assumption that acculturation is unilinear; that is, adherence to the majority culture equates detachment from their ethnic roots in a one-directional pathway (Yoon et al., 2013). In Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) study, acculturation should have been differentiated from enculturation (i.e., the retention of one’s heritage culture in the case of first-generation immigrants.) In other words, the ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states could have been associated with depressive symptoms among more enculturated people. This speculation was, in fact, backed up by the result indicating that acculturation was associated with higher ideal HAP states, but not with ideal LAP states (Lin & Dmitrieva, 2019). In short, because of its potential connection with ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states, enculturation should be given as much attention as acculturation when we investigate immigrants’ emotional changes in a host culture.

More significantly, Lin and Dmitrieva (2019) found that for all participants, higher ideal HAP states were accompanied by depressive symptoms. This finding was in line with previous studies illustrating that placing excessively high value on happiness is associated with disappointment and decreases in well-being (Mauss et al., 2011; Mauss et al., 2012).

That said, the literature on emotional fit does not agree with this finding because it suggested that embracing the culturally valued emotional patterns is beneficial for health. In addition, Lin and Dmitrieva (2019) also established that acculturation potentially served as a buffer against this adverse effect. Specifically, acculturation moderated the path from ideal affect to actual affect and that from actual affect to depressive symptoms – specifically, only for more acculturated individuals, higher ideal HAP states were correlated with higher actual HAP states, which was consequently linked with fewer depressive symptoms. Consistent with prior research showing that emotional experiences espousing valued aspects of the self are conducive to better well-being (Ford & Mauss, 2015; Kitayama et al., 2006), experiencing HAP affect should influence the well-being of highly acculturated Asians (as opposed to less acculturated ones) because they assign greater value to HAP affect.

However, no previous theoretical or empirical evidence could explain why only acculturated Asian students were able to experience the HAP states they ideally wanted to feel. It thus warrants more empirical studies with different acculturating populations (e.g., immigrants and refugees) to replicate the observed patterns.

Overview of the Current Study Using a first-generation immigrant sample, we conducted the present study to refine Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) mechanism of emotional acculturation. More specifically, we examined the role of acculturation among the associations between desired affect, actual affect, and depressive symptoms among Asian and Latinx immigrants living in the United States. In support of this mechanism, the literature indicated links between ideal/actual affect, acculturation, and well-being, or more broadly, happiness; we thus added life satisfaction as another outcome of interest, in addition to the depressive symptoms that were examined by Lin and Dmitrieva (2019).

Notably, we also introduced the potential role of enculturation (alongside with acculturation) in predicting the relationship between ideal-actual affect discrepancy and depressive symptoms.

Considering the current body of evidence, two hypotheses were proposed. First, culture and acculturation/enculturation were predicted to moderate the link between the ideal-actual affect discrepancy and well-being. Specifically, among more acculturated Asians, higher ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states would be associated with higher depressive symptoms and lower levels of life satisfaction. Among more enculturated Asians, greater ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states would be associated with poorer psychological well-being. For Latinx immigrants, greater idealactual discrepancy in HAP states would be associated with greater depressive symptoms and lower satisfaction with life, regardless of their acculturation and enculturation levels. Second, we hypothesized that although ideal HAP states would be positively correlated with actual HAP states for all immigrants, only for Latinx immigrants and highly acculturated Asian immigrants, higher actual HAP states would in turn be associated with decreased depressive symptoms and higher life satisfaction.

Moreover, we expected that there would be a relationship between ideal HAP states and wellbeing: the direction of the effect is exploratory due to the inconsistency in past studies.

Method Participants One-hundred and fifteen first-generation immigrants (57% women, 43% men), of which 78 were Asian and 37 were Latinx, were recruited online via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants ranged

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in age from 20 to 62-years-old (M = 36.56, SD = 10.09). The average number of years of residency in the United States was 20.6 years (SD = 10.91).

The education levels ranged from high school to graduate/professional degree. Participants received four dollars as compensation for their participation.

Measures

Ideal/Actual Affect. Participants completed the Affect Valuation Index (Tsai et al., 2006), in which they indicated the ideal and actual frequency of experiencing 30 different affective states (e.g., astonished, quiet, excited, sleepy) on a weekly basis. They were asked to respond using a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (“never”) to 5 (“all the time”).

The higher the scores, the more frequently people experienced or valued a certain affective state.

Note that HAP states were comprised of feeling enthusiastic, excited, and strong, while LAP states were defined by feeling calm, relaxed, and peaceful.

Internal reliability was good overall - for HAP states, the Cronbach’s α for actual and ideal affect were respectively .78 and .75; and for LAP states, they were .85 and .83, respectively.

Acculturation/Enculturation. The Vancouver Index of Acculturation (Ryder et al., 2000) was employed to assess the extent to which participants were oriented toward mainstream and heritage cultures, independently. Participants expressed their agreement with 20 statements (e.g., “I often participate in my heritage cultural traditions;” “I am comfortable interacting with typical American people”) using a 9-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 9 (“strongly agree”).

Whereas the odd-numbered items were related to heritage orientation, the even-numbered items assessed orientation to American culture. The higher the scores were, the more strongly people adhered to their host or ethnic culture, which were measured independently. Internal consistency was high for both acculturation and enculturation: α = .91 and α = .93, respectively.

Depressive Symptoms. As a measure of depressive symptoms, participants completed The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale; Radloff, 1977), in which they reported the frequency of feeling or behaving in a certain way over the past week. Specifically, participants responded to 20 items, such as “I was bothered by things that usually don’t bother me,” or “I thought my life had been a failure,” using one of the four options: 1) “Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day),” 2) “Some or little of the time (1-2

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days),” 3) “Occasionally or moderate amount of time (3-4 days),” or 4) “Most or all of the time (5-7 days).” To reduce response bias, we included four reverse-coded items, such as “I felt hopeful about the future” and “I enjoyed life.” In total, higher scores indicated more depressive symptoms in the past week. Cronbach’s α = .92, demonstrating excellent internal reliability.

Life Satisfaction. Participants filled out the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Pavot & Diener, 2008), in which they expressed their agreement with five items via a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 7 (“strongly agree”).

Sample items include “The conditions of my life are excellent,” and “If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.” A higher score was equated to experiencing greater life satisfaction. Cronbach’s α = .93, indicating high internal reliability.

Procedure Participants consented to a 60-minute study on the Amazon Mechanical Turk system. After consenting to participate, they indicated their gender, age, race/ethnicity, immigration and refugee statuses, number of years in the US, employment status, number of employed hours, and education level.

Because the main purpose of this survey was to develop a new scale, people were then asked to complete a number of measures (e.g., a new scale about beliefs about emotions, dialectical self, Asian values). Among these constructs were the measures on ideal/actual affective states, acculturation/enculturation, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction, which we used in this study to test our hypotheses.

Results Acculturation/Enculturation and Ideal/Actual Affect Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations of study variables. Table 2 shows all partial correlations where we controlled for actual HAP states (for ideal HAP states), ideal HAP states (for actual HAP states), actual LAP states (for ideal LAP states), or ideal LAP states (for actual LAP states). As predicted, for Asian immigrants, acculturation was positively associated with ideal HAP states (r = .27, p = .017), but not with actual HAP states (r = .19, p > .05). Surprisingly, acculturation was correlated with both ideal LAP and actual LAP states (r = .29, p = .011; r = .26, p = .024, respectively). The findings on enculturation

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were even more surprising; whereas it was positively linked with both ideal and actual HAP states (r = .40, p < .001; r = .32, p = .005, respectively), it was not correlated with either ideal or actual LAP states (r = .03, p > .05; r = .10, p > .05, respectively).

