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

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

faCulty MEntors

NYU CARA Project

COVID-19, ASIAN AMERICANS, RESILIENCY, AND ALLYSHIP

PI: Sumie Okazaki Mentors: Aakriti Prasai + Gahwan Yoo

The CARA (Covid-19, Asian Americans, Resiliency, and Allyship) Project at NYU aims to understand how Asian Americans are currently responding to these two crises. Through this study, we hope to examine Asian-Americans’ identity, belonging, and civic responsibility, with far-reaching consequences for individual and community well-being.

What Makes Asian and Black LGBTQ Americans Want to Engage in Future Action to Reduce Racial Inequality?

Janquel (Quel) D. Acevedo

Since 2020 discrimination and violence toward marginalized communities have increased in the United States, especially among Asian (Yam, 2022), Black (Bunn, 2022), and lesbian, bisexual, gay, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) communities (Goldstein, 2022; Lavietes, 2022; Lavietes & Ramos, 2022).

Among marginalized communities fighting against oppression, Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals are uniquely positioned because of their intersecting marginalized identities. Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals face discrimination and violence due to their racial and gender or sexual identity. Despite the rise in violence and discrimination brought upon these communities, they find resiliency and participate in social change efforts (i.e., individualbased or group-based behaviors performed to reduce perceived inequality and transform cultural, social, or political institutions) for their communities (e.g., Yang et al., 2022) and with other oppressed communities (e.g., Roy & Constante, 2020). These efforts are essential for oppressed communities to disrupt and resist the systems of oppression creating discrimination and violence.

At present, there is a knowledge gap in the social change research literature concerning Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals wanting to engage in social change action. Thus, understanding that when there is oppressive violence, there must also come resistance, and drawing from social change literature, this study examines: (1) whether Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals are more likely than their cishet counterparts to engage in future action (2) the correlation between LGBTQ identity and likelihood to engage in future action, and (3) if system justification and oppressed minority ideology mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and likelihood to engage in future action.

Literature Review

Intersectional Marginalized Identities

Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals are a unique population because of their marginalized intersectional identities (race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) (Cyrus, 2017). In other words,

these populations experience multiple marginalizations (i.e., racism, heterosexism, transphobia) (Nadal & Scharrón-del Río, 2021). Additionally, minority stress theory suggests that social stressors stem from stigmatized minority identities, which can explain lesser psychological functioning and welfare among marginalized people (Breslow et al., 2015; Meyer, 1995; Meyer, 2003). However, research on minority stress theory and resilience suggests that individual- (e.g., personal action ) and group-level (e.g., collective action) resilience can protect marginalized communities from social stressors stemming from their identities (Breslow et al., 2015; Singh et al., 2011). Resilience coupled with social change can be especially beneficial for LGBTQ people (Koc, 2021; Meyer, 2015; Salvati & Koc, 2022). Acknowledging that the participants of this study are LGBTQ People of Color (POC), who face specific social stressors and multiple marginalizations, the current study embraces an intersectional lens, which understands and recognizes that interrelated systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism) influence and affect the participants in this study (Collins, 2014; Crenshaw, 1989, 1991; Nadal & Scharrón-del Río, 2021).

System Justification, Oppressed Minority Ideology, & Social Change Research

Previous literature has explored several potential predictors of social change action. Among those potential predictors, two frequently studied predictors are system justification and oppressed minority ideology. System justification posits that individuals are motivated to defend and justify society’s existing structures of interconnected inequalities to attend to their needs for certainty, security, and social belonging (Jost et al., 2009; Jost et al., 2015; Osborne et al., 2019). Osborne and colleagues (2019) examined the relationship between system justification and systemchallenging (e.g., Black Lives Matter protests) and system-supporting collective action (e.g., All Lives Matter protests). They found a negative association between system-challenging collective action and system justification and a positive association with system-supporting collective action with system justification.

Oppressed minority ideology refers to an individual’s emphasis and personal significance on the connections between the oppression of Black people and other oppressed groups (Pender et al., 2019). Pender and colleagues (2019) examined predictors of activism orientation (i.e., types of activism behaviors like purchasing a political poster and protesting) among Black LGBTQ youth and oppressed minority ideology. They found no significant relationship between oppressed minority ideology and any action orientation. Future research should retest oppressed minority ideology among Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals to see whether similar or different results might occur in this population.

Current Study

Given the rise of violence and discrimination and their catalyzing effects on social change action among individuals with multiple marginalized identities, it is imperative to examine what mechanisms can increase the likelihood of marginalized individuals engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality. Therefore, this study was conducted with Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals to examine whether having multiple marginalized identities is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in future social change action. Using the data from the Asian and Black Americans, Racism, and Allyship (ABRA) lab, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1. Are Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals more likely to engage in future action than their nonLGBTQ Asian and Black counterparts?

2. Does LGBTQ identity correlate with the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality?

3. Does system justification mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality?

4. Does oppressed minority ideology mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality?

Additionally, this study’s hypotheses are:

1. Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals are more likely to engage in future action to reduce racial inequality than their non-LGBTQ Asian and Black counterparts.

2. LGBTQ identity positively correlates with the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality.

3. System justification will mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality.

4. Oppressed minority ideology will mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality.

Methods

Participants

The current study had a total of 1,410 participants. The ABRA dataset had 1,445 participants; however, 35 participants were omitted from analyses because they did not respond to the question regarding sexual orientation. Among the 1,410 participants were 351 (24.89%) Chinese, 345 (24.47%) Indian, 354 (25.11%) Filipino, and 360 (25.53%) Black American self-identified participants. This study treats Chinese, Indian, and Filipino participants as one group (Asian). In addition, within this dataset, the current study included 167 participants who self-identified as Asian or Black as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or queer. Among the 167 LGBTQ participants were 117 Asian (70.06%) and 50 Black (29.94%) LGBTQ individuals. This study also treats the Asian and Black LGBTQ participants as one group (LGBTQ POC). The data collection procedure used quota sampling to ensure representation by American region (East, West, Midwest, and South) and ethnicity (Chinese, Indian, Filipino, and Black Americans). The quota for region and ethnicity was 25% for each category.

Procedure

Participants’ survey responses were collected using Qualtrics from April to May 2022. Qualtrics collected online survey data using their research panel of respondents who signed up for online surveys in exchange for incentives (e.g., cash and gift cards). Inclusion criteria were the following: (1) self-identify as Asian or Black American, (2) are 18 years old or older, (3) able to answer questions in English or Chinese, and (4) have lived continually in the United States between March and December 2020. In addition, the authors used two data quality checks: attention checks (i.e., embedded questions that require respondents to mark a specific answer) and speeding checks (i.e., monitoring the time of respondent survey engagement).

Measures

This study used three measures: system justification, oppressed minority ideology, and action orientation.

System Justification Theory

The system justification scale was derived from the research of Kay & Jost (2003). The scale measures the survey participants’ perception of how fair, legitimate, and justifiable they believe the current system they live under to be (e.g., “in general, you find society to be fair”). There are eight items on the scale, each rated through a Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree). The total scores were calculated by averaging the responses to the statements. Higher scores mean the respondent is likely to justify the social system. Internal consistency for the system justification scale was good for both Asian (α=.83) and Black participants (α=.79).

Oppressed Minority Ideology

The oppressed minority ideology scale is a subscale derived from Sellers et al.’s (1997) multidimensional inventory of Black identity (MIBI) scale, known as The Ideology Scale. The subscale measures participants’ perspectives on the commonalities between their oppressed ethnic group identity and other oppressed groups (e.g., “the same forces which have led to the oppression of Black people have also led to the oppression of Asians”). The items’ wording slightly differs depending on whether the participants self-identify as Asian or Black. For example, one item asked, “Asian people should treat other Black people as allies,” for Asian participants, but for Black participants, it was the opposite. Seven items are on the scale, each rated through a Likert scale from 1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree). For final scores, the values for each statement were added together and averaged. Internal consistency for the oppressed minority ideology scale was good for both Asian (α=.90) and Black participants (α=.83).

Action Orientation

Brown et al. (2022) created the action orientation scale. The scale is conceptually driven by the current state of social change research literature (see reviews: Craig et al., 2020). The action orientation scale measures the likelihood of participants taking the following actions (e.g., “march at a rally,” “organize a protest,” and “donate money”) to reduce racial inequality in the future. To address the

standard social change research approach, which assembles distinct types of action into one indicator (Craig et al., 2020), the action orientation scale has five subscales representing different forms of action: leadership, public action, presentation, private action, and benevolent support. However, this study will unite all action orientations into one unified concept. The action orientation scale has seventeen items rated through a Likert scale from 1 (extremely unlikely) to 7 (extremely likely). Final scores were calculated by averaging the values for 17 statements. Internal consistency for the action orientation scale was good for both Asian (α=.94) and Black participants (α=.94).

Overview of Analysis

The planned analysis was fourfold. First, the authors ran descriptive analyses using appropriate tests (e.g., chi-square and t-tests) on respective variables (age, gender identity, education, nativity, and MacArthur subjective social status). Second, the authors used an independent sample t-test to assess whether Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals are more likely to engage in future action than non-LGBTQ individuals. Next, the authors used correlation analysis on LGBTQ identity and future action variables to evaluate whether there is a positive or negative relationship between the likelihood of engaging in future action among Asian and Black LGBTQ Americans. Finally, using PROCESS macro-4.0, the authors tested a parallel mediation model (Figure 1), testing whether system justification and oppressed minority ideology, respectively, can mediate the relationship between LBGTQ identity and the likelihood of future action to reduce racial inequality (see Hayes, 2018 for more on PROCESS macro). The authors used STATA/SE 17.0 for the first three analyses and SPSS 26 for the final mediation analyses.

Figure 1

Illustration of Parallel Mediation Model Tested

Results

Descriptive Characteristics

Table 1 summarizes the descriptive statistics of the participants in this study. Notably, the mean age of the Asian and Black LGBTQ sample was 29.78 (SD = 10.84), and the non-LGBTQ sample was 38.63 (SD = 14.15). Given that the Asian and Black LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ participants’ demographics were different, future studies should consider these differences in subsequent analyses.

Table 1

Descriptive characteristics of participants

LGBTQ individuals (N=167; 11.84%)

Non-LGBTQ individuals (N=1,241; 88.01%)

(M = 4.75, SD = 1.24) and Asian and Black nonLGBTQ participants (M = 4.28, SD = 1.31); t (1408) = -4.3, p < .001. The significant difference suggests that Asian and Black LGBTQ participants are more likely than their non-LGBTQ counterparts to engage in future action.

Hypothesis 2

t/Chi2 (p-value)

Age (Mean, SD) 29.78 (10.84) 38.63 (14.15) 7.78 (0.0000)

Gender identity

Male 32 (19.28%) 401 (32.31%) 157.62 (0.0000)

Female 114 (68.67%) 840 (67.69%) Others 20 (12.05%) 0 (0.00%)

Education

Less than College 77 (46.11%) 329 (26.75%) 27.17 (0.000) College 67 (40.39%) 637 (51.79%)

More than College 20 (12.05%) 264 (21.46%)

Nativity

Born in US 124 (74.25%) 684 (55.03%) 22.24 (0.000)

Not Born in US 43 (25.75%) 559 (44.97%)

Subjective SES (Mean, SD)

Hypothesis 1

5.72 (1.88) 6.17 (1.94) 2.81 (0.0051)

An independent t-test compared the likelihood of engaging in future action between Asian and Black LGBTQ participants and Asian and Black non-LGBTQ participants. There was a significant difference for Asian and Black LGBTQ participants

A Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to evaluate the correlation between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality. There was a positive correlation between LGBTQ identity and likelihood of engaging in future action, r (1408) = .11, p < .001. This finding suggests that LGBTQ self-identification is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality.

Hypothesis 3 & 4

PROCESS macro 4.0 parallel mediation model 4 in SPSS 26 was computed to assess whether system justification and oppressed minority ideology mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action. There was a significant relationship between all five pathways summarized in Figure 2 and Table 2. First, LGBTQ identity is a significant positive predictor of action orientation (B = .24, p < 0.5, CI = .04 - .45). Second, intersecting LGBTQ identity is a significant negative predictor of system justification (B = -.69, p < 0.001, CI = -.87 - -.52). Third, system justification is a significant negative predictor of action orientation (B = -.11, p < 0.01, CI = -.17 - -.05). Fourth, intersecting LGBTQ identity is a significant positive predictor of oppressed minority ideology (B = .40, p < 0.001, CI = .22 - .57). Finally, oppressed minority ideology is a significant positive predictor of action orientation (B = .37, p < 0.001, CI = .31 - .43). Thus, these findings suggest that system justification and oppressed minority ideology can partially mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action; however, system justification created a negative relationship, and oppressed minority ideology created a positive relationship between LGBTQ identity and the likelihood of engaging in future action. In other words, lower system justification and higher oppressed minority ideology predicted a higher likelihood of Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals engaging in future action against racial inequality.