However, when partial correlations were conducted as described above, the only significant relationship was the positive relationship between enculturation and ideal HAP states (r =. 30, p = .008).

With respect to Latinx immigrants, it was expected that acculturation was not associated with either ideal or actual HAP states (r = .28, p > .05; r = .06, p > .05, respectively), either ideal or actual LAP states (r = .07, p > .05; r = -.10, p > .05, respectively).

Further, enculturation was positively correlated with ideal HAP states (r = .50, p = .002), which was still significant when actual HAP states were controlled for (r = .49, p = .003); yet, enculturation was not linked with actual HAP states (r = .17, p > .05).

Ideal-Actual Affect Discrepancy and Well-Being Outcomes We conducted analyses on the two ethnic groups separately using Model 1 of the PROCESS (v.3) macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2018). Among Asian immigrants, there was a significant interaction between ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states and acculturation in predicting life satisfaction, b = -.03, t(73) = -2.24, p = .028. As predicted and illustrated in Figure 1, only among highly acculturated Asians did higher ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states predict lower satisfaction with life, b = -0.69, p = .009. There was also a main effect of acculturation, b = .04, t(73) = 2.76, p = .007; that is, the more acculturated Asian immigrants were, the more satisfied with life they were. However, contrary to our prediction, in terms of predicting depressive symptoms, there was a nonsignificant interaction between ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states and acculturation, p = .297. Contrary to our expectations, enculturation did not interact with ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states in predicting either life satisfaction, p = .631, or depressive symptoms, p = .467. However, enculturation itself was associated with life satisfaction, b = .04, t(73) = 3.17, p = .002, in that greater orientation toward heritage culture was correlated with more satisfaction with life.

This main effect of enculturation did not apply for depressive symptoms, p = .891.

Regarding Latinx immigrants, ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states did not predict either wellbeing outcome, whether acculturation or enculturation was put into the equation. However,

it is noteworthy that enculturation predicted both life satisfaction, b = .04, t(33) = 2.25, p = .031, and depressive symptoms, b = -.43, t(33) = -2.60, p = .014. In particular, stronger orientation toward heritage culture was linked with greater satisfaction with life and fewer depressive symptoms.

Differential Emotional Acculturation Mechanisms Among Asian and Latinx Immigrants Because of the relatively small size of the sample, we chose to run separate analyses for Asian and Latinx immigrants using Model 14 of the PROCESS (v.3) macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2018). As shown in Figure 2, the moderated mediation model hypothesized for Asians was supported. First, the relationship between ideal HAP states and actual HAP states was significant, b = .518, p < .001. Consistent with our hypothesis, people with higher ideal HAP states more experienced higher actual HAP states more.

Further, as predicted, acculturation moderated the relationship between actual HAP states and life satisfaction, b = .028, p = .020. As illustrated in Figure 3, only people with average (b = 0.580, p = .003) or high levels (b = 1.019, p < .001) of acculturation showed that higher actual HAP states predicted enhanced life satisfaction. In addition, contrary to our hypothesis, higher ideal HAP states were associated with better life satisfaction when actual HAP states were controlled for, b = .480, p = .041. In total, only among people with average or high levels of acculturation was there an indirect effect of ideal HAP states on life satisfaction through actual HAP states, with the 95% CIs [.03, .66] and [.20, .91], respectively. Only for these two groups, higher ideal HAP states predicted higher actual HAP states, which consequently predicted higher life satisfaction. None of these findings were found for depressive symptoms as the well-being outcome (i.e., no variable or interaction was linked with depressive symptoms).

Our hypothesis with respect to Latinx immigrants was also supported for life satisfaction. Using Model 14 of the PROCESS (v.3) macro for SPSS, we found that, as hypothesized, acculturation did not moderate the relationship between actual HAP states and life satisfaction (b = .023, p = .154) or depressive symptoms (b = -.215, p = .184). To test the mediation model from ideal HAP states to actual HAP states to life satisfaction, we took out the acculturation variable and ran Model 4 of the PROCESS (v.3) macro for SPSS on Latinx participants (Hayes, 2018). As seen in Figure 4, consistent with our predictions, higher ideal HAP states predicted higher actual HAP states (a = .399,

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p = .014). On the one hand, greater actual HAP states predicted greater life satisfaction (b = .560, p = .016). Thus, the total indirect effect (ab = .223) was significant, with the 95% CI not including zero, [0.01, 0.54]. The effect size for the relationship between ideal HAP states and satisfaction with life was higher when actual HAP states were not controlled for (c = .703, p = .003) than when they were controlled for (c’ = .480, p = .037); however, the relationship remained significant regardless. On the other hand, the relationship between actual HAP states and depressive symptoms as the well-being outcome was nonsignificant (b = .065, p = .977).

Therefore, the total indirect effect (ab = .026) was nonsignificant, with the 95% CI including 0 [-1.84, 2.11]. However, higher ideal HAP states predicted fewer depressive symptoms, whether we controlled for actual HAP affect (c’ = -6.86, p = .004) or not (c = -6.839, p = .002).

Discussion Consistent with the AVT and previous cross-cultural studies, we found that for Asians, acculturation was correlated with ideal HAP states, but not actual HAP states. A similar novel finding was that enculturation was positively correlated with ideal HAP states (but not actual HAP states) among Latinx immigrants, given that certain Latinx cultures have been found to value HAP over LAP states. Such findings lend more evidence to the strong influence of culture on ideal affect rather than actual affect (Tsai et al., 2006). Relatedly, only for highly acculturated Asians was there a negative relationship between the discrepancy between ideal and actual HAP states and life satisfaction. However, for Latinx immigrants, we did not confirm our hypothesis that ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states was related to well-being despite the extent to which they were acculturated and enculturated. Perhaps there are more influential factors in predicting Latinx mental health such as enculturation, which was shown to positively impact both life satisfaction and depression in our study.

In line with our research, prior studies suggests stronger orientation to their heritage among Latinx is related to better psychological well-being (e.g., Rodriguez et al., 2007; Torres & Ong, 2010).

In addition, we further argue that with the observed nonsignificant relationship between acculturation and LAP affect variables among Asian immigrants, the acculturative changes should not necessitate devaluing LAP states. Alternatively, we suspected that enculturation may supersede the role of acculturation in influencing LAP states, yet we

failed to support that prediction given the null interaction of ideal-actual discrepancy in LAP states and enculturation among Asian immigrants.

Our results are in fact congruent with the finding that Hong Kong Chinese and Asian Americans have been shown to value LAP states equally although Hong Kong Chinese reported greater orientation to Chinese culture and Asian Americans were more acculturated to American culture (Tsai et al., 2006).

Taken together, the current research implies that the degree to which people embrace LAP affect may not be dependent on their connections to ethnic and/or host cultures.

Among Asian immigrants, the positive relationship between ideal HAP states and actual HAP states was not moderated by acculturation. We further found that among highly acculturated Asians, ideal HAP states were associated with actual HAP states, which in turn were associated with higher life satisfaction. On the one hand, this finding, in addition to Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) results, reinforces the notion that emotional patterns that are compatible with one’s self-concept induce positive health (Ford & Mauss, 2015) because only Asians with certain levels of acculturation likely had undergone the acculturative changes in their selfconcept that reoriented them to individualism and influence goals. On the other hand, the observed irrelevance of acculturation in the path from ideal HAP states to actual HAP states directly disputes Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) assumption that only acculturated Asians experience a positive relationship between ideal and actual HAP states.

Instead, it may be that the host culture initially motivates immigrants to idealize HAP affect, and then all immigrants strive to live up to such idealized emotions. Consistent with this interpretation, Sims et al. (2015) found that people from individualistic cultures experience less mixed affective states than those from collectivistic cultures due to their weaker desire for mixed affect, and concluded that how people want to feel shapes how they actually feel. Our study contributed to the effect of ideal affect on actual affect, using a sample of immigrants who experienced contradictory forces of ethnic and host cultures regarding preferences for positive emotions.

As for Latinx groups, their endorsement of HAP states predicted actual experiences of HAP states, which consequently predicted life satisfaction.

Since acculturation was shown to not influence the impact of emotional experiences on well-being, it supports the idea that both Latinx and American

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cultures prefer HAP states (e.g., Ruby et al., 2012, Tsai et al., 2006) and their alignment is accompanied by desirable outcomes. More important, to the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to establish the mechanism of how ideal affective states influence well-being among immigrants with similar emotional preferences as the people from the host culture. Particularly, such immigrants experience better well-being from experiencing the affective states they desire (e.g., HAP affect, in this case).

Further, ideal HAP states, even when actual HAP states were kept constant, were correlated with enhanced life satisfaction for Asians, and both depression and life satisfaction for Latinx. This finding is contradictory to Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) claim that idealizing HAP states is detrimental to mental health among Asian college students. The contradiction may be reconciled by the difference in the examined population (i.e., college students versus immigrants). For instance, endorsing the culturally valued HAP states is only beneficial for people who have acculturated to American culture to a certain extent, given the conspicuous difference in acculturation levels between our sample and Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) sample (65.14/90 versus 54.74/90, respectively). Alternatively, the college environment may force Asian students to perceive idealizing HAP states as a pressured act, which would lead to maladjusted well-being. In addition, compared to Lin and Dmitrieva’s (2019) findings, our results are more consistent with the notion that emotional fit produces adaptive psychological well-being. Nevertheless, a closer inspection of the relationship between ideal HAP affect and wellbeing (e.g., potential moderators) is needed to confidently establish whether idealizing HAP states is truly beneficial for well-being.

Limitations and Future Research Our current study has three main limitations. First, the correlational nature of our research prevented us from making causal conclusions about the effect of ideal HAP states on actual HAP states and the effect of actual HAP states on life satisfaction. This is a major limitation because we implied causation in the emotional acculturation mechanism we proposed. Given that it is important to determine whether causation exists, we recommend using cross-lagged panel design or manipulating the extent to which one idealizes HAP states to provide stronger support for the emotional acculturation mechanism.

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Second, the employed acculturation scale assessed only a limited aspect of acculturation in attitudes. In other words, we were not able to directly measure the effects of other acculturative changes on ideal and actual affective states. Third, our small sample size precluded us from directly testing our models with culture being the moderator, although it is one of the main objectives of the study. To avoid conducting separate analyses for different racial groups, future researchers should recruit more immigrants of each racial group and replicate our findings.

Implications From a theoretical perspective, our study extended the Affect Valuation Theory by demonstrating that ideal affect and actual affect are correlated with one another, despite being two distinct constructs. This is a crucial contribution to the theory as it suggests that although culture directly influences ideal affect rather than actual affect, ideal and actual affect are inextricably linked and thus culture is also indirectly linked with actual affect.

Beyond its theoretical applications, our research helps inform future efforts to assist immigrants with their emotional adaptation as well as to boost their mental health. Considering the overarching finding that idealizing HAP states might lead to better health outcomes when it is followed by actually experiencing HAP states, counselors and educators should be aware of such associations in practice and implement plans that help immigrants easily attain the HAP states they desire and thus bridge the gap between ideal and actual HAP states. For instance, when discussing assimilation issues with immigrants or international students, counselors should call to attention their clients’ lack of ability to experience excitement and strong positive feelings like the majority of America as a possible deterrent to happiness. Additionally, as all immigrants generally reported better well-being outcomes when they were more deeply connected to their ethnic roots, it may be helpful for counselors and teachers to acknowledge the pivotal role of enculturation in Asians and Latinx’ mental health and take action accordingly to maximize their quality of life. At school, Asian and Latinx first-generation students, for example, should be encouraged and given ample opportunities to cultivate deep and meaningful connections with their ethnic roots.

Most important, all of our findings together point to the extra emotional burden of immigrants in a

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country that is allegedly multicultural and embraces people of all backgrounds. Future research should pay special attention to the immigrants’ pressure of having to acclimate to a new emotional landscape in order to pursue happiness. Unfortunately, our findings showed that for Asian immigrants, the benefit of actually experiencing HAP emotional states is only limited to people who have acculturated to American culture despite the fact that the desire to experience HAP states predicted well-being for our entire Asian sample. Taken together, our study implies that to happily live in America, one has to have emotions like an “American” and follow the mainstream culture.

De Leersnyder, J., Kim, H., & Mesquita, B. (2015). Feeling

right is feeling good: psychological wellbeing

and emotional fit with culture in autonomy versus relatedness-promoting situations.

Frontiers in Psychology, 6(630), 630.

Conclusion

Diener,

The present study refined the mechanism of emotional acculturation that was originally theorized by Lin and Dmitrieva (2019) and elucidated the important role of acculturation in predicting Asians’ life satisfaction from ideal and actual HAP states. With such findings, we also corroborated and expanded on the AVT: culture indeed shapes ideal affect, yet ideal affect and actual affect are closely connected. Most notably, by showing that idealizing and experiencing HAP affective states like a European American, in addition to acculturating to American culture, are prerequisites for being happy among immigrants, we brought to light the fact that immigrants in the U.S fell prey to the pursuit of happiness as a part of the American Dream. As a result, our research highlighted the need for inclusivity of all emotional affective states and demanded a decrease in the pressure to achieve acceptance through embracing and experiencing Americanized ideal affect.

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Figure 1. Life satisfaction as a function of ideal-actual HAP discrepancy and acculturation among Asian immigrants.

Note. For both acculturation and ideal-actual discrepancy in HAP states, low and high level groups were calculated based on the -1SD and +1SD criteria, respectively.

Figure 2. The moderated mediation model for Asian immigrants.

Note. Regarding the link between actual HAP states and life satisfaction, the coefficient in the parentheses represents the coefficient when both actual HAP states and acculturation were regressed on life satisfaction. The regression coefficient for the relationship between ideal HAP states and life satisfaction was calculated controlling for other variables. *p < .05. ** p < .001

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Figure 3. Life satisfaction as a function of acculturation and actual HAP states among Asian immigrants.

Note. For both acculturation and actual HAP states, low and high level groups were calculated based on the -1SD and +1SD criteria, respectively.

Figure 4. The simple mediation model for Latinx immigrants.