Figure 2

Parallel Mediation

Model Results

Table 2

Mediating effect of system justification and oppressed minority ideology

B SE LLCIULCI t Sig

positively predicted future action. In other words, the mediation analyses found that Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals with lower system justification and higher oppressed minority ideology predicted a higher likelihood of them engaging in future action against racial inequality.

Implications

Direct effects

LGBTQ identity -> Action orientation .2414* .0146 .0362.4466 2.3080 .0211

LGBTQ identity -> System justification -6927*** .0880 -.8653-.5201 -7.8729 .0000

System justification -> Action orienta tion

LGBTQ identity -> Oppressed minority ideology

Oppressed minority ideology -> Action orientation

-.1059** .0308 -.1664-.0455 -3.4384 .0006

.3963*** .0886 .2224.5701 4.4711 .0000

.3733*** .0306 .3134.4333 12.2075 .0000

Note. *p < 0.5, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. LLCI and ULCI are the lower and upper thresholds of the confidence interval, respectively.

Discussion

This study found that all hypotheses were supported. More specifically, this study found that (1) Asian and Black LGBTQ participants were more likely to engage in future action than their non-LGBTQ counterparts, (2) there was a positive correlation between LGBTQ identity and future action, and (3) system justification and oppressed minority ideology mediated the relationship between LGBTQ identity and future action to reduce racial inequality. The correlation analysis suggests that LGBTQ identification predicted a higher likelihood of engaging in future action to reduce racial inequality. The mediation analyses found that system justification negatively predicted future action, and oppressed minority ideology

This study has a few implications. First, contrary to recent scholarship (Pender et al., 2019), which found that oppressed minority ideology was not a significant predictor for any action orientations among queer Black youth, this study’s results imply that oppressed minority ideology may have some significance in understanding different action orientations among LGBTQ POC. Importantly, this study’s participants were adults 18 or older, not youth. Further, this study treated different action orientations as one concept. Hence, future studies should examine the relationship between oppressed minority ideology and different action orientations.

In addition, this study also found that there was a mediation effect in the relationship between LGBTQ identity, system justification, and future action. This finding is consistent with Osborne and colleagues (2019) findings that suggest system justification is associated with collective action, albeit in this study, it is a negative relationship. However, Osborne et al. (2019) also found that system justification can boost an individual’s likelihood to take action to defend the status quo. Therefore, future studies should look at how system justification may make some LGBTQ individuals (e.g., conservative LGBTQ individuals) engage in action defending the status quo.

Lastly, the current study’s findings imply that individuals with multiple marginalized identities may be more likely to engage in future action than those without multiple marginalized identities. This implication is strengthened by this study’s emphasis on asking participants their likelihood of engagement in action for racial inequality, which affects both the cishet and the LGBTQ POC participants. In other words, although the cishet and LGBTQ Asian and Black participants are affected by racial inequality, this study suggests that multiple marginalized identities may make an individual more prone to understand the structural systems created to oppress them and subsequently want to engage in social change action. However, it is also plausible that individuals with multiple marginalized identities may be less likely to engage (or more likely to disengage) from social change action

due to, for example, feeling hopelessness after gaining awareness of the interconnected systems of oppression that are oppressing them or due to social stressors (e.g., homophobia) that discourage them from engaging in future action. Thus, future research should further examine individuals with multiple marginalized identities and identify other individual differences (in addition to system justification and oppressed minority ideology) or macro-environmental factors (e.g., systemic discrimination) that may interact with their multiple marginalized identities and assess whether these differences or factors motivate or discourage them from engaging in social change action.

Strengths and Limitations

There were many strengths and limitations to this study. The greatest strength is that this data was collected recently, making its implications vital as it directly relates to the current context of violence in the United States illustrated in the introduction. Another strength is the unexpected (i.e., were not the target population), diverse sample of Asian and Black LGBTQ participants within the large dataset. LGBTQ POC, in general, are overlooked in psychological research (Nadal & Scharrón-del Río, 2021) hence having many LGBTQ POC participants contributes to unknown knowledge in queer social psychology and social change research.

One significant limitation of this study was that most LGBTQ participants were cisgender. Hence, there could be no comparisons or analyses of cisgender LGB POC and transgender and non-binary POC, which are often neglected in psychological research (Nadal & Scharrón-del Río, 2021). Similarly, another limitation is that the analyses aggregated the Asian and Black LGBTQ participants as one group when there are many different distinct communities within the LGBTQ POC community. For example, analyses of bisexual participants may produce different results than gay participants or among different Asian ethnic-based LGBTQ communities (e.g., Chinese LGBTQ and Filipino LGBTQ communities). Another limitation of this study was that the demographics of the LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ participants were different in all the demographics shown in Table 1. Hence, future studies test whether these differences significantly predict the likelihood of engaging in future action. Lastly, another limitation was that this study’s analyses unite all action orientations into one unified concept of the likelihood of engaging in future action when significant differences exist between the types of action orientations (Craig et al., 2020). The results might look different if distinct

types of action orientations were analyzed rather than a unified concept of future action.

Future Direction

Although this study enhances the understanding of what makes Asian and Black LGBTQ participants more likely to participate in social change action to reduce racial inequality, there needs to be more research on LGBTQ POC involvement, engagement, and disengagement from social change action. Future research must recognize that LGBTQ people are not a monolith but many distinct yet interconnected communities and should explore these different communities. Correspondingly, future studies must look at trans, non-binary, and other marginalized LGBTQ POC (e.g., disabled LGBTQ POC individuals) instead of solely nondisabled cisgender LGB individuals.

This study also suggests that system justification and oppressed minority ideology can mediate Asian and Black LGBTQ individuals’ likelihood of engaging in future action; more complex mediation models could shed light on that mediating relationship. For example, future studies could evaluate how system justification and oppressed minority ideology mediate the relationship between LGBTQ identity and different types of action orientations; different LGBTQ communities may be more likely to engage in protests, for example, than donating to a charity. Future research should also consider the relationship between LGBTQ identity, mental health, and social change action. Nevertheless, this study suggests that there needs to be more research examining LGBTQ POC and why they engage in social change efforts, as future social change efforts may be one essential pathway to resist, disrupt, and overcome the systems of oppression perpetuating violence upon these communities. Such future research may contribute to that critical resistance.

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The Mediating Role of Assimilated Identity in the Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination Health Outcomes Among Southeast Asian Americans

Jason Le

Anti-Asian rhetoric has been a longstanding issue in the United States. Alongside formal laws that have discriminated against Asian Americans (e.g., the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Executive Order 9066 in 1942), the American public has also historically scapegoated Asian Americans for economic downfalls and government espionage. As a result, Asian Americans have faced harassment and even death (e.g., the lynching of Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles or the brutal murder of Vincent Chin) (Lee et al., 2013; Leonard, 1990; Nguyen, 2021). Following the introduction of the coronavirus and public rhetoric around “the Chinese virus” alongside record transmission of the virus, racial incidents against Asian Americans increased (Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, 2020, as cited in Lee & Waters, 2021).

Racial discrimination, or a form of discrimination that targets individuals based on their racial identity, has been attributed to negative health outcomes and psychological distress in historically marginalized people (Sanchez & Award, 2015; Nadal et al., 2014; Krieger et al., 2011; Hurd et al., 2014). Among Southeast and East Asian American populations, various studies have also reported increased anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms due to racial discrimination (Choi et al., 2021; Cheah et al., 2020; Nadal et al., 2022).

Although previous studies focused on distress as a result of some form of racial discrimination have examined Southeast Asian populations, the research for this population is minimal. Therefore, it is also important to disaggregate the data between East Asian and Southeast Asian American (e.g., Vietnamese, Filipino, Laotian) populations since they face different challenges. For instance, some Southeast Asian Americans tend to appear darker in complexion compared to East Asian Americans and, thus, may experience different forms of racial discrimination (Nadal et al., 2022). Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, also have a history of Western colonialism with prior history of intense discrimination. As a result, these populations may internalize oppression or inferiority (Nadal et al., 2012; David & Okazaki, 2006).

(Nadal et al., 2016; David & Okazaki, 2006). Even among East Asian communities, Southeast Asians are often seen as inferior or excluded as “nonAsian,” resulting in experiences of discrimination and marginalization from multiple sources (Nadal et al., 2022).

Ethnic identity, Assimilated identity, and Southeast Asian Americans

Alongside being historically rejected by the broader Asian American populations, non-Asian populations still view Southeast Asian Americans as perpetual foreigners (e.g., foreigners based on race). This is further exacerbated when they fail to conform to the dominant culture (Kim et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2016; Huynh et al., 2011, as cited in Liu & Suyemoto, 2016). Assimilated identity is defined as the identification with the dominant culture rather than their native culture (Smith et al., 2004). Through the lens of social identity theory, assimilated identity often serves as a strategy for social mobility in marginalized groups, in which members of devalued groups would attempt to pass into a higher-status group. As a result, assimilated identity may protect minority individuals against negative stereotype threats and improve their mental health outcomes (Baysu et al., 2011). However, other researchers have found that experiences of racial discrimination can reduce the probability of an assimilated identity (Becker, 2009). Clearer research regarding assimilated identity should be done.

Finally, prior research has also found that when students face challenges, such as language barriers and isolation, they experience a lack of belonging in the dominant culture (Maeshima & Parent, 2020). When students feel comfortable in their environment, they may participate in social events that can provide a buffer for depressive symptoms (Choi et al., 2021). However, few studies have examined the potential bridge assimilation to culture creates between racial discrimination and mental health outcomes.

The Present Study

Although Southeast Asian Americans may also experience the perception of foreignness in mainstream society, like their East Asian counterparts, Southeast Asians may feel more excluded from Asian American communities. Further, compared to East Asian Americans, who may experience one source of exclusion from the community, Southeast Asian Americans may find it more difficult to assimilate into the dominant culture. Thus, assimilated identity or strong identification with the dominant culture may impact the mental health outcomes of Southeast Asian Americans more than East Asian Americans. The current study attempts to address the gaps by uncovering how racial discrimination is associated with the mental health outcomes of Southeast Asian Americans, who are underrepresented in studies compared to East Asian Americans. Furthermore, the study examines the role of assimilated identity as a mediator in the relationship between racial discrimination and mental health outcomes for Southeast Asian Americans.

Methods

Participants

The data for this study were drawn from a larger study of 689 participants. Of the 689 participants, 497 Asian American adults, including 155 Southeast Asian American adults ranging from ages 18-80 (M = 35.74, SD = 12.65), and 342 East Asian American adults ranging from ages 18-80 (M = 44.26, SD = 16.10) were examined. The participants included 193 males, 300 females, and 3 nonbinary/third gender/ transgender adults. Adults who identified as U.S. born made up 57.54 percent of the participants, and 42.45 percent of participants identified as foreign-born. Participants were recruited online via Qualtrics, a widely used survey company, and received compensation through earned credits or other non-monetary incentives through Qualtrics for their time.

Measures and Materials

Assimilated Identity

The Assimilation Subscale of the Cross-Ethnic Racial Identity Scale -- Adult (CERIS-A) (Worrell et al., 2019) was used to examine the participants’ assimilation into American culture. The subscale consisted of 4 items. Participants indicated their

agreement with the statements (e.g., “I think of myself primarily as an American, and seldom as a member of an ethnic or racial group”) through a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 7 (“strongly agree”) (see Appendix A). The scale demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach’s α = .87) in our study sample.

Racial Discrimination

COVID-19 Related Racial Discrimination Scale (Inperson Direct Discrimination Subscale) (Cheah et al., 2020) was used to assess a participant’s perceived racial discrimination. Participants expressed their agreement with statements pertaining to the occurrence of direct racial discrimination experienced through a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (“never”) to 5 (“very frequently”) (see Appendix B). The scale demonstrated excellent reliability (Cronbach’s α = .95).

Distress

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) (Kessler et al., 2002) was employed to assess a participant’s perceived distress. Participants were asked to report the frequency of depressive symptoms experienced in the last 30 days through 10 questions (e.g., During the last 30 days, how often did you feel tired out for no good reason?). Participants responded through a 5-point Likerttype scale ranging from 1 (“none of the time”) to 5 (“all of the time”) (see Appendix C).

Worry

Participants completed the Penn State Worry Questionnaire-5 (PSWQ-5) (Topper et al., 2014), consisting of 5 items. Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed to statements about their perceived worry (e.g., I know I should not worry about things, but I just cannot help it). For a participant’s perceived worry, they were asked to rate statements pertaining to how true these statements are on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 (“not at all typical of me”) to 5 (“very typical of me”) (see Appendix D).

Procedure

The data were drawn from the Covid-19, Asian Americans, Resiliency, and Allyship (CARA) project. The CARA project investigates the experiences of Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial protests following the

murder of George Floyd. This was followed by an outline of the anticipated risks and benefits as well as the confidential and voluntary nature of the study. Participants consented to a 35-minute study on Qualtrics, which asked about their experiences during the pandemic, racial identity and attitudes, and their response to the pandemic.

Results

For Southeast Asian American participants, 69 percent reported having experienced at least one type of racial discrimination within the last 12 months, while 54.39 percent of East Asian American participants reported that they did. For Southeast Asian American participants, reports of racial discrimination (M = 1.88, SD = 1.04) were positively correlated with distress (M = 23.86, SD = 10.79, r(153) = .46, p < .001) and worry (M = 15.99, SD = 6.29, r(153) = .29, p < .001). We regressed mental health outcomes with racial discrimination. The overall regression model predicting distress as a result of racial discrimination for Southeast Asian Americans was significant, F (1, 153) = 40.42, p < .001, R2 = .21. Additionally, the overall regression model predicting worry as a result of racial discrimination for Southeast Asian American was significant, F (1, 153) = 13.85, p < .001, R2 = .08. With both the variables in the regression models, racial discrimination significantly predicted distress (β = .46, p < .001) and worry (β = .29, p < .001).

Among East Asian American participants, reports of racial discrimination (M = 1.62, SD = .87) were positively correlated with distress (M = 20.15, SD = 9.22, r(340) = .49, p < .001) and worry (M = 14.69. SD = 5.73, r(340) = .34, p < .001). We regressed mental health outcomes with racial discrimination. The overall regression model predicting distress due to racial discrimination was significant, F (1, 340) = 108.18, p < .001, R2 = .24. Additionally, the overall regression model predicting worry as a result of racial discrimination was significant, F (1, 340) = 44.23, p < .001, R2 = .16. With both variables in the respective regression models, racial discrimination significantly predicted distress (β = .49, p < .001) and worry (β = .34, p < .001).

There was a positive relationship between assimilated identity and both distress (r = .25, p < .05) and worry (r = .20, p < .05) among Southeast Asian Americans. For East Asian Americans, we also identified a positive relationship between assimilated identity and both distress (r = .12, p < .05) and worry (r = .13, p < .05). The overall regression model for distress indicated that the strength of the

relationship between assimilated identity and distress was statistically significantly stronger for Southeast Asian Americans, t(493) = 52.66, p < .001; 95% CI [0.22, 0.23]. Finally, the overall regression model for worry demonstrated that the strength of the relationship between assimilated identity and worry was statistically significantly stronger for Southeast Asian Americans, t(493) = 49.23, p < .001; 95% CI [0.23, 0.24].

We conducted a mediation analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) (see Figure 1) to examine the role of assimilated identity as a mediator between racial discrimination and distress and worry for Southeast and East Asian Americans. There was a positive relationship between racial discrimination and assimilated identity for both Southeast (r = .32, p < .05) and East (r = .21, p < .05) Asian Americans. The relationship between racial discrimination and distress was partially mediated by assimilated identity for Southeast Asian Americans (p < .05) but not for East Asian Americans. The indirect relationship among Southeast Asian American participants explained 7.35% of the total effect. The results indicated no mediation effect for worry in either Southeast or East Asian American groups.

Discussion

In this study, we examined the relationship between racial discrimination and the mental health outcomes of Southeast Asian Americans compared to East Asian Americans. We hypothesized that this relationship is mediated by assimilated identity. As expected, we found that reports of racial discrimination were significantly positively correlated with distress and worry for Southeast and East Asian Americans. We also found a significant relationship between assimilated identity and racial discrimination for Southeast and East Asian Americans. We hypothesized that assimilated identity would play a stronger role for Southeast Asian compared to East Asian Americans in regard to their mental health outcomes. As hypothesized, assimilated identity and mental health outcomes were more strongly correlated for Southeast Asian than East Asian Americans. For Southeast Asian Americans, we found the relationship between distress and racial discrimination to be partially mediated by assimilated identity. Therefore, our hypothesis was supported for Southeast Asian American populations. However, unexpectedly, there was no significant mediation of assimilated identity for distress and racial discrimination for East Asian American participants. For both Southeast and East Asian Americans, there was no significant

mediation effect of assimilated identity between racial discrimination and worry. Since assimilated identity did not play a role as a mediator, our hypothesis for East Asian Americans was not supported.

Supporting previous literature, racial discrimination plays a role in marginalized individuals’ negative mental health outcomes (Choi et al., 2021; Cheah et al., 2020; Nadal et al., 2022). As previous research has identified, greater instances of racial microaggressions significantly led to higher levels of depressive symptoms amongst Asian American students, a marginalized group (Choi et al., 2021). Likewise, the results of our study indicate that both Southeast and East Asian Americans that reported experiencing racial discrimination also reported higher levels of distress and worry. However, our study examined the relationship between racial discrimination and mental health through correlations and, thus, did not determine causation. A potential explanation for the obtained results is the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the data collected was designed to assess COVID-19related racial discrimination, the reports of racial discrimination on both an individual and larger scale (e.g., reports of hate crimes in mass media), as well as widespread anti-Asian rhetoric, played a role in negative mental health outcomes. However, other factors influenced by the pandemic may also have led to increased reports of distress and worry. For instance, individuals were encouraged to social distance and be aware of the risks and consequences of contracting COVID-19 which may have increased distress and worry. To increase generalizability, future research should conduct a retrospective study examining the mental health outcomes resulting from racial discrimination before, during, and after the pandemic.

Our findings also identified a positive relationship between assimilated identity and worry and distress for Southeast and East Asian Americans. As previously stated, assimilated identity is the extent to which an individual identifies closely with the dominant culture rather than their ethnic culture. Contrary to prior research by Baysu et al. (2011), assimilated identity does not seem to produce decreased worry or distress but rather the opposite. Baysu et al. (2011) proposed that assimilated identity may help marginalized students by providing strategies to cope with racial discrimination. However, it is possible that having a stronger ethnic-racial identity rather than assimilated identity may be more beneficial to an individual’s mental health. According to Yip (2018),

a strong ethnic-racial identity is positively associated with improved psychological health. Marginalized individuals who are more committed to their ethnic-racial identity tend to report positive mental health outcomes compared to individuals who feel more disconnected from their ethnic-racial identity (Yip, 2018). Future research could assess ethnic-racial identity as a mediator for decreased worry and distress. By extending the study and focusing on ethnic identity, future research can look to understanding how ethnic-racial identity could play a role in mitigating the negative consequences of a strong assimilated identity.

Supporting our hypothesis, the relationship between assimilated identity and negative mental health outcomes is stronger for Southeast Asian than East Asian Americans. Although our study identified this stronger correlation, we did not uncover why that is. Previous literature has identified the experiences of Southeast and East Asian Americans as different from one another. Specifically, Southeast Asian Americans tend to experience feelings of exclusion from both non-Asian and Asian American communities (Nadal et al., 2022). Future research could examine why Southeast Asian Americans with a stronger assimilated identity may experience negative mental health outcomes compared to their East Asian counterparts. Since our study did not utilize a qualitative method, future studies could conduct interviews to identify what Southeast Asian Americans are experiencing, what they define as psychological distress, and their experiences of discrimination within the broader Asian American and non-Asian populations.

Limitations of the current study could explain our unexpected findings. Although we found a partial mediation of assimilated identity between racial discrimination and distress for Southeast Asian Americans, this finding could be a spurious effect. Future studies should attempt to recruit a larger sample of Southeast Asian Americans when replicating this study. A larger sample size may increase the power to detect a stronger mediation effect. Additionally, our study was limited by differing sample sizes as East Asian Americans overwhelmingly double the population of Southeast Asian Americans, making the study’s results difficult to generalize. Recruiting equal and large sample sizes of Southeast and East Asian Americans could lead to both more generalizable and accurate results.

Although our study’s hypothesis was not supported by which assimilated identity served as a mediator

between racial discrimination and mental health outcomes, the role assimilated identity plays should not be dismissed. By conducting our study, we were able to identify the existence of a direct relationship between racial discrimination and both distress and worry for both Southeast and East Asian American participants. Although with a small sample size, it is possible that our study was prone to error because of inadequate power, whether that would be through both Type I and Type II errors. Except for worry for Southeast Asian Americans, assimilated identity was not significant for all the variables we measured; our study opens avenues to identifying other mediators in the relationship between racial discrimination and negative mental health outcomes. As we open doors to examining ethnic-racial identity, future research could find interventions that utilize this identity to reduce the negative mental health consequences of racial discrimination.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a renewed focus on anti-Asian rhetoric, an issue that has been rampant for centuries. As anti-Asian rhetoric became more widespread, it was inevitable that individuals of Asian descent would experience racial discrimination. As many psychologists have concluded, experiences of racial discrimination tend to result in reports of negative mental health outcomes. As our study has suggested, assimilated identity could play some role in the extent of negative mental health outcomes. Although our study’s mediation hypothesis was not fully supported, the results introduced us to new directions in investigating the role of new potential mediators in the relationship and the potential impact of assimilated identity as a whole.

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Appendix A

Cross-Ethnic Racial Identity Scale -- Adult (CERIS-A)

Worrell, F. C., Mendoza-Denton, R., & Wang, A.. (2019). Introducing a new assessment tool for measuring ethnic-racial identity: The Cross Ethnic-Racial Identity Scale–Adult (CERIS-A). Assessment, 26(3), 404–418.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly Disagree Disagree Somehwat Disagree Neither Agree Nor Disagree

Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree

2 I think of myself primarily as an American, and seldom as a member of an ethnic or racial group.

7 I am not so much a member of a racial group, as I am an American.

11 If I had to put a label on my identity, it would be “American,” and not a specific ethnic/racial group.

17 If I had to put myself into categories, first I would say I am an American, and second I am a member of a racial or ethnic group.

Appendix B

COVID-19 Related Racial Discrimination Scale (In-person Direct Discrimination Subscale)

Cheah, C. S. L., Wang, C., Ren, H., Zong, X., Cho, H. S., & Xue, X., (2020). COVID-19 racism and mental health in Chinese American families. Pediatrics.

1 2 3 4 5

Never Rarely (once or twice)

Sometimes (3-6 times) Frequently (7-10 times) Very Frequently (11+ times)

1. Some people were unfriendly or unwelcoming toward me because of my Asian background.

2. Some people don’t want to be with me because of my Asian background.

3. Some people avoid me because of my Asian background.

4. Some people made fun of me or other Asian people.

5. Some people were rude to me because of my Asian background.

6. Some people verbally harassed me or called me names because of my Asian background.

7. Some people coughed at/spat on me because of my Asian background.

8. Some people physically assaulted me because of my Asian background.

9. Some people discriminated against me at work because of my Asian background.

10. Some people barred me from an establishment (e.g. restaurants, shops) because of my Asian background.

11. Some people barred me from transportation (e.g. Lyft, Uber, public transportation) because of my Asian background.

12. Some people vandalized or sprayed graffiti on my property, home or workplace because of my Asian background.

Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)

Kessler, R.C., Andrews, G., Colpe, .et al (2002) Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32, 959-956.

1 2 3 4 5

None of the time A little of the time

Some of the time Most of the time All of the time

1. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel tired out for no good reason?

2. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel nervous?

3. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel so nervous that nothing could calm you down?

4. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel hopeless?

5. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel restless or fidgety?

6. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel so restless you could not sit still?

7. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel depressed?

8. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel that everything was an effort?

9. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel so sad that nothing could cheer you up?

10. During the last 30 days, about how often did you feel worthless?

Note. Participants with scores of <20 are likely to be well, 20-24 are likely to have a mild mental disorder, 25-29 are likely to have a moderate mental disorder, and 30+ are likely to have a severe mental disorder.

Appendix D

Penn State Worry Questionnaire-5 (PSWQ-5)

Topper, M., Emmelkamp, P. M., Watkins, E., & Ehring, T. (2014). Development and assessment of brief versions of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the Ruminative Response Scale. The British journal of clinical psychology, 53(4), 402–421.

1 2 3 4 5

Not at all typical of me

1. Many situations make me worry.

Very typical of me

2. I know I should not worry about things, but I just cannot help it.

3. When I am under pressure I worry a lot.

4. I have been a worrier all my life.

5. I notice that I have been worrying about things.

Figure 1

Strength of Relationship Between Variables and Mediation Analysis Through Structural Equation Modeling

Note. Coefficients for Southeast Asian Americans are outside the parentheses. East Asian Americans are inside the parentheses. ** indicates p < .001, * indicates p < .05.