Note. The regression coefficient for the relationship between ideal HAP affect and life satisfaction, controlling for actual HAP affect, is in parentheses. *p < .05. ** p < .01

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Table 1. Descriptive Statistics and Zero-Order Correlations of Acculturation/Enculturation Indices, Positive Affect, and Demographic Variables by Race

Note. HAP = high-arousal positive; LAP = low-arousal positive. Results in parentheses were on Latinx, whereas those outside the parentheses were on Asians. *p < .05. ** p < .01 *** p < .001

Table 2. Partial Correlations of Acculturation/Enculturation Indices, Positive Affective States, and Demographic Variables by Race

Note. HAP = high-arousal positive; LAP = low-arousal positive. Results in parentheses were on Latinx, whereas those outside the parentheses were on Asians. Partial correlations for ideal affect controlled for the variance accounted by actual affect, and vice versa for partial correlations for actual affect. *p < .05. ** p < .01 *** p < .001

L.R.P. Liberatory Research & Practice Lab PI: Norissa Williams Mentor: Deanna Ibrahim The Liberatory Research & Practice Lab (LRP) is founded on the principles of multiculturalism, social justice, and liberation psychology and investigates various topics impacting marginalized groups with the aim of decolonizing teaching, research & practice. As such, culturally embedded processes of coping socialization, culturally informed help-seeking behaviors, amelioration of the impact of societal ills on individual functioning & critical consciousness development are explored. All of LRPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research seeks to inform culturally & structurally competent practice in an effort to improve & increase the capacity of mental health & human service providers to treat people of color & other minoritized groups.

Holding It Together: The relationship between the Strong Black Woman schema and depressive symptomology Jessica Bernice Pitts

Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a Black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

-Maya Angelou (1994)

R

ising in the face of adversity is a recurring theme when Black women speak about themselves.

Emerging research has called attention to the internalization of stereotypes among women who identify as Black (i.e., of the African diaspora; Abrams et al., 2014; Abrams et al., 2018, Miles, 2018; Nelson et al., 2016; Schreiber et al., 2000; Thomas et al., 2004). Individuals and groups use schemas to understand the world around them.

Schemas are mental frameworks that inform and guide people on how they should behave and interact (e.g., expectations and obligations) with their environment (Abrams et al., 2018; Piaget & Cook, 1952). One well-known schema regarding Black women is the Strong Black Woman schema (SBW). The SBW schema positions strength and emotional suppression as a necessary characteristic to navigate adverse life events for Black women.

More specifically, the SBW schema describes a particular set of cognitive and behavioral beliefs and expectations in which vulnerability and emotional expression are perceived as weaknesses to be avoided (Donavan & West, 2015). Speculated to have originated during the historical period of chattel slavery, the SBW stereotype was imposed upon Black women by slave owners to justify their enslavement. Slave owners regarded black women as both mentally and physically strong in juxtaposition to white women who were seen as fragile and delicate (Abrams et al., 2014; HarrisLacewell, 2001).

Additionally, the schema is suggested to have been adopted by women to mentally insulate and protect Black women and their families from the oppressive realities that Black people experienced during and

and post-slavery (Abrams et al. 2014). Decades of social, cultural, and financial oppression towards Black people have also contributed the adoption of the SBW role among Black women who feel that there is no other choice but to be strong in a society not built for them (Abrams et al. 2018; Liao et al., 2019; Watson-Singleton, 2017). Researcher Woods-Giscombé (2010) identified five major characteristics of the superwoman schema (i.e., the SBW schema) in which there were perceived obligations to 1) present an image of strength (e.g., resistance to vulnerability); 2) inhibit emotions (e.g., suppression of fear, weakness, and stress); 3) resist depending on others (e.g., extreme self-reliance); 4) succeed despite having limited or no resources available; and 5) prioritize caregiving over self-care (e.g., self-sacrifice tending to others before taking care of oneself). Prior research has suggested that the adaptation of the SBW role by many Black women is a response to other stereotypes assigned to Black women such as the Jezebel (e.g., the promiscuous woman) and the Sapphire (e.g., the angry Black woman) stereotypes (Nelson et al., 2016).

Two prominent characteristics of the SBW schema that may have serious negative consequences for Black women are posturing the external image of strength and prioritizing caregiving for others (Abrams et al. 2018; Nelson et al. 2016). Presenting an image of strength may prevent Black women from seeking necessary resources while selfsacrificing caregiving has been shown to lead to several adverse physical and mental health outcomes (e.g., diabetes, anxiety, eating disorders; Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2003; Donovan & West, 2015; Miles, 2018).

Expectations of Strength and Caregiving Emotional and mental strength is a key factor of the SBW schema; Black women who more strongly endorse the schema are more likely to use selfreliance and self-silencing as coping strategies (Watson & Hunter, 2015). Nelson et al. (2016) found in their qualitative study that Black women

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reported that independence and self-reliance were fundamental to survival for women who experience a substantial amount of adversity. Furthermore, a portion of the participants (33%) identified emotional containment as a requirement of the SBW role.

The SBW schema can manifest into self-silencing behaviors that involve subduing and inhibiting self-expression as a way to preserve important relationships and avoid conflict (Jack & Dill, 1992).

Actions regarded as self-silencing could include agreeing with a partner’s wishes, despite having ambivalent feelings or not expressing concerns to others. Self-silencing is a way to preserve and protect the image of strength among Black women who align with the schema. Thus, accompanying the internalization of strength among Black women is the notion that problems and adversities should be handled alone. Adverse mental health outcomes stemming from the endorsement of the SBW schema pose even more detrimental effects considering the underutilization of mental health services by Black people (Abrams et al., 2018; Nelson et al., 2016). important relationships and avoid conflict (Jack & Dill, 1992). Actions regarded as selfsilencing could include agreeing with a partner’s wishes, despite having ambivalent feelings or not expressing concerns to others. Self-silencing is a way to preserve and protect the image of strength among Black women who align with the schema.

Thus, accompanying the internalization of strength among Black women is the notion that problems and adversities should be handled alone. Adverse mental health outcomes stemming from the endorsement of the SBW schema pose even more detrimental effects considering the underutilization of mental health services by Black people (Abrams et al., 2018; Nelson et al., 2016).

It is important to note that while therapy is one way to alleviate depressive symptoms, it is not the only way. Professional help-seeking (e.g., therapy) is often promoted as the most effective way to deal with mental health issues. However, many cultures do not view therapy as the central means to reduce mental distress and instead emphasize religion (e.g., prayer) and community support (e.g., kinship support; Dressler, 1985; Sosulski & Woodward, 2013).

Prior research has found that in a sample of African American and Caribbean Black people with mental disorders, 41% used a combination of professional services and informal support. Furthermore, of those who relied on only one method to alleviate mental distress, 23 % of the women sampled sought informal support compared to 14% who sought

professional help alone (Woodward et al., 2008).

Nevertheless, therapy is often an effective form of mental health treatment for Black women when culture and context are considered (Brown et al., 2000).

Expressions and endorsements of strength are not uncommon among populations of Black women.

Qualitative studies examining Black women’s selfconcept and alignment with the SBW role have found that an overwhelming majority of Black women consider strength necessary for Black women’s survival (Abrams et al., 2014; 2018; Watson and Hunter, 2015). Moreover, results from the study conducted by Abrams and colleagues (2018) revealed nuances in how Black women conceptualize strength. Specifically, Black women in the study discussed the concept of strength as having several dimensions such as volitional and obligatory independence, learned and compulsory resilience, and matriarchal leadership (Abrams et al., 2018). Beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and practices vary widely among Black women.

Similarly, the application of and identification with the SBW schema varies among Black women and may be internalized/conceptualized differently by each individual. However, in a study on Caribbean Black women and their conceptions of the SBW schema, researchers found that some CaribbeanCanadian women defined strength as being able to easily forgive insensitive or inconsiderate behavior and assumption of responsibility from friends and family members comparable to other groups of Black American/African American women who sometimes engage in self-silencing behaviors in their personal relationships (Nelson et al., 2016; Schreiber et al., 2000). Differences in conceptualizations of the SBW role may influence how Black women view mental health resources and other support (e.g., family and community).

Self-sacrifice is another crucial characteristic of the SBW schema and often manifests in taking care of others’ needs before one’s own (i.e., a lack of selfcare). In addition to taking care of immediate family members (e.g., children and older family members), the SBW often faces expectations (both selfprescribed and environmentally prescribed) to take care of others in their community (Abrams et al., 2014). Studies, including women who endorse the SBW schema, have found that they often talk about caring for others as an obligation that they cannot refuse. While taking time to take care of others, Black women who strongly endorse the SBW

Pitts

schema may forgo essential self-care practices (e.g., seeking counseling, meditating, journaling).

Additionally, older Black women may have more familial caregiving expectations (e.g., children, parents, partners) than younger Black women, which could influence how older Black women internalize the SBW role (i.e., older women may more strongly endorse the SBW schema). In previous qualitative studies, older women (i.e., 40 years or older) often discussed caregiving expectations compared to younger women (Abrams et al. 2014; Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2003). That is not to say that younger Black women did not discuss caregiving expectations at all, but older women often had more personal experience with self-sacrificial caregiving than younger women (Abrams et al., 2014). More experience with self-sacrificing caregiving could lead to greater endorsement of the SBW schema and greater risk for psychological distress among older women.

Depression Among Black Women Depression is a common and prevalent disorder among United States (U.S.) populations, with approximately 7.1%- 8.2% of the population diagnosed with depression in 2017 and 2016, respectively (Brody et al., 2018; National Institute of Mental Health, 2017). Mental health issues do not often display and present in the same ways across and within different groups, especially Black women (Bailey et al., 2019; Holden et al., 2013; National Institute of Mental Health, 2017). Experiencing frequent stressful life events can increase the likelihood that someone will have a depressive episode during their lifetime (Holden et al., 2013).

That reality is often true for Black women who must contend with and mitigate many life stressors due to their unique positionality and status within society (Abrams et al., 2018; Combahee River Collective, 1995). Studies examining the link between traumatic events and depression found that exposure to violence and traumatic events increased depression severity over time compared to people who did not experience a traumatic event (Holden et al., 2013). Moreover, Black women are also more likely to experience trauma (Holden et al., 2013). While white people are more likely to experience major depressive episodes in their lifetimes, Black people are more likely to experience chronic depressive symptoms that make daily functioning more difficult (Bailey et al., 2019). Black women in the U.S. are situated in specific historical, social, and

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political contexts; consequently, perceptions of this group are informed by these contexts.

Common perceptions/stereotypes of Black women come from oversimplified images of them and are often internalized by Black women. These stereotypes include images of Black women as angry, unreasonable, hypersexualized, emotionally resistant, and physically strong, which have real-world consequences for the mental health outcomes of Black Women (Liao et al., 2019; Nelson et al., 2016; Watson & Hunter, 2015). Although alignment with the SBW schema sometimes serves as a buffer against negative stereotypes ascribed to Black women, the schema reinforces and prioritizes self-isolation, which could hinder help-seeking behaviors. The lack of help-seeking behaviors could consequently lead to greater prevalence and severity of depression among Black women.

Prior research has highlighted the damaging effects of the SBW stereotype when it is internalized by Black women (Donavan & West, 2015; Nelson et al., 2016). A link between the endorsement of the SBW schema and depression has been found in previous studies (Abrams et al., 2018; Donavan & West, 2015).

More specifically, Abrams and colleagues (2018) studied 194 African American women and found that externalized self-perceptions and self-silencing mediated the relationship between obligations to manifest strength and depression. These results suggested that women who feel an obligation to present an image of strength will also be more likely to silence themselves and ultimately develop depressive symptoms.

Current Aims Previous research has focused on the detrimental effects of the SBW schema for Black women, specifically in reference to mental health outcomes.

However, to date, there is a paucity of research about the expression of depressive symptoms among Black women who specifically endorse the SBW schema. Additionally, few studies have examined the relationship between endorsement of the SBW role and depressive symptomology and the mediating roles of socioeconomic status (SES) and age.

The current study aims to fill this literature gap by examining the relationship between endorsement of the SBW schema and how depressive/ symptoms present among Black women across ages. It is hypothesized that: (1) older Black women

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will endorse the SBW schema more strongly than younger Black women; and (2) strong endorsement of the SBW schema will influence the expression of symptoms for Black women experiencing depression. More specifically, Black women who more strongly endorse the SBW schema will be less likely to report insomnia, suicide ideation, feelings of worthlessness, diminished cognitive capacity, and depressed mood. Additionally, they will be more likely to report insomnia, feelings of fatigue, significant weight loss or gain, psychomotor agitation, or slowness because those symptoms may be less likely to compromise the SBW role.

Lastly, Black women who more strongly align with the SBW schema will score higher in depression overall.

Methods Participants Participants will include 250 women who identify as African American or Black (e.g., Afro-Caribbean, Black African) between the ages of 18-70 years old from various socioeconomic backgrounds.

Participants will include all persons who identify as women (e.g., transgender, cis-gender). Primary recruitment will come from college campuses and local communities from a large north-eastern city in the U.S. upon the New York University Institutional Review Board’s approval. Additional participants will also be sampled from populations of Black women in communities across the U.S. (e.g., Pacific North- West, Mid-West). Recruitment methods will include flyers, posters, social media posts (e.g., Instagram, Facebook), and a research participant management and data collection system used at college campuses (e.g., SONA). The current study intends to examine a non-clinical sample of women; however, participants who score too low (i.e., scores lower than 14/63) on a depression scale will be excluded from the analysis.

A subsample from the larger sample of 250 women will then be recruited to participate in qualitative interviews. The subsample will be chosen by random selection procedures. More specifically, women from the larger sample will be randomly selected and asked if they would like to participate in an interview online. Participants who agree will then schedule an interview time that is most convenient for them with research assistants. All participants will be provided $15 for their participation in the study. Women who agree to participate in qualitative interviews will be provided an additional $10.

Study Design and Procedure The current mixed-methods study will consist of both structured interviews and survey data collection. Consent forms will be provided to participants, which will provide information about the study, how to obtain research results from the study, participants’ rights, risks and benefits of participation, and contact information of the researchers as required by the IRB. Participation in this research study will be 100% voluntary, and participants’ self-report measures will be conducted online through Qualtrics. For those that choose to participate, follow-up interviews will be conducted via video conferencing platforms by trained research assistants (e.g., Zoom; Archibald et al., 2019;). Additionally, interviewees will be given randomized alpha-numeric code names that are not linked to any personal identifiers. Interviews will be recorded, and deidentified participant data will be stored on a secure content server. Audio recordings of the interviews will be deleted after they are transcribed.

Measures

Demographics. Demographic questions (e.g., age range, marital status, income, educational level, occupation) will be collected from the participants.

The Beck Depression Scale (BDI-II). The BDI-II is a 21-item questionnaire that measures somatic and affective symptoms of depression described by the DSM-IV (Beck et al.,1996; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The BDI-II has been shown to have high reliability and validity among diverse populations (e.g., .92 for outpatients, .93 for college students, .94 for African Americans who attempted suicide; Joe et al., 2008; Walker et al., 2014). Specifically, the BDI-II has been shown to have high validity among various populations of African American women with alpha values ranging from .92 to .94 (Walker et al., 2014). Participants will be asked to choose the statement in each group of statements that best describes how they have been feeling in the past two weeks on a 4-point scale of 0 to 3. For example, to assess the somatic symptom loss of energy (item 4) participants will be presented with response options ranging from “I have as much energy as ever,” (score of 0) to “I don’t have enough energy to do anything,” (score of 3).