United We Stand:

The Effect of Multiracial Identity on Perceptions of Linked Fate and Activism

Kyleah Parr

Racial identity is relevant in many aspects of the United States’ life and society. However, identity can be subjective; this is especially the case for people with more than one racial heritage, often referred to as “biracial” or “multiracial.” The U.S. has evolved past labeling multiracial people as “quadroons (¼ Black) and octoroons (⅛ Black)” due to the onedrop rule related to Black ancestry, despite what their appearance may show (Hamming, 2017). Multiracial individuals are still seen as “other,” and multiracial people mixed with Black heritage are regarded as the “other’s other” (Castillo et al., 2020). This classification as “other’s other” could stem from systemic racism, oppression, and discrimination against the Black community through slavery, Jim Crow segregation laws, police brutality, etc. However, within racial communities, there is solidarity in a shared racial identity, which includes multiracial people. While previous research has shown that racism influences collective action, less understood is how multiracial individuals who identify with multiple identities experience racism and engage in collective action.

Multiracial Identity

Racial groups have established race categories that mixed people challenge by their sheer existence (Castillo et al., 2020). Multiracial experiences with race can vary, and while these individuals face pressure to assimilate, identities can also be fluid and change based on context. Some multiracial individuals move between racial identities based on what is most appropriate in a given situation, and some discount racial categorization entirely (Brunsma, D. L., & Rockquemore, K. A. (2001); Root, 1990).

Research has developed multiple levels and stages that multiracial individuals progress through throughout their lives. Kristen Renn (2008) found the five levels of multiracial identity: level one - personal identity; level two - choice of group categorization; level three - denial; level fourappreciation; and level five - integration. Another conceptual model is the Double Identity Model,

and confusion, then refusal and suppression into infusion and exploration, and finally, resolution and acceptance (Castillo et al., 2020). Recent studies have shown the psychological benefits associated with multiracial individuals’ acceptance of one’s multiple identities, such as rejecting social pressure to choose one identity or conforming with the “appropriate” racial identity and “stand one’s ground,” which is an indication of resilience (Norwood, 2019).

However, there remain instances of disconnect between mixed people and the people of their communities. Many mixed-race people experience a multiracial identity crisis, which is when a multiracial person feels that they have to pick a side or cannot identify as either because, in society’s eyes, they are not enough to be either race (Norwood, 2019). Research by Parker, Horowitz, Morin, and colleagues(2015) found that 61% of multiracial people do not identify as multiracial because they either only look like one race (47%), were raised by a parent or guardian whose background is only one race (39%), or were unaware of their multiracial background (34%). This rejection may cause a lower or higher desire to be a part of a racial community, depending on their perceptions of shared experiences with those in the community.

Race Consciousness

Race consciousness is defined as someone being aware of their race and duty to their racial community (Simien & Clawson, 2004). Duty, in this sense, refers to the obligations of speaking out for the community as a whole and acting in favor of the community. Simien and Clawson (2004) divided “race consciousness” into four stages: race identity, system blame, power discontent, and collective action. People first identify with their race and come to terms with how they are treated based on their race. Then, individuals recognize the cause of their discrimination as the larger system and recognize that no one person can change this system, which leads to collective action (Simien & Clawson, 2004). Multiracial individuals experience race consciousness for each race they identify with, which can lead to feelings of conflict with the idea

of community fate being linked together and participation in community intervention (Simien & Clawson, 2004). Prior research exploring racial identity and discrimination has connected race consciousness with racial identification and collective action.

Linked Fate

Many multiracial individuals identify with at least one minority group and relate to the concept of “minority-linked fate.” As defined by Dawson (1994), linked fate is the extent to which a person perceives their life circumstances as being connected to the fate of their racial group (Chan & Jasso, 2021). Gershon et al. (2019) updated Dawson’s concept to include minorities who might share a sense of commonality with other groups beyond their own, called “minority-linked fate” (Chan & Jasso, 2021). This concept of “minority-linked fate” helps develop the stance that multiracial individuals may be more receptive to cross-racial activism and linked fate. Multiracial individuals are a physical representation of linked fate as they are linked to two or more racial communities. Many multiracial individuals feel like “racial imposters” because they may appear to be racially ambiguous and therefore are treated like tourists or “others” in areas where they are meant to be (Demby & Meraji, 2017). This idea and feeling of being a “racial imposter” may affect linked fate because multiracial individuals may feel as though they cannot identify with any specific community but should try in order to be recognized by people of the same community.

Cross-Racial Activism/ Activities Participated in on Behalf of Others

Activism is a way to explore the relationship between different racial groups on race-related topics because it shows who shows up and speaks out on behalf of and in support of other racial minorities. Support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement has been around since 2013 and has grown throughout the mid-to-late 2010s. In 2016, a group of Asian Americans wrote a letter expressing their support for the movement (Arora & Stout, 2019). In 2020, when the BLM movement started picking up after the deaths of George, Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, many racial minorities came together out of solidarity (Chan & Jasso, 2021). These reactions could be connected to linked fate in the way that minorities recognize that if one minority group is attacked, others will soon follow. This rising support since the beginning of the BLM movement in 2013 in recent

years could also be influenced by other happenings, like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Present Study

Despite studies on minority groups in linked fate and collective action, little research has been conducted on individuals who identify as multiracial. Recently, minorities in the U.S. have experienced many hardships with the events leading up to the Black Lives Matter Movement, Anti-Asian discrimination, the threat of deportation under ICE, and other challenges. It is important to understand these events and how they affect people (i.e., not just those directly affected by racist actions) to understand the influence identity has on choices that may affect others.

The present study hypothesizes that Black and Asian-identifying multiracial individuals will express more belief in linked fate than their monoracial counterparts with other racial groups. This may be caused by the fact that they identify with more than one race and may feel conflicted if they themselves or society ignore one side of themselves. In other words, multiracial individuals may feel the need to appease both or all identities by believing in linked fate towards all of their identities. This study also hypothesizes that people who identify as multiracial (racially) are more likely to participate in cross-racial activism and that multiracial identity is positively correlated with this type of activism.

Method

Participants

Participants for this study were drawn from the Asian and Black Americans, Racism and Allyship (ABRA) study, which recruited 1445 individuals of varying backgrounds in socioeconomic status, education, sexual orientation and identity, employment, and race. The participants ranged from the ages of 1885 years old, and of these participants, 990 were female-identifying, 430 were male-identifying and 25 participants identified as non-binary, transgender, or other. Participants are residents of the United States and have been since the beginning of COVID-19. Participants were recruited, and data for the ABRA was collected through an online survey company, Qualtrics.

Materials & Measures

The primary aim of this study is to deduce whether racial identity within a community is positively

associated with opinions of linked fate and the likelihood of activism. In order to measure racial identity, self-reported demographic racial information was used. In this study, surveys and questionnaires were used to ask participants about different topics such as their feelings about linked fate to different ethnic groups and activism on behalf of other racial groups. Examples of questions asked were “How likely are you to participate in protests on this racial group’s behalf?” and “How often do you educate yourself (and others) on topics about other racial groups?” The activism scale was a simple “yes” or “no” questionnaire that calculated the percentage. The linked fate survey was a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 being “not at all” and 5 being “a great deal.” Participants were asked to answer the question: “To what extent does what happens to each of these groups have an effect on your own life?” for each race.

Procedures

The study data were collected through the Qualtrics panel in May 2022. Once they agreed to participate, each participant was given an online consent form informing them of the benefits, risks, and rights. Participants were asked to complete a screening survey along with the consent form. This survey consists of some demographic questions asking participants about race/ethnicity, age, zip code, and whether they had resided in the U.S. since 2020.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

As seen in Appendix A Table 1, a similar pattern for both gender and education can be shown for both monoracial and multiracial Black participants. A much larger sample population was recruited for this study’s Asian participants, with 1,018 monoracial Asian individuals and 60 multiracial Asian participants. For Asian participants, a different theme was shown in regard to education than their Black counterparts. Among the Black population, the numbers decreased as the level of education increased. Overall, the study shows no distinct pattern among the Asian population sample used in this experiment.

In this study, t-tests were conducted to test hypotheses regarding whether or not multiracial individuals were more likely to believe in linked fate. As shown in Appendix B Table 2, this study compared monoracial Black participants to multiracial Black participants to show statistics on the perception of

linked fate to white Americans, Asian Americans, and people of color in general. Table 2 also shows the comparison between monoracial Asians and multiracial Asians in their perception of linked fate to various racial groups. The results in the table for both groups are quite similar, with the multiracial sample group expressing slightly more feelings of linked fate than all groups, even though the differences are not significant across groups (p>0.05). Other t-tests conducted for hypothesis two also found similar results as the t-test for hypothesis one, with no significant difference between monoracial and multiracial individuals in terms of cross-racial activism likelihood.

Multiracial Identity and Cross-racial Activism

In order to test hypothesis three regarding the relationship between multiracial identity and crossracial activism, a correlation statistic between the two variables was conducted. A correlational test was conducted prior to the final hypothesis and results to determine that higher belief in linked fate was positively correlated with cross-racial activism. Results for this were determined to be 0.2330 for multiracial Asians and 0.3214 for monoracial Asians. The results of this statistical analysis for hypothesis three showed that there was also a significant correlation between multiracial identity and the number of activities participated in on behalf of another race. A significant positive correlation was found for both Multiracial Black and Multiracial Asian participants. Multiracial Black individuals showed a result of r(df)= 0.07 with a p-value of 0.0232, while Multiracial Asian individuals showed a result of r(df)= 0.12 with a p-value of 0.0248. In other words, the results show that multiracial identity significantly correlates with the number of cross-racial activism activities.

Discussion

The present study aimed to uncover whether monoracial and multiracial Black Americans and Asian Americans differed in their belief in linked fate with different races and the likelihood of activism. The first proposed hypothesis stated that multiracial individuals were more likely to express beliefs in linked fate. The second hypothesis stated that multiracial people were more likely to participate in activism on behalf of other races than their monoracial counterparts. The final proposed hypothesis stated that multiracial identity would be positively correlated with cross-racial activism. The results found in this study supported hypothesis three but did not support hypotheses one and two.

The results support that one’s belief that different races’ futures are interconnected is connected to the choice to participate in activism on those races’ behalf. This study also found that multiracial identity does positively correlate with cross-racial activism. This idea seems mainly supported when linked fate is applied generally rather than specifically to one racial group. There was no significant difference between multiracial identity versus monoracial identity in higher belief in linked fate or in the choice to participate in activism on another race’s behalf. There has not been much research conducted on multiracial individuals in psychology, as stated before. However, these conclusions are somewhat aligned with theories on this topic, such as Gershon et al. (2019) concept of “minority-linked fate.” The fact that there was no significant difference between monoracial Black individuals and multiracial Black individuals agrees with the concept that minorities feel a sense of connection to other minorities regarding their fate.

Limitations

In this study, the monoracial group was significantly larger than the multiracial sample, with a difference of 309 more people being monoracial in the Black sample and 958 more in the Asian sample. The relatively small number of multiracial participants causes an issue of power, so we cannot be confident in the conclusions we draw and thus need future research with balanced groups. A larger sample size for both multiracial groups would give a more accurate account of beliefs on linked fate and the likelihood of activism. Another limitation could be the small scale used to answer questions on linked fate and activism. A five-point scale was used to calculate opinions on these topics. However, despite the scale being well validated, a larger scale could potentially offer more insight by giving more space for varying responses. The focus group could also hinder the study since only two minority groups were examined closely. A comparison study of other minority groups may offer more information on multiracial individuals and their specific opinions on the dependent variable.

Conclusions

Overall, the results of this study suggest that people who believe in linked fate are more likely to want to support and help other racial groups through activism and that this is correlated with multiracial identity. There is no significant difference between monoracial and multiracial Black individuals

regarding linked fate or activism on behalf of another racial group indicating that one’s own identity does not affect the likelihood of participating in activism for another group. This study helped lay the foundation to build upon and replicate these results by showing that racial identity may not be a critical factor in determining beliefs in linked fate. However, it also showed that racial identity, specifically multiracial identity, is correlated to cross-racial activism, therefore warranting more research on behalf of multiracial identity and its effects in other areas of life.

This study adds to and hopefully opens the door to further research in racial connectedness, linked fate, and activism. The main strength of the design was the sample group. Multiracial individuals are not a typical group used to conduct research. Future research can expand on these concepts and focus more intimately on the multiracial people without Black or Asian identity, such as Native American and Latinx multiracial populations. Future studies also could investigate the impact of intersectional identities such as gender, age, and immigrant status on linked fate.

References

Arora, M. & Stout, C. T. (2019). Letters for Black Lives: Co-ethnic Mobilization and support for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Sage Publications.