Additionally, to assess affective/mood symptoms

Pitts

such as sadness (item 1) participants will be presented with statements ranging from “I do not feel sad at all,” (score of 0) to “I am so unhappy that I can’t stand it,” (score of 3). Higher summed depression scores indicate depression severity with a score of 0-13 in the minimal range, a score of 1419 suggesting mild depression, a score of 20-28 suggesting moderate depression, and a score of 29-63 suggesting severe depression (Smarr, 2011).

Participants with depression scores lower than 14 will be excluded from the study.

The Stereotypes of Black Women Scale.

Participants will also be asked to rate their agreement on a five point-Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) regarding 15 items on the Mammy (7-items) and Superwoman subscales (13-items; Thomas et al., 2004). Examples of items included in the combined Mammy and Superwoman subscales are, “Black women have to be strong to survive,” “I find it difficult to ask others for help,” “People often expect me to take care of them,” and “I do not want others to know if I experience a problem.” Higher summed scores of the Mammy and Superwoman subscales indicate greater endorsement of the SBW schema (Abrams et al., 2018). The SBW scale has been shown to have high reliability and validity among African American women (a=.85; Thomas et al., 2004; Watson-Singleton, 2017).

Analysis Plan

Quantitative Analysis. In order to analyze the data collected, descriptive statistics (e.g., means and standard deviations) will be reported for demographic information, the BDI-II, and Mammy and Superwoman subscales. A hierarchical regression analysis will be conducted to determine if there is a relationship between SBW endorsement and depressive symptomology controlling for socioeconomic status and age.

Qualitative Analysis. A latent content analysis will be conducted using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1994). Interviews will be transcribed verbatim using ATLAS.ti version 8 for Mac and grouped into smaller “meaning units,” which will be divided further into codes (Erlingsson & Brysiewicz, 2017). Code units will then be combined into categories, which will ultimately lead to the creation of themes from the data.

Descriptive statistics and correlations will be provided using tables to analyze the study better.

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To assess whether endorsement of the SBW schema is associated with depression and whether that relationship still holds when controlling for age and socioeconomic status, a two-step hierarchical regression will be conducted. In the first step, I will regress depression on SBW endorsement alone, to identify a main effect for depression on SBW endorsement. In the second step of the regression, I will include age and socioeconomic status to control for these variables. The regression equation for my full model is: Depression = b0 + b1(SBW endorsement) + b2(Age) + b3(Socioeconomic status).

Results It is expected that the first step of the regression will reveal that the proportion of variance accounted for in depression by SBW endorsement is significant.

The coefficient for depression will show that for every one-unit increase in SBW endorsement, there will be a substantial increase in depression in general. It is expected that older Black women (i.e., 50+) will be more likely to endorse the SBW schema strongly. More specifically, Black women who more strongly endorse the SBW schema will also be more likely to report somatic depressive symptoms (e.g., aches and pains) than affective depressive symptoms (e.g., sadness). Furthermore, it is expected that socioeconomic status and age will not significantly affect the relationship between SBW endorsement and depression among Black women. Older Black women will endorse the SBW schema more intensely and have higher depression scores. Women with higher SES will endorse the SBW schema less than women with lower SES. Consequently, women with higher SES will have lower depression scores. Additionally, women with higher SES who report depressive symptoms will be more likely to report somatic and mood depressive symptoms than women with lower SES. Discussion It has been proposed that the endorsement of the SBW schema may contribute to the underutilization of mental health services among Black women (Holden et al., 2013). Although Black women are more likely to seek mental health services than Black men, they are less likely to seek services than other ethnic/racial groups (Holden et al., 2013).

Additionally, Watson and Hunter (2015) found that greater endorsement of the SBW schema was associated with lower psychological openness and lower help-seeking behaviors. Thus, the likelihood

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of Black women seeking mental health services may be even lower among those who moderately or strongly endorse the schema. Older Black women may also be at a greater risk of experiencing depression because of a greater endorsement of the SBW schema due to greater internalization of the SBW stereotype.

Previous qualitative research has highlighted the social transmission, function, and context of the SBW schema among Black women (Abrams et al., 2014; Nelson et al., 2016). Compared to other prevalent stereotypes of Black women (e.g., jezebel, mammy, sapphire), the SBW schema appears to have inoculating qualities for Black women (e.g., protection against discrimination; Abrams et al., 2014). While many Black women view the SBW stereotype positively, the extreme expectations that the schema places on Black women are often maladaptive and can lead to negative mental health outcomes (e.g., higher reports of depressive symptoms).

Limitations The current study will contribute to the burgeoning research on the SBW schema as it relates to mental health outcomes among Black women.

However, there are several limitations worthy of mention for this study. First, surveys will consist solely of self-report measures. Participants will be asked to independently take an online questionnaire about depressive symptoms they have experienced. Second, given the questions’ sensitive nature, participants may feel compelled to provide responses they deem socially desirable.

For example, a participant may respond that they have not had suicidal thoughts in the past two weeks, even if they have, due to desires to present themselves favorably (Bergen & Labonté, 2020; Grimm, 2010). Nevertheless, the BDI-II is a wellestablished measure that has shown high validity and reliability (i.e., high internal consistency) among low-income samples of African Americans in both outpatient and medical settings (Grothe et al., 2005).

To more objectively examine depression and SBW endorsement, future research should include measures that are not only self-report but also measures that do not conspicuously measure depression. Future studies could employ longitudinal or experimental designs to examine better the SBW schema’s role in fostering and intensifying depressive symptoms. Third, the

generalizability of the sample may be limited.

Given the researchers’ geographical location and recruitment measures, the majority of the sample will most likely be comprised of participants from the Northeast region of the U.S. However, the online surveys and interviews may cultivate a more representative sample of Black women than the local recruitment of participants.

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Strong Black Woman Schema as a Moderator of Substance Abuse Due to Childhood Adversity Medina Shah

A

dverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been found to have significant effects on psychological and physiological health in adulthood.

ACEs such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse/ neglect, physical abuse/neglect, and household dysfunction (Hughes et al., 2017) have the potential to change brain functioning and stress response mechanisms, which can then cause maladaptive coping behaviors as a result of poor behavioral and emotional self-regulation (Forster et al., 2018).

One of the most prevalent of these behaviors is substance abuse. Evidence shows a strong link between ACEs and substance abuse, with direct forms of ACEs (such as sexual abuse) being more strongly correlated than indirect forms of ACEs (such as witnessing violence; Forster et al., 2018; Fuller-Thomson et al., 2016). Drugs and alcohol are utilized in order to cope with the distress and other psychological symptoms that stem from ACEs, which can have long-term, serious impacts on an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life.

In thinking about the longitudinal effects of ACEs, it is important to look at how certain populations might be more susceptible to negative consequences and risky behaviors in America. Not only are childhood adversity rates higher in Black and Latinx communities- given the longstanding history of systemic racism that puts them at economic and social disadvantages correlated with childhood abuse and neglect- but race and ethnicity can also play a role in the relationship between ACEs and substance abuse (Lee & Chen, 2017).

Previous research has found household dysfunction rates in particular to be much higher in historically marginalized communities (Slopen et al., 2016).

Consistent with this, one study found that Black folks reported significantly more household dysfunction ACEs (e.g., household drug abuse, household mental illness, parental separation/divorce or intimate partner violence, and incarceration history in the home) than white individuals (Lee & Chen, 2017). The same study also showed that non-Latinx Black folks who had experienced child abuse and/or

household dysfunction were three times as likely to drink heavily than those without ACEs, as opposed to non-Latinx white individuals who were 1.5 to 2 times as likely and Hispanic folks who were 1.2 times as likely. Again, these findings must be understood within the social contexts of these racial/ethnic groups, which have each faced differing social norms and structures.