Brunsma, D. L., & Rockquemore, K. A. (2001). The new color complex: Appearances and biracial identity. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 1(3), 225-246.

Castillo, K., Reynolds, T. C. J. D., Lee, M., & Elliott, J. L. (2020). Black-Asian American identity: An exploratory study on how internalized oppression impact’s identity development. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 11(4), 233–245.

Chan, N. K. M., & Jasso, F. (2021). From Inter-Racial Solidarity to Action: Minority Linked Fate and African American, Latina/o, and Asian American Political Participation. Political behavior, 1-23.

Dawson, Michael. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Demby, G., Meraji S.(Hosts). (2017, June 8). Racial Imposter Syndrome: Here Are Your Stories. [Audio podcast episode] In Code Switch. NPR. Website

Gershon, S. A., Montoya, C., Bejarano, C., & Brown, N. (2019). Intersectional linked fate and political representation. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 7(3), 642-653.

Gonlin, V. (2022). Mixed-Race Ancestry≠ Multiracial Identification: The Role Racial Discrimination, Linked Fate, and Skin Tone Have on the Racial Identification of People with Mixed-Race Ancestry. Social Sciences, 11(4), 160.

Norwood, L. (2019). The Biracial Identity Crisis. Writing Waves, 1(1), 15.

Parker, K., Horowitz, J. M., Morin, R., & Lopez, M. H. (2015). Chapter 3: The multiracial identity gap. Pew Research Center.

Renn, K. A. (2008). Research on biracial and multiracial identity development: Overview and synthesis. New directions for student services, 2008(123), 13-21.

Root, M. P. (1990). Resolving” other” status: Identity development of biracial individuals. Women & Therapy, 9(1-2), 185-205.

Simien, E. M., & Clawson, R. A. (2004). The intersection of race and gender: An examination of Black feminist consciousness, race consciousness, and policy attitudes. Social Science Quarterly, 85(3), 793-810.

Monoracial Black (N=338)

Appendix A

Table 1

Descriptive Statistics

Multiracial Black (N=29)

Monoracial Asian (N=1,018) Multiracial Asian (N=60)

Age (Mean, SD) 41.14 (14.54) 38.31 (13.73) 36.57 (13.77) 32.37 (12.50)

Gender

Female 227 (67.16%) 24 (82.76%) 690 (67.78%) 49 (81.67%)

Male 110 (32.54%) 5 (17.24%) 315 (30.94%) 10 (16.67%)

Level of Education

Less than college 155 (46.55%) 15 (51.72%) 220 (21.83%) 24 (40%) College 142 (42.64%) 11 (37.93%) 538 (53.37%) 31 (51.67%) College and more 36 (10.81%) 3 (10.34%) 250 (24.80%) 5 (8.33%)

Appendix B

Table 2

The difference in Linked Fate between Monoracial and Multiracial People

Linked Fate Monoracial Black (N=338)

Multiracial Black (N=29)

T-test (p-value)

White Americans 1.57 1.62 -0.20 (0.84) Asians / Asian Americans 1.29 1.17 0.55 (0.59)

Hispanics / Latinx Ameri cans 1.54 1.86 -1.40 (0.17)

People of Color 2.44 2.76 -1.20 (0.23)

Linked Fate

Monoracial Asian (N=1,018)

Multiracial Asian (N=60)

T-test (p-value)

White Americans 2.67 2.77 -0.59 (0.56)

Black / African Americans 2.51 2.55 -0.28 (0.78)

Hispanics / Latinx Ameri cans 2.46 1.45 0.057 (0.95)

People of Color 2.84 2.78 0.36 (0.72)

C.E.H. LAB

CULTURE, EMOTION, AND HEALTH

PI: William Tsai Mentors: Jen Ang + Victoria Monte

The CEH Lab 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.

The Effects of Computer-Based Therapy on Behavior

Management,

Emotional Regulation, and Social Adjustment

of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Hannah Agbaroji

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences in social interaction and social communication, according to the American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association. Children with ASD experience delayed functioning in facial-emotional recognition and social-emotional reciprocity, which may lead to the inability to develop and maintain age-appropriate social communication (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). While there is currently no universal intervention for ASD, there is an increasing consensus that behavioral and educational intervention programs can significantly improve long-term outcomes for individuals with autism. Research recognizes that issues in collaborative learning, social adaptation, decision-making, and the ability to face conflicts, can decrease the likelihood of employment and independent living for people with autism (Reed et al., 2011). Therefore, it is important to identify treatment approaches that are efficient, accessible, and flexible to improve student’s learning outcomes. With the rise of technology over the past decade and the scarcity of human-administered therapy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, more studies are examining the use of technology- and computer-based interventions to teach people with autism social skills and affective cues through virtual reality environments and robotic systems.

Behavioral Wellness and Emotion Regulation

A major focus on technology-based treatments has been on their aim at strengthening behavioral wellness through emotion regulation. Emotion Regulation (ER) is the process of effectively managing the expression and experience of emotions. Difficulties in ER are a common issue for many people with autism and have been found to result in increased anxiety, depression, anger, and negative physical health outcomes (Gillies-Walker, 2022). Since robotic systems can interact with children with ASD in imitation tasks and facilitate interaction with others, these interventions can not only provide a therapeutic environment for children with ASD, but by having a handheld system that can provide support and relief, tech-based interventions

may be more beneficial in catering their style and pace of learning for children. Additionally, the technology can lead to better health processes such as emotional and behavioral regulation. This research is necessary to ensure more positive developmental outcomes for children with ASD.

Facial Emotion Recognition

Not only do tech-based therapies have the capacity to improve behavioral functioning of its users, but they can also lead to neurological benefits by improving users’ capacity to identify facial emotions. Facial expressions play a vital role in the daily lives of all individuals, and are a form of nonverbal communication, providing nonverbal cues about emotional states, mindsets, and intentions (Zhi et al., 2021). While typically developing (TD) individuals can decode facial expressions of others with people they interact with and behave accordingly, limits in facial expression recognition can limit an individual’s ability to network with others, and perception of expressions, all of which impact health and quality of life negatively (Ishii et al., 2018). The benefits of tech-based therapies are that they can be programmed to target almost any deficit displayed in the individual; they can be administered indefinitely with only an initial purchase cost; and they can scaffold levels of difficulty, ensuring a gradual improvement of skills that may be difficult for a human therapist to keep up with. With all of the promising advantages of computer-based therapies, it is worthwhile for researchers to look into the efficacy of these types of interventions, especially in comparison to traditional therapies.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for telehealth technologies that can aid in the treatment of social and behavioral health concerns in all individuals, particularly those classified as “at risk” due to neurodivergence. Due to public health restrictions during the pandemic, it became difficult for therapists to see clients in person and complete behavioral observations that are often crucial to the diagnostic process (Chung et al., 2020). This makes

screening and assessment of individuals with ASD increasingly challenging. This has led to many experiencing delays in diagnosis, which is especially exacerbated in underserved communities, which are already at a higher risk for experiencing health disparities during the pandemic beyond the current social, financial, and geographic barriers of accessibility. Delayed ASD diagnosis is very concerning given the importance of early ASD identification and intervention in achieving positive outcomes. Therefore, it is critical that ASD assessments adapt to the changing world by innovating more savvy strategies in screening, assessment, and treatment. Just as it is important to consider technology in assessment, it is also critical to use technology in treatment and care.

Social distancing as a means to stop the spread of COVID-19 has drastically increased the need for technology-based mental health services. However, resources for psychological assessment and treatment of the public are extremely limited. Technology-based interventions aim to provide treatment with the use of advanced devices or techniques including computer-assisted instruction, video-based instruction, cellphonebased instruction, or virtual reality application. Children are given real-time feedback on the accuracy of their expressed emotions, with accuracy determined based on a match to the “target” emotion that is depicted in the stimuli (White el al., 2018). By having systems that are apt at tracking and emulating behavior, these interventions may be more beneficial in allowing the child to take the reins and be in control of their learning while providing a level of accessibility that is not always common with traditional therapy.

The Current Study

Children with ASD can display basic emotions through facial expressions, but less precisely and frequently than children without ASD (Griffiths et al., 2019). Targeting both facial emotion recognition (FER) and facial emotion expression (FEE) may prove maximally effective, as these processes are strongly correlated. The proposed study will use an intervention technology aimed to target both FEE and FER in children with ASD. The system, termed facial emotion expression training (FEET), is adopted from the study by White and colleagues (2018) and is designed to be noninvasive, low cost, and unobtrusive to maximize transportability. The FEET system presents audiovisual stimuli to a child to elicit certain displays of emotion. FEET uses a small, monitor-mounted Kinect sensor to capture a

3-dimensional representation of the child’s face. The software detects the emotion being expressed and provides feedback to the child based on the facial expression of the child. To measure the overall effectiveness of tech-based interventions, like FEET, compared to traditional therapy, the proposed study has two parts. First, I propose a comprehensive review of relevant findings. I present preliminary results in this proposal. Second, I propose a hypothetical study that seeks to close the gaps of knowledge in behavioral/emotional improvement using technology.

Comprehensive Review

To propose a study design that is not only comprehensive but well-informed and supported by previous research, extensive investigation on the history and benefits of tech-based therapy was conducted. In this proposal, which includes an extensive literature review, there were examinations of longitudinal studies which followed the progress of students with autism before, during, and after technology-based interventions and compared overall measures of social skills performance to a control group. It is hypothesized that individuals who received tech-based therapies would improve and close the gap in terms of overall development. It is also predicted that the number of hours in therapy was positively correlated with academic achievement, social skills abilities, emotional flexibility, and social integration.

Comprehensive Review Blueprint

This comprehensive review was carried out following the fundamental phases for conducting a review of the literature as outlined by Tashnim et al., 2017: (1) planning the review, (2) developing the research questions, (3) reviewing the protocol, (4) conducting the review, which includes defining the selection and quality of studies and the inclusion/ exclusion criteria, data extraction, and data synthesis, and (5) disseminating and discussing the results after the review.

Planning the Review

This paper will present a comprehensive review on the state of the research on the use of technology to improve emotional flexibility and curb self-stimulatory behavior in children with ASD. I will review 25 studies that show how the use of technology in educational contexts helps people with ASD develop several skills, how these approaches consider aspects of user experience,

usability, and accessibility, and how elements of modern technology are used to enrich learning environments.

Inclusion Criteria

To be included in this review, journal articles were required to meet the following inclusion criteria: (1) participants should have a confirmed diagnosis of ASD, autism, Asperger syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder; (2) the technologybased intervention used in the study should target on improving participants’ emotion recognition abilities, and (3) the outcome measures of the study should focus on measuring the changes of participants’ emotion recognition abilities.

Research Question

Several studies showed that many individuals with autism show a natural affinity for technology preferred computers as their main learning mechanism (Valencia et al., 2019), which is due to the environment these systems provide: flexible, predictable, and structured, allowing children with ASD to maintain their routines and repetitive behaviors without affecting their comfort (Satterfield, 2015). Though these methods seem promising, they are highly under-researched. To provide evidence for the validity and applicability of modern therapies, this review will critically analyze the relationship between the development of skills inherent to emotional intelligence, and its usefulness in the improvement of treatment using varied human-computer interactions.

Search Procedure

In order to more efficiently filter journal articles that are relevant to the comprehensive review, targeted and intentional keywords were used. Keyword searches were conducted using various electronic databases such as Academic Research Premier, Medline, PsyINFO, and PubMed. Combinations of the following keywords were used to identify relevant articles: autism, autistic, ASD, emotion, affect recognition, emotion recognition, facial expression, computer, computerized, technology, multimedia, computer-assisted, computer-based, intervention, therapy, treatment, program, efficacy, remediation, and teaching. The selection was restricted to articles published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 and 2021.

Comprehensive Review Findings

Preliminary findings show that the development and application of systems for users with ASD are very promising, particularly in terms of increasing facial recognition and eye contact duration (Mesa-Gresa, 2018). The use of technological advancements such as virtual agents, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality undoubtedly provides a comfortable environment that promotes learning for people with ASD and may be used as a supplementary intervention to existing methods of behavioral development.

Children with ASD who experience prolonged use of computer-based interventions have demonstrated higher academic performance, as many improved their ability to memorize and recognize the numbers with or without sequence through interactive learning applications, and better understand basic numeracy and calculations, demonstrated without substantial supplementary interventions (Constain, 2018). In some, there has also been a decrease in self-stimulatory behaviors with an increase in socialemotional functioning, and reciprocal relationship development.

In several journal articles, it was mentioned that in conversation with others, children with ASD often focused on the background, the body of a person, or objects in the environment instead of focusing on people’s eyes and mouth when interacting with others (Bal et al. 2010; Hernandez et al. 2009). The use of technology allowed users to have better control of distractions in their environment. By limiting and eliminating background “noise,” the attention of an individual was constrained to others’ eyes or mouths while learning to recognize emotions. This, in addition to detailed coaching through automated signals or artificial intelligence, was effective in children with ASD developing strategies for how to recognize others’ emotions during training. Because of these characteristics, which seem to be unique to tech-based therapies, some children have yielded significant social and emotional improvements.

In one study, various behavior outcomes were measured through pre-post interviews. Out of 3 participants in the study, Child 1, who was exposed to the tech-based intervention and served as the experimental group, used Qunatiandi, (which is an application-based intervention program that incorporates evidence-based ASD treatments such as Discrete Trial Training, Pivotal Response Treatment, SCERTS, and Positive Behavior Support,

among others) and experienced learning progress advanced much more smoothly and quickly. In the pre-test phase, child 1’s emotional and verbal expression was lower than the other two control students and needed more intervention sessions to meet baseline ER criteria. After a period of intervention in tech-based emotion recognition via consistent use of Qunatiandi, Child 1 demonstrated improved generalization in emotional understanding with proper reinforcement (Zhang, 2019).

Not only have tech-based therapies shown positive psychological benefits, but they also are found to be more accessible, engaging, and fun for users with autism. In analyzing the enjoyable aspects of FEET systems, example responses from ASD participants in the study were overwhelmingly positive including, “It was fun doing the computer tasks,” “Got to do a video game,” and “Trying to do the emotion” (White, 2018). Though hesitation was present before the start of the intervention, after starting the computer task, none of the children stopped participation prior to completing all FEET levels. In the sample, the youth with ASD reported more enjoyment in interacting with FEET than did the TD children. This is consistent with research indicating that the affinity for technology may make computer-based therapies a viable modality for clinical intervention for ASD (White et al., 2018) and that youth with ASD may preferentially choose technology over human-administered intervention. These results encourage studies to examine the comparative behavioral outcomes in ASD interventions.

The full comprehensive review would cover all technology-based interventions for youth with ASD.

Proposed Study

Methodology

Design

The proposed study would be a longitudinal, mixedmethods experiment including two groups of children with ASD who previously exclusively used traditional therapy. Changes in behavior in children with ASD can be nuanced that a just quantitative or qualitative measure would not be enough to capture the dynamics of the child’s behavior and ER processes. Therefore, both experimental tests and interviews with the participants and their caregivers will be completed.

Sample and Procedures

Before the test begins, all parents will sign an informed consent form indicating their awareness of the study’s requirements for themselves and their children. In order to protect the confidentiality of the participants involved, the administration of therapy and data analysis will be conducted by the same small group of research assistants, and all measures will be assessed in private, confidential spaces. All participants would be recruited through the Kasari Lab at UCLA who have been screened for eligibility and participation in research studies. Each family (participant and caregiver group) will receive $1,000 for their participation.

The experimental group (EG) would be comprised of 40 children in the early- and middle-childhood group (ages three to ten). This group would use a variety of computer-based therapies including FEET and Qunatiandi, while the control group (CG) of 40 students of the same age would continue with the traditional therapy, each engaging in that intervention four times a week for 90 minutes each session. The study would last six months, a test trial period that is a common length in ASD studies.

Measurement

After the trial period, observation of play habits, relationship building, and self-stimulatory behavior will be conducted once before and after the test period by trained research assistants to objectively track behavior changes from the specific interventions. This would be achieved by using a checklist comprising questions such as, “How often does the child engage in prosocial behavior?”, “Does the child exhibit self-stimulatory behavior?”, “How often?”, “Does the child fit into their chosen play groups?”, “Does the child pick up on others’ social cues?”, etc. Participants would then be given a semi-structured feasibility questionnaire where they would communicate how easy or difficult it was to understand, follow, and keep up with their respective intervention methodology. In addition, each participant’s caregivers would be given the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) and the Emotional Cognitive Scale (ECS) one week after the study, and six months after the study which would provide a trajectory on behavior management and emotion regulation over the trial period. The BASC is divided into two sections, Problem Behavior Scales and Adaptive Behavior Scales which rank a variety of dimensions such as Hyperactivity and Impulsivity, Verbal and Physical Aggression, Excessive Worry, Fears and Phobias,

Self-Deprecation, and Nervousness on the Problem Scale to Flexibility in Changes to Routines, Shifting from one task to Another, Sharing with other Children, Interpersonal Skills, and Cautious Behavior on the Adaptive Scale. This survey will be core to understanding the role of tech-based therapy, and if it played a part in lessening adverse behavioral tendencies in children with ASD. Similarly, the ECS measures cognitive behavior on a variety of emotions such as Love, Happiness, Anger, Sadness, and Fear. This survey will not only capture the frequency that each child displays these emotions but also their ability to identify these emotions in others and adapt their behavior when faced with their peers’ behaviors. This highlights children’s ability to empathize and collaborate with others and will point out if this ability improved, worsened, or stayed the same over the course of the test period.

Finally, at the same four times when participants take the BASC and ECS, structured interviews would be conducted with all participants’ caregivers such as teachers, parents, and practitioners to supplement the potentially biased tests. They would be asked questions about the frequency and intensity of tantrums, fits, incomplete communication attempts, and overall responses to the effectiveness of their child’s intervention. Their responses would be closely recorded to get the full scope of the impact of improvement (or lack thereof) of a specific intervention.

Data Analysis

After data collection has been completed, we would score and code the responses from the caregivercompleted scales, child and caregiver interviews, and observation questionnaires. To easily compare the results of our findings, we would attribute a number to a response. For example, “Never” would be 0, “Rarely” would be 1, “Sometimes” would be 2, and so on. With the survey and other qualitative responses, our research assistants who facilitated the interviews would be responsible for coding the interviews and distinguishing the responses to fit in the nominal categories created for SPSS. Data would be entered in SPSS to run correlations between the type of intervention received and certain responses in the questionnaires and interviews. With so many variables collected, we could find other relationships, such as identifying sex differences to see if tech interventions are favored by males or females, age differences to measure if certain age groups preferred tech interventions more than others, and feelings of self-efficacy and outlook on life between the EG and CG.

Anticipated Results

Regarding the feasibility questionnaire, we expect that children who had traditional therapy would have higher levels of difficulty and lower ease of use and enjoyability ratings compared to those who used tech-based therapy. We expect those in the tech-based condition to have expressed more comfort, educational freedom and control, and more succinct learning. Similarly, we believe caregivers of children with tech interventions would describe more behavioral problems in the early stages of the study, but by the end of the six months, we fully expect tech-intervention caregivers to have more positive feedback on the effectiveness of intervention compared to traditional-therapy caregivers. With the BASC and the ECS, we would expect to see a greater increase in Emotional cognitive ability and positive behavioral adjustment within the tech-based group, compared to the traditional therapy group. We also expect that tech interventions would be more highly favored by males than females and that the older the participant was, the more comforted they would feel after using tech therapy due to children’s play interests shifting from imaginative play in early childhood to concrete play in middle childhood (Belsky, 2006). These results would further support that integrating tech therapy can help lead users with ASD to better health processes that are necessary to ensure positive psychological adjustment.

Discussion

The results of these studies should provide support for the continuing development, evaluation, and clinical usage of technology-based intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.

It is worth mentioning that not all individuals with ASD believe they suffer from a condition that needs intervention. ASD does not present in the same way all who have it. However, in some cases, people with ASD may seek interventions for behavior that they deem negative for themselves or others. It is for those individuals that all ASD interventions are geared for. However, until the point that the child can make informed consent, it is the family’s discretion if ASD intervention is right for their child. This study was designed to support the efficacy of tech-based interventions during a set trial period, and for a period of time after. With continued use and consistency, we hope the proposed results in the comprehensive review will be enduring.

But if the child reaches the age of consent and no longer wants to engage in the tech intervention (or any intervention) it is fully in their right to do so, and families/caregivers should support their children in that process.

Strengths and Limitations

First, with a design that looks at the experiences of a small pool of participants, caution should be taken in generalizing the research finding across students, settings, and severity of disabilities. A strength of this study is that it has assessed the changes in FER/EU of children with ASD, which is an important step before undertaking randomized controlled group designs to determine the efficacy of this intervention approach and to compare the effects of different treatment approaches. Additionally, as an intervention platform, problems arising from solely picture-based instruction that prevent children from receiving effective learning are also alleviated by technology-based intervention programs, as they present structured, systematic instruction with animation and video clips.

Future Directions

Technology designed to improve facial recognition appears to be beneficial to children with ASD and feasible to implement (Zhang et al., 2019). These findings suggest that investment in further research to develop and apply technology to transdiagnostic processes is warranted. Future studies may also look at the benefits of technology developmentally and see if technology is still as beneficial for older individuals with ASD, who have not grown up in the digital age of technology.

The results of the study highlight the importance of personalized technological support that is flexible and can adapt to the varying abilities and needs of Autistic individuals. In the future, there should be studies conducted with more diversity in the severity of autism. It would be useful to measure the extent to which tech-based interventions improve the prognosis of ASD based on the nature of severity at diagnosis. Data also emphasized the need for emotion regulation technology that does not try to replace autistic traits with “ideal”, neurotypical, states. Not every individual with ASD wants to be “fixed” or have their behavior “improved”, and the meaning of normal behavior varies by the individual. Therefore, future research must place autistic people at the heart of technology development and focus on individual goals for treatment rather than a generalized metric of achievement if it is to be successful.

Conclusion

This comprehensive literature review meta-analysis and study proposal evaluated the effectiveness of technology-based interventions in improving emotion recognition and behavior management in children with ASD. Technology designed to improve FER and regulation appears to do just that for children with ASD (Stasolla et al., 2020). By considering the characteristics of people with ASD, technology-based intervention may serve as an alternative to direct face-to-face intervention for tackling difficulties in emotion recognition through facial expression. It was reported that animation, sound, and interface in technology-based intervention might be more effective in reinforcing people with ASD and this helped to maintain their motivation during their intervention (Goldsmith and LeBlanc 2004). With the use of technology, treatment stimuli could also be modified to suit the individual needs of the participants and provide catered learning modes preferred by individuals with ASD in the comfort of their homes (Golan et al. 2007).

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

Bal, E., Harden, E., Lamb, D., Van Hecke, A. V., Denver, J. W., & Porges, S. W. (2010). Emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum disorders: Relations to eye gaze and autonomic state. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 40(3), 358-370.

Belsky, J. (2006). Experiencing the lifespan. Macmillan.

Chung, K. M., & Chung, E. S. (2020). New Mental Health Services in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Application of Technology-Based Approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39(4), 309-324.

Constain, G., Collazos, C., & Moreira, F. (2018, June). Use of HCI for the development of emotional skills in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A systematic review. In 2018 13th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Gillies-Walker, L., Ramzan, N., Rankin, J., Nimbley, E., & Gillespie-Smith, K. (2022). “You Feel Like You Kind of Walk Between the Two Worlds”: A Participatory Study Exploring How Technology Can Support Emotion Regulation for Autistic People. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-13.

Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Hill, J. J., & Rutherford, M. (2007). The ‘Reading the Mind in the Voice’testrevised: a study of complex emotion recognition in adults with and without autism spectrum conditions. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 37(6), 1096-1106

Goldsmith, T. R., & LeBlanc, L. A. (2004). Use of technology in interventions for children with autism. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior Intervention, 1(2), 166.

Griffiths, S., Jarrold, C., Penton-Voak, I. S., Woods, A. T., Skinner, A. L., & Munafò, M. R. (2019). Impaired recognition of basic emotions from facial expressions in young people with autism spectrum disorder: Assessing the importance of expression intensity. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 49(7), 2768-2778.

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Mesa-Gresa, P., Gil-Gómez, H., Lozano-Quilis, J. A., & GilGómez, J. A. (2018). Effectiveness of virtual reality for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: an evidence-based systematic review. Sensors, 18(8), 2486.

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Zhi, W., Cheong, L. S., & Jing, T. (2021). Meta-Analysis of emotion recognition intervention effects and influencing factors in autism spectrum disorder. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 56(4), 479-493.

A Pathway to Less Loneliness: How High Relational Mobility Strengthens the Relationship between Openness and Loneliness for Southeast Asian College Freshmen

Gerard Samson

The transition to college can be challenging for young adults. Time management, developing independence, and financial pressures are some of the many stressors first-year students experience during their adjustment. These challenges can increase psychological stress and anxiety levels (Worsley et al., 2021). Being a freshman in college is a transitional period where individuals lose direct access to previous social networks, and thus students may experience loneliness (Quan et al., 2014). Transitioning to college can be especially hard for first-year Southeast Asian (SEA) students, as SEA cultures prioritize stability within interpersonal relationships (Datu et al., 2022). It is of critical importance to understand loneliness amongst SEA students because social integration is critical for their academic success (Palmer & Maramba, 2015; Museus et al., 2016; Maramba et al., 2015).