While race does play a moderating role in the relationship between ACEs and substance abuse, evidence has shown that gender alone plays no such role (Lee & Chen, 2017). The ways ACEs affect intersectionally marginalized groups, however, is worth exploring due to the social-psychological effects and mental frameworks manifesting from existing at those distinct intersections. Looking at Black women, archetypes such as the welfare queen, the Jezebel, the angry Black woman, the tragic mulatta, the mammy, and more are brought about through the intersections of racist, classist, and sexist beliefs against Black women that have developed throughout history. This puts them in a position unique from any other in America, creating a culture, a set of societal expectations, and set of schemas that cannot be discerned based on studying race, gender, or class alone. Therefore, having the intersecting identities of being Black and a woman might play a uniquely significant role in how ACEs link to substance abuse.

To further understand how such groups are socialized to cope with stress and adversity, their navigation of societal expectations around race and gender must be examined. Groups can develop collective schemas, or higher-level knowledge structures that serve as general reference templates for how information is interpreted, encoded, stored, and later retrieved (Gilboa & Marlatte, 2017). The Strong Black Woman schema (SBW) is constructed upon negative messages, stereotypes, and generational traumas, and dates back to the slavery era, where it is thought to have developed as a survival response to the traumatic and oppressive experiences of enslaved Black women and their subsequent generations (Donovan & West, 2015). The SBW

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schema is an outline of beliefs and expectations upon Black women, which posits that they must remain resilient, independent, emotionally contained, and self-sacrificing; the SBW needs no one but herself, and is expected to put others’ needs before her own (Abrams et al., 2019; Donovan & West, 2015; West et al., 2016).

Endorsing the SBW schema comes with frequent self-silencing behaviors and emotional suppression, both of which are gateways to building healthy coping mechanisms (Abrams et al., 2010).

One study found that moderate-to-high SBW endorsement limits Black women’s ability to cope in healthy ways, due to the expectation to contain emotional expression, causing a buildup of internal unreleased pressure that can exacerbate psychopathology relating to stress (Donovan & West, 2015). While previous research on the SBW schema has placed a high emphasis on its negative consequences, more scientific inquiry into its protective factors is needed to get a well-rounded understanding of how it effects Black women’s lives.

Studies that explore SBW’s positives acknowledge the mental health benefits of having strong interpersonal relationships; something central to the schema’s principles (Cutrona et al., 2000). A qualitative study conducted by Woods-Giscombe (2010) demonstrated that strong Black women perceived the schema as being beneficial towards preservation of self and survival, of family, and of community. While they simultaneously recognized its drawbacks on mental health and stress-related behaviors, these women valued having the schema to protect their dignity in a white-centric society, as well as to foster stronger interpersonal relationships and create better opportunities for the next generations in their families and communities (Woods-Giscombe, 2010).

To speculate on how ACEs might affect one’s alignment with the SBW schema, a study on Black women’s roles posited that “individuals repeat the roles they knew in childhood [in adulthood]” (Carney, 2012). For example, Black women who have seen household dysfunction growing up (e.g., having an alcoholic parent) more commonly take on a stabilizing role in the home early on and continue that role into adulthood. Similarly, there is evidence that women who have experienced child abuse may be unconsciously predisposed to forming relationships with abusive men (Carney, 2012). In line with this concept, certain types of ACEs (mainly household dysfunction) might lend themselves to

higher alignment with the Superwoman/Hero role, which is at the heart of the SBW schema. Strong Black women need to show resilience and absorb any dysfunction in order to maintain interpersonal stability in the household. It can subsequently be posited that resorting to coping mechanisms like substance abuse- which has the potential to destabilize a household- is a much less appealing coping option for the SBW, especially for current parents/caregivers and for those who grew up with alcoholic or drug-abusing parents. While different unhealthy coping mechanisms may still be opted for, the distaste for substance abuse would be a major protective factor that the SBW schema could provide.

Due to the intersection of their race and gender, Black women are placed at the very bottom of America’s historically white-supremacist social hierarchy. It is crucial to shed light on the ways in which these women navigate their complex social roles by endorsing or distancing from the SBW schema, and whether their alignment with the schema might actually serve as a buffer for the negative effects of ACEs in relation to substance abuse. Research has yet to show evidence of this buffering relationship; it seems to be the more popular approach to study substance abuse and ACEs in Black populations from a purely demographical and quantitative perspective (Lee & Chen, 2017; Mersky et al., 2013; Shin et al., 2018). The present study proposal aims to address these gaps using a mixed-methods study design. Rather than using a main effects or mediation model, a moderation will be used to reveal the potential effects the SBW schema may have on the existing association between ACEs and substance abuse, and a qualitative portion will be used to discern nuances in participants’ rationales.

It is hypothesized that higher alignment with the SBW schema will weaken the association between ACEs and substance abuse compared to low alignment due to a prioritization of interpersonal relationship and/or household stability.

Methods Participants Participants will be recruited through the distribution of an intake survey via social media (e.g., Instagram and Facebook) and flyers around the New York University campus. Participants are required to identify as Black, a woman, and between the ages of 18-65. While participants can be mixedrace, they must primarily or heavily identify with Blackness. The present study uses a wide range of

Shah

adult ages to address potential confounds in SBW alignment patterns stemming from age. The study aims to recruit between 100-150 participants, of varying ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and number of children (although being a parent is not a requirement). The intake survey will consist of these basic demographic questions as well as a highly condensed version of the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ; World Health Organization, 2018) in order to ensure that all participants have one or more reported ACEs. Those who do not will be immediately notified of their ineligibility. Each participant will give consent to their data being collected via an informed consent form.

Procedure Participants will be contacted by a research assistant (i.e., a trained undergraduate research assistant from the study’s team) to set up either an in-person meeting or a Zoom video chat. The participant will be given a consent form to sign (either on paper or digitally). All data will be collected verbally and will take a total of 30-60 minutes. Participant responses will be audio recorded on a voice recorder and later transcribed by a different research assistant (i.e., another trained undergraduate or graduate research assistant). In this mixed methods study, participants will be asked to complete three quantitative scales, followed by a semi-structured interview consisting of six open-ended questions.

Measures

Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ).

This questionnaire (World Health Organization, 2018) assesses the frequency of adverse childhood experiences one may have faced up until the age of 18. It uses a 5-point Likert scale with responses ranging from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always) and consists of 30 questions (e.g., Were your parents/guardians too drunk or intoxicated by drugs to take care of you?).

There are thirteen subscales in scoring: emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, violence against household members, living with household members who were substance abusers, living with household members who were mentally ill or suicidal, living with household members who were imprisoned, one or no parents/parental separation or divorce, emotional neglect, physical neglect, bullying, community violence, and collective violence. Higher scores indicate greater levels of adverse childhood experiences. The measure’s subscales have shown high levels of test-retest

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reliability (r = 0.66 - 0.74) (Ho et al., 2019). It has also demonstrated excellent convergent validity and internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.88 (Murphy et al., 2014). The scale has yet to be found generalizable upon Black women in America specifically.

Strong Black Woman Scale (SBW Scale).