Loneliness, the feeling of disparity between actual social relationships and desired relationships, is an important indicator of mental health for college students. Those who are lonely can experience more stress, anxiety, and depression and are more likely to be hostile to others (Yanguas et al., 2018). Loneliness may be buffered by some personality traits, as personality often acts as a predictor and protector for psychological outcomes (e.g., loneliness). One of the main theories of personality presents 5 core traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Though all personality traits could be related to loneliness, this paper focuses only on openness for two reasons. First, openness may have less influence as a predictor for loneliness if openness is not a necessary trait in cultures that prefer maintaining previous networks to seeking new ones (e.g., Asian cultures) (Thomson et al., 2018). Second, out of all five personality traits, however, openness has the weakest relationship to loneliness (-.107) (Buecker et al., 2020). This paper aims to explore why there is a weak link between openness and loneliness and possible variables that moderate the relationship.

Constructs like relational mobility (RM), which is the ability to start and end relationships in a specific environment (Thomson et al., 2018), may be able to strengthen the relationship between openness and

loneliness for SEA college first-year students. People in Western cultures often endorse high RM due to more opportunities to create new networks and more freedom to discard those that do not serve them. Conversely, people in Asian cultures often endorse lower RM (Thomson et al., 2018) due to a preference to stay and maintain previous relationships (Zhang & Zhao, 2021). High RM may serve as a positive psychological mechanism for lonely people since it is positively associated with intimacy in interpersonal relationships. In contrast, people may still feel lonely if they endorse low relational mobility as they may be pressured to maintain unpleasant relationships or are limited in gaining new ones (Milfont et al. 2020). For those who prefer more fixed relationships, such as in cultures with low RM (e.g., Asian cultures), openness may not be a trait that’s prioritized and which could therefore explain why openness may not be strongly associated with loneliness.

Our proposed study aims to survey SEA first-year college students about their RM, openness, and loneliness. We aim to answer two research questions with the proposed study.

RQ1: Is openness associated with loneliness among SEA first-year students?

RQ2: Does relational mobility moderate the relationship between openness and loneliness among SEA first-year students?

Participants/Sampling

Participants will be sampled from a large private university located in New York City. The aim is to sample 200 participants of SEA descent who are over 18 years old and must be in their first year of college. The survey will be administered through Qualtrics, and participant recruitment will be via email, social media websites (e.g., Facebook, etc.), and on-campus flyers.

Measures

Demographic Variables

Demographic information will be collected by

asking about generational status, ethnic origin, age, and gender.

Openness

To assess openness, only questions regarding openness from Goldberg’s Big Five Adjective Markers scale will be asked of the participants. In the original scale, participants were asked to what extent they identified with 7 pairs of extreme adjectives associated with each Big Five personality trait. They were asked using a 9-point scale ranging from 1 to 9 with 5 being the neutral position (Goldberg 1992).

Loneliness

A modified version of the UCLA Loneliness Scale will be used to measure loneliness. Items include: “People are around me but not with me,” “I feel isolated from others,” “There is no one I can turn to,” and on a scale from 1 (never) to 4 (often) (Hays & DiMatteo, 1987). The modified ULS scale by L.C. Heu and colleagues added two self-report measures: “How lonely do you feel in general?” and “How lonely did you feel during the last two weeks” on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much) (2020).

Relational Mobility

Yuki and colleagues developed an RM scale composed of 12 items that pertain to an individual’s perception of the society they are a part of and the extent to which people start and discard interpersonal relationships within their society. The scale asks five questions pertaining to meeting new people and creating relationships within their society (e.g., “They (the people around you) have many chances to get to know other people”) and the extent that others around them can select and dispose of relationships based on personal preference (e.g., “They (the people around you) can choose, according to their own preferences, the people whom they interact with in their daily life”). The RM scale uses a 6-point Likert scale (1 [strongly disagree] and 6 [strongly agree]) (2007).

Planned analysis

A correlational analysis will be used to examine the association between openness and loneliness. A hierarchical linear regression analysis will be used to examine the moderating relationship between immigration generational status and the relationship between RM and loneliness.

Anticipated Results

Hypothesis 1: Using a correlational analysis, we expect to find that more openness is associated with lower levels of loneliness.

Hypothesis 2: Using hierarchical linear regression analysis, we expect to find that the relationship between openness and loneliness is stronger for those who endorse high RM.

Discussion

With our first hypothesis’s results, we expect that the more openness someone has, the less lonely they are likely to be. Our expected results for the second hypothesis are that for those that endorse a high RM, the relationship between openness and loneliness is enhanced. SEA first-year students who are more open are more likely to build new relationships and therefore feel less lonely if they also endorse high RM. Those who endorse high RM feel more autonomy in starting new connections and discarding negative ones (Thomson et al. 2018).

Implications and Future Directions

In future studies, replication in other universities across other regions of the U.S. to increase generalizability and using a mixed-method study design would be ideal to fully capture the experiences of SEA first-year students across America. The proposed findings of this study hope to inform counselors, school administrators, and policymakers so they can more effectively create or improve programs that support SEA students. SEA students are an understudied population partly due to the model minority myth, which promotes the idea that Asian students have a high likelihood to succeed and, therefore, universities are not incentivized to meet the needs of SEA students if they are not regarded as underserved. The model minority myth aggregates SEA students with other Asian groups, which is especially destructive since it hides the disparities that SEA students experience (Palmer & Maramba, 2015).

Interventions with universities could include creating, promoting, and improving SEA student organizations and SEA studies classes to increase RM for SEA first-year students. With the RM increased for SEA first-year students, they are more likely to succeed in college and graduate. A high RM promotes an easier transition due to the increased openness to make new friendships and, therefore, an increased likelihood of educational attainment

since social support is critical to academic success. This understanding could also provide context to counselors regarding the experiences of SEA firstyear students. If SEA first-year students experience loneliness, universities can promote behaviors that increase high RM by encouraging them to be more social or be involved in college activities and organizations (Palmer et al., 2015; Palmer & Maramba, 2015; Museus et al., 2016).

References

Buecker, S., Maes, M., Denissen, J. J., & Luhmann, M. (2020). Loneliness and the big five personality traits: a meta–analysis. European Journal of Personality, 34(1), 8-28.

Datu, J. A. D., Rosopa, P. J., & Fynes, J. M. (2022). How does core self-evaluations relate to psychological well-being in the Philippines and United States? The moderating role of relational mobility. Current Psychology, 1-11.

Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological assessment, 4(1), 26.

Hays, R. D., & DiMatteo, M. R. (1987). A shortform measure of loneliness. Journal of Personality Assessment, 51(1), 69–81

Heu, L. C., van Zomeren, M., & Hansen, N. (2020). Far away from home and (not) lonely: Relational mobility in migrants’ heritage culture as a potential protection from loneliness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 77, 140-150.

Milfont, T. L., Thomson, R., & Yuki, M. (2020). Does relational mobility vary across national regions? A within-country examination. Plos one, 15(7), e0235172.

Maramba, D. C., Palmer, R. T., Yull, D., & Ozuna, T. (2015). A qualitative investigation of the college choice process for Asian Americans and Latina/os at a public HBCU. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 8(4), 258.

Museus, S. D., Shiroma, K., & Dizon, J. P. (2016). Cultural community connections and college success: An examination of Southeast Asian American college students. Journal of College Student Development, 57(5), 485-502.

Palmer, R. T., & Maramba, D. C. (2015). The impact of social capital on the access, adjustment, and success of Southeast Asian American college students. Journal of College Student Development, 56(1), 45-60.

Quan, L., Zhen, R., Yao, B., & Zhou, X. (2014). The effects of loneliness and coping style on academic adjustment among college freshmen. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal, 42(6), 969-977.

Thomson, R., Yuki, M., Talhelm, T., Schug, J., Kito, M., Ayanian, A. H., ... & Visserman, M. L. (2018). Relational mobility predicts social behaviors in 39 countries and is tied to historical farming and threat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(29), 7521-7526.

Worsley, J. D., Harrison, P., & Corcoran, R. (2021). Bridging the gap: exploring the unique transition from home, school or college into university. Frontiers in public health, 211.

Yanguas, J., Pinazo-Henandis, S., & Tarazona-Santabalbina, F. J. (2018). The complexity of loneliness. Acta Bio Medica: Atenei Parmensis, 89(2), 302.

Yuki, M., Schug, J., Horikawa, H., Takemura, K., Sato, K., Yokota, K., & Kamaya, K. (2007). Development of a scale to measure perceptions of relational mobility in society.

Zhang, X., & Zhao, X. (2021). Relational mobility promotes subjective well‐being through control over interpersonal relationships among the Chinese. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 24(1), 83-97.

PATH INCLUSION PROJECT

PI: Elise Cappella Mentors: Natalie May

This project partners with the New York City (NYC) Department of Education to develop and pilot a whole-school inclusion model focused on supporting youth with and without behavioral and emotional needs together to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.

Adolescent and Young Adults with West African and American Identities Relationship between

Setting and Sense of Self (SoS)

Kadejatou Drammeh

Young adults with West African and American identities face challenges to identity development as they navigate the varied settings and spaces in which they spend time. Born in the United States to West African parents, young people with these dual identities are an understudied population that might experience particular identity development challenges due to cultural differences between their backgrounds and historical and current racism. Research is needed to understand the ethnic identity development of young people with West African and American identities and how these multi-ethnic identities form in the transition to adulthood in terms of identity conflict (or discord) versus identity cohesion (or wholeness).

This study aims to explore the ethnic identity experiences of young adults with West African and American identities and to examine the qualities of the settings in which individuals experience a sense of cohesion versus conflict in their identities. In particular, this study will explore how the experience of identity changes over time as young people transition to college or work and whether specific settings and the people therein increase the likelihood of belonging and a cohesive sense of self.

Adolescent Development

As adolescents grow into adulthood, they explore many possible selves, with their identities developing through interactions in various settings and with the people in those settings. Important people, such as family members, leaders, celebrities, teachers, and peers, serve as both models and purveyors of messages about the characteristics of the self that are valued and important (Crane, 1991; Marku, Cross, & Wurf, 1990; Ogbu, 1991; Oyserman & Markus,1993). In addition, the social environment provides information about the characteristics of one’s identity that are viewed favorably or unfavorably (Oakes & Turner, 1990). Aspects of the social environment, such as peers, family members, and/or social norms, can influence the division between how one portrays oneself and how one truly feels, leading some young people to mold and

change themselves to different settings and/or to project a self that is not cohesive with who they are or want to be.

Another layer to the multiple dimensions of adolescence is “possible selves.” Oyserman, Ager, and Grant (1995) provide one definition of the possible selves as many different versions of the self an individual can choose to become. These are derived from positive and negative possible future selves, prompting individuals to attain or avoid specific characteristics attributed to a given identity. These positive and negative views can stem from past experiences and current environmental influences, culminating in the people or features in a setting. In addition, there is a balance in possible selves in which positive and negative selves are experienced in the same content domain as a tool to control behavior. Adolescents think about their possible selves using positive and negative experiences to motivate goal-focused behavior. These feelings can serve as models for many individual paths, adding to future identity exploration (Oyserman, Ager, & Grant, 1995).

African American and West African American Identity Development

The identity exploration for African Americans, in particular, is complicated by the significant effects racism may play in how they view themselves in relation to the settings in which they spend time. For example, the awareness of racism impacts the sense of self, allowing one to draw away from negative interactions with self and discount negative self-attributions (Oyserman, Ager, & Grant, 1995). Historical racism placed on this racial group is something the individual is hyper-aware of, leading them to avoid such representations of self. Reduced well-being and increased depressive symptomatology have been linked to ignoring racism in one’s everyday life (Carter, 1991). In addition, the lack of efficacy has been related to a reduced sense of control, autonomy, self-determination, and task persistence (Bandura, 1986). Beyond helping to share their worldview, these factors are important as they can impact how people navigate different settings and respond in different moments.

Sall (2019) and other scholars argue that individuals no longer choose between their Black identity and their ethnic identity; instead, they embrace and identify with their Black identity and nationalitybased ethnicities. However, some studies suggest that “West African and Black American youth have differing understandings of the nature of their identities” (Sall, 2019). A study of the racial and ethnic identities of second-generation West African teens showed that peers and family members influenced a significant part of the self. These influences mold and shape the identities, which are then translated into children’s interactions in their school setting. These intraracial ethnic distinctions are heavily shaped by sociocultural and physical characteristics such as parenting practices, values, and racial appearances. Parents influence this process by encouraging and supporting particular identities, such as specific characteristics, or compelling children to associate more closely with people from their own culture. Parenting is an important domain within which distinctions are made between West African and Black American youth about the content of their Black and African-American identifications (Sall, 2019). Taken together, these findings shed light on Black ethnic options and ethnoracial classifications more broadly in the context of the United States’ rigid Black/White racial dichotomy (Sall, 2019).