This is a scale derived from two prior studies that measured the Superwoman role, among other stereotypes, of Black women (Harrington et al., 2010; Thomas et al., 2004). The present study’s SBW scale assesses the level of personal alignment with the traits and behaviors associated with being an SBW, such as putting aside one’s own needs for others, difficulties sharing problems with others, and guilt around not taking care of others. The measure uses a 5-point Likert scale with responses ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree) and consists of 16 statements (e.g., Black women have to be strong to survive). Higher scores indicate greater personal alignment with the SBW schema. The Superwoman subscale from the Thomas et al. (2004) study had a high internal consistency reliability coefficient of 0.77 (Donovan & West, 2015).

Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test v3.1 (ASSIST). This eightitem questionnaire (World Health Organization, 2010) assesses individuals’ risk levels in regard to the use and abuse of several different types of substances, including tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, sedatives, hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, and others. The ASSIST gathers information from both the individuals’ lifetime use and their use in the last three months, while also identifying different biopsychosocial problems associated with substance use. A sample item is: During the past three months, how often have you had a strong desire to use (first drug, second drug, etc.)? Final scores indicate whether an individual is in the low, moderate, or high-risk category for each substance, and then the appropriate intervention for their usage levels is determined (although the intervention component will not be utilized in the present study). The first version of the ASSIST had strong construct validity, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from 0.77 - 0.94 (Humeniuk et al., 2008). It also had high test-retest reliability with kappa coefficients ranging from 0.58 - 0.90 (WHO ASSIST Working Group, 2002).

Semi-Structured Interview.

The final component of this study is a verbal interview

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developed by the author. Participants will be asked six questions. The first two questions are in regard to how their reported ACEs have affected them psychologically and socially both in the last year and over the course of their lifetime (e.g., How has __ experience affected you mentally and/or socially during the last year? During your lifetime?).

Participants will then be asked three questions about their caregiving beliefs and primary coping strategies (e.g., How important is it to be resilient for your family?). If substance abuse is one of these strategies, they will be asked to expand on what makes them turn to substances. If not, they will be asked why abstaining from substances or using them responsibly is important to them.

Covariates. Potential covariates thought to have influence on the moderating effect of SBW on ACEs and substance abuse were selected based upon existing literature and considerations of family dynamics and structure central to the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hypothesis. Demographic data will be collected from participants, including age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, marital status, and number of children. These are all relevant variables in studying ACEs and substance abuse that the study will control for in our final moderation analysis.

Planned Analysis Each scale has its own rating scheme devised by their original authors. The data will be analyzed using a linear regression in SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Corp, 2017) to examine ACEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relationship to substance abuse, adjusting for the aforementioned covariates, and to test for the moderation by SBW. The semi-structured interview will be analyzed using content analysis methods posited by Erlingsson and Brysiewicz (2017). The transcripts will be examined sentence by sentence and condensed into smaller meaning units, then condensed meaning units, then codes, then larger themes using the Taguette program version 0.9 (Remi et al., 2019). Using these codes and themes, data will be analyzed and more nuanced patterns in caregiving beliefs, coping mechanisms, psychological effects of ACEs, and underlying causes of substance abuse will be discerned.

A three-step OLS hierarchical regression will be used to further assess this correlation between ACEs and substance abuse, as well as assess if this relationship is moderated by SBW alignment. The first step will be the regression of substance abuse on ACEs alone to solidify the previous research

showing links between the two. The second step will include the addition of demographic variables: age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, marital status, and number of children. The final step will include SBW alignment as well as the interaction term of SBW alignment and ACEs to examine whether a moderating effect exists on the association found in step one. The regression equation for my full model is: Substance Abuse = b1(ACEs) + b2(SBW) + b3(Age) + b4(SocioeconomicStatus) + b5(Ethnicity) + b6(MaritalStatus) + b7(Children) + b8(SBWxACEs).

Expected Results The proposed study expects to find that ACEs are positively correlated with substance abuse. That is, the more childhood adversity an individual has experienced, the higher the likelihood of developing a substance abuse problem. Additionally, it is expected that ACEs will be positively associated with substance abuse and that SBW alignment is a moderator of this relationship. This will reject the null hypothesis that SBW alignment has no moderating effect on the relationship. Specifically, high SBW alignment will act as a strong buffer that may assist in preventing substance abuse due to ACEs, while lower SBW alignment will not act as a buffer.

From the semi-structured interview, salient themes are expected to arise. For women who have higher SBW endorsement, it is anticipated that they will report less negative mental and social effects of their ACEs (such as social withdrawal or engaging in risky behaviors), both during the last year and during their lifetimes than those with lower SBW endorsement. Additionally, women with higher SBW endorsement are expected to report higher prioritization of resilience and taking on a stabilizing role in the family in order to preserve relationships, and therefore might report being disinclined to turn to substances as a coping mechanism.

Discussion The expected findings of this study show that high SBW alignment can act as a buffer to the risk of abusing substances due to the negative effects of ACEs. While previous research has shown the relationship between ACEs and substance abuse to be stronger among Black folks in general, the present study takes into account how the belief systems specific to Black women who align with the SBW schema may affect this relationship. This alignment entails the prioritization of caregiving

Shah

and being a stabilizing role, as well as resilience and self-sustenance against the negative effects of any ACEs an SBW may have experienced. Therefore, substance abuse, which can interfere with caregiving and self-sufficiency, fundamentally contradicts the principles of the SBW schema. While much of the previous literature on the SBW schema has focused on its negative effects on Black women (Abrams et al., 2019; Donovan & West, 2015; West et al., 2016), the proposed study shines light on a specific mechanism of SBW’s protective factors of aligning with this schema, namely the preservation of family and interpersonal relationships (Woods-Giscombe, 2010).

There are some potential limitations to this study.

Firstly, a sampling bias may be present due to the nature of the study recruitment. Because the recruitment methods used will not specify substance abuse in any participation criteria, it may be that the majority of participants show little to no signs of it. There may also be representation bias due to inaccurate self-reporting of true substance use behaviors, as this is a highly stigmatized and personal factor, especially because quantitative measures like the ASSIST will be collected verbally with a researcher present. However, participants will be notified beforehand of total confidentiality and will have given consent to the collection of their data.

Secondly, it is possible that a confounding life factor other than childhood adversity may contribute to substance abuse endorsed by some of the women in this study. For example, a participant may have recently gone through a bad breakup or is currently trapped in an abusive situation; there are several other potential circumstances that could have led to substance abuse. This limitation is addressed through the semi-structured interview, in which a more nuanced understanding of the past and present psychological effects of the participant’s ACEs are gathered, as well as the reasoning behind any substance abuse behaviors. Future studies can also address our limitations by utilizing measures that are not strictly self-report or administering the quantitative scales on paper rather than orally, as well as controlling for confounding life factors besides ACEs. Implications This study brings forth several implications and potential for future studies that further examine the moderation by SBW of substance abuse due to childhood adversity. The findings showing how high SBW alignment can act as a buffer to substance

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abuse may provide important insights for the treatment of substance use disorders, especially in Black women who possess any of the core SBW beliefs. Even for people without those beliefs, key principles from the SBW schema can be learned and relearned for recovery purposes and can strengthen a user’s relationships to others and to themselves.

This approach aligns closely to the ideals of family therapy for addiction treatment. What needs to be further explored, however, are the potential drawbacks when an individual feels obligated to be a strong, self-sufficient caregiver despite having been through life adversity. Future studies should also explore how certain cognitive, affective, and behavioral schemas arising from childhood adversity may influence a neurological change in an SBW in a way that disserves the individual.

Alignment with the SBW schema has both positive and negative effects on individual psychology, and it is an area that needs more attention in behavioral science research in order to further understand how navigating the social expectations that come with intersectional identities can deeply affect the human psyche.

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67 |

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