Visibility is an important component of navigating one’s identity. Visibility can be defined as the extent to which an individual is fully regarded and recognized by others (Brighenti, 2007; Simpson & Lewis, 2005). Visibility can be used to an individual’s advantage and can empower serving as an enabler for having a voice, or the ability to speak and be heard, and when one can control how they are perceived and represented (Lollar, 2015). Visibility can ensure that an individual might feel able to be more open about belonging to that group, thus leading to a more cohesive identity. Hypervisibility is scrutiny based on perceived differences and results in an individual being associated with their otherness of deviance from the norm (Brighenti, 2007; Kanter, 1977; Lewis & Simpson, 2010). When people from marginalized groups keep some of their identity to themselves, they often end up trading off feelings of authenticity and belongingness(Clair, Beatty, MacLean, 2005). The more hypervisible an individual is, the more they might feel unable to be open about their identity, leading to experiencing a conflicted identity. The importance of visibility can lead one to be conflicted or cohesive about their identity based on the context of the people and environment by which one is surrounded.

In connection to visibility, racism can also present itself in less immediately obvious ways. Visibility can vary regarding certain features of different settings, such as people who do or do not look, sound, or act like the individual. Similarly, racism can be more or less explicit and can make how an individual navigates between their dual identities more cohesive or feel in conflict when placed in these settings (Ferguson, 2020; King, 2017). For example, people in a setting or particular objects might have historical racism that presents as a form of attack or oppose specific characteristics attributed to one’s identity. These are key to understanding the relationship between setting and sense of self and how they work together or against each other to make one feel cohesive or in conflict when in these settings.

Current Study

A critical component missing from previous literature is looking at the settings in which young adults with West African and American identities experience their identities as conflicting with one another versus a cohesive whole. As racism and dual identities play a role in how one experiences their identity, visibility is also a key factor contributing to this experience.

The current study explores the experiences of young adults with West African and American identities in order to understand in what settings they experience their identities as being in conflict with one another versus a cohesive whole. The current study uses a longitudinal and descriptive design. The research study explores the following questions:

1. In what settings do young adults with West African and American identities experience their identities as being cohesive?

•How does a cohesive identity present itself?

•What thoughts arise for the individuals in these moments?

2. In what settings do young adults with West African and American identities experience their identities as being in conflict?

•How does a conflicted identity present itself?

•What thoughts arise for the individuals in these moments?

Methods

Participants

This study will involve late adolescents and young adults who identify with West African and American identities and are first-generation children born in America. Youth at this age are discovering their identity in this stage of their lives; hence, they are the ideal group for this study. This population is important because individuals operate in various spaces beyond just the home and school during this age. In certain settings, individuals identifying with West African and American identities may internalize one aspect of their identities and determine how they choose to present themselves. Despite this obvious choice, they lack control over the feelings that the environment evokes, which may lead them to be in spaces where they still feel a conflict between their different identities.

Participants ages 18-25 will be recruited to participate in this study through a snowball sampling technique. First, I will post flyers in a local area with a large West African/American population. Each individual who consents to participate will receive a $20 gift card to complete research measures. Second, I will provide an additional $5 for each referral to potential participants who meet study criteria for up to three people.

Procedures

In order to study young adults as they transition to college or work, this study will take place every other year for three years with two data collection points per year (January and June). All participants who provide informed consent will complete a survey sent by email to ensure they meet the study criteria. Participants will be asked to participate in semi-structured individual interviews over Zoom or in person at each time point. The interview will be approximately one hour and may take place in person or in an office setting, depending on the participants’ availability and interest. Before each participant is interviewed, they will be asked to complete a Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) questionnaire to measure their relationship with their ethnic identity. The MEIM questionnaire will be conducted before each point throughout the three years. The two-part semi-structured interview will uncover the settings in which they participate and their perceived sense of self in each of the settings.

Measures

The measures will focus on the constructs of sense of self in varied settings and multigroup identity. Ethnic identity will be measured using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney, 1992). The MEIM will measure the three subscales:

1. Positive ethnic attitudes and sense of belonging

2. Ethnic identity achievement, including both exploration and resolution of identity issues

3. Ethnic behaviors or practices

Sense of self in varied settings will be measured using a semi-structured interview using parts of the Open-Ended Identity Measure (Oyserman, Ager, & Grant, 1995) coupled with setting-related categories I created for this study. The interview will be broken into two parts. The first part will examine the settings the participants find themselves in, and the second part will examine their different identities and possible selves in these settings.

PART 1: Talk to me about a setting in your life:

• What are the features (e.g. people, place, or things)?

• How connected do you feel to this setting?

• How do you behave in this setting?

• How do you feel in this setting?

• How do you think people perceive you in this setting?

PART 2: Talk to me about your different identities:

• What are the different versions of yourself?

• In what settings do you envision these different versions of yourself?

• Where are you able to be the version of yourself that you want to be? Why?

Results

The anticipated results of this study are that in settings where young adults hold their American identity with more value, they will have more cohesiveness in their identity. Since these participants were born and raised in U.S. society, they may feel more cohesiveness in settings such as school or a workplace due to spending most of their time in these settings. An additional possible result of this study is that participants may feel a mixture of identity conflict and cohesion in spaces where West African identity is valued over the American identity. The balance of conflict and cohesion is likely to depend on the participants’ ethnic attitudes, behaviors, and practices. Further,

the different components or features of the setting, such as the people present, the activities or behaviors in the setting, and the social or cultural practices therein, may affect the balance of conflict and cohesion.

Discussion

Setting and identity play a significant role in different spaces, leading to a more cohesive or conflicted whole. As adolescents enter adulthood, they may find themselves in settings that challenge their ability to experience identity cohesion due to their developmental stage and having to process and deal with new ideas and possible selves (Oyserman, Ager, & Grant, 1995). Young adults, however, may feel less conflicted in the various settings in which they spend time due to having more identity stability and being better able to navigate these varied settings (Bandura, 1986). Despite young adults having more agency in choosing the settings they want to be in, they do not have control over what is happening in those settings.

Most settings have established institutional or social norms and historical racism that have been passed, which do not shift with a given individual’s presence and make it difficult for individuals who do not fall in line with these behaviors or practices (Christian, 2002). In addition, young adults do not have complete agency over the settings in which they spend time. For instance, an educational setting to which they have access may generate identity conflict; thus, they might be choosing to advance their education at the cost of a cohesive identity. This may be a particularly profound experience for young people experiencing two identities that contrast with each other in their cultural values, beliefs, and norms. In particular, individuals who identify with their West African and American identity and go to an institution where it is predominantly white might feel conflicted with their identity due to being surrounded by standards and symbols of a standard they may feel as though they have to align themselves with (Harper, 2013).

Limitations

The limitations of this study include the reliance on a single reporter and the lack of specificity in the interview questions as they pertain to the connection between the sense of self and the setting in which one spends time. Previous studies such as Sall, D. (2019) and Oyserman, D., Ager, J., & Grant, L. (1995) studies examine students’ perceptions at the moment the study is conducted and use more

precise methods to understand the features of a setting (e.g., systematic observations).

Nevertheless, a longitudinal study over three years may uncover the amount and trajectory of change as youth enter adulthood. Also, the adolescent or young adult is the person experiencing the setting and their identity cohesion or conflict; thus, they are the best person to report on it. Additional factors for consideration in future studies are to examine the links between identity, settings, and interpersonal relationships. How does one’s sense of self in different settings facilitate or prevent relationships from developing? How do the features of settings interact with one’s familial and cultural background to enable social connections to be formed or maintained? These questions, and others, will increase the body of knowledge related to the experiences and well-being of young people with West African and American identities as they navigate their identity development in their settings.

Understanding what enables young people to navigate their West African and American identities may advance their understanding of how to create settings that lead to a more cohesive sense of self for young people navigating multiple identities during the transition to adulthood. Specifically, the findings from this study may inform future education and work practices. This study can pinpoint the components of a setting that may impact how one feels about their identity. Building awareness of the challenges of navigating multiple identities could lead to incorporating identity exploration into classes or settings where learning is a part of the goal. This will allow children and adolescents to explore their possible selves and for institutions to intentionally teach children how to best navigate and be more attuned to their possible selves. In addition, some work settings can use the responses of how these settings make young adults feel to create techniques for maximizing feelings of belonging and inclusion in the workplace.

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An Exploration of the Impact of Educational Programming on Children’s Truth-Telling Behavior and Rapport During Forensic Interviews

Shambaleed Nayyer

Child abuse is an alarmingly prevalent issue in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year (CDC, 2022). As a result of these horrific experiences, children often engage in a forensic interview when in a court proceeding about the abuse. A child forensic interview is a single-session, recorded interview designed to elicit a child’s unique perspective when there are concerns of possible abuse or when the child has witnessed violence against another person (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2017). The interview comprises three main phases: the rapportbuilding phase (introductions, review of interview instructions), the substantive phase (narrative description of events, detail-seeking strategies), and the closure phase (questions, discussion of safety measures, etc.) (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2017). Child forensic interviews are essential to the investigation because, particularly in sexual abuse cases, the alleged victim and alleged perpetrator may be the only people who know what happened (Mart, 2010).

One component of the interview that has received widespread criticism is the truth/lie assessment that occurs before the substantive phase, which is done to determine the child’s testimonial competency with regard to understanding the concepts of ‘truth’ and ‘lie.’ The truth/lie assessment is usually done by asking the child to define the terms ‘truth’ and ‘lie,’ distinguish between true and false statements, and take an oath promising to tell the truth. Research has shown that children struggle to provide a conceptual definition of truth and lie; however, most do demonstrate a basic understanding of morality and lying (Lyon & Saywitz, 1999; London & Nunez, 2002).

Moreover, although recent research has shown that the practice of oath-taking reduces the likelihood of making false statements by children, there are also some concerns (Lyon & Evans, 2014; Lyon & Dorado, 2008). The general practice of truth/ lie assessments may hinder rapport-building by portraying the interviewer as an authority figure

and implying that there is a “right” way and “wrong” way to answer questions, therefore negatively impacting the child’s ability to report information (Anderson et al., 2010; London & Nunez, 2002). Moreover, a child’s maximum attention span is about two to three times their age; hence, a fouryear-old child with no disabilities or mental health disorders might be able to actively participate in an interview for around twelve minutes (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Hence, conducting a truth/lie assessment can take valuable time instead of gathering detailed information about a child’s possible experiences.

The use of developmentally appropriate stimuli: Is there a better way to promote truth-telling behavior?

In order to make practical recommendations to replace truth/lie assessments with more developmentally appropriate methods, it is essential to examine the existing literature on the methods that have been shown to promote truth-telling behavior in children. Research has shown that learning from television by age three becomes robust, with preschool children readily imitating positive and negative behaviors seen on video (Anderson, 2005). One study that examined preschoolers exposed to prosocial programs, neutral films, and violent cartoons found that children who viewed the prosocial programs showed higher levels of prosocial behavior, rule obedience, and task persistence (Friedrich, 1973).

Research also shows that preschoolers can transfer video information to real-life situations. Fisch (2012) suggests that presenting the same lesson through television, such as the importance of truth-telling, several times using different types of examples can increase the flexibility of a child’s mental representation of that strategy, thus enhancing the child’s ability to select and apply it in different real-life situations accurately. Hence, evidence asserts the importance of educational television in promoting prosocial behavior. This essential factor can be considered in promoting truth-telling behavior in lieu of truth/lie assessments in child forensic interviews.

The Current Study

Based on the potential drawbacks that truth/lie assessments can have on the quality of child forensic interviews, there is a need to develop alternative strategies to promote truth-telling behavior in children during a forensic interview. This study aims to investigate the impact of an educational video emphasizing the importance of truth-telling on children by investigating the following questions:

(1) Does using an educational video promote better rapport between young children and interviewers compared to traditional truth/lie assessments in child forensic interviews?

(2) Does the use of an educational video promote truth-telling behavior in young children compared to traditional truth/lie assessments in child forensic interviews?

We hypothesize that children who watch the educational video will experience better rapport with the interviewer in comparison to children who undergo a traditional truth/lie assessment. Moreover, children who watch the educational video will engage in more truth-telling behavior than children who undergo a traditional truth/lie assessment during the interview.

Methods

Participants

We aim to recruit 150 participants with a case filed with the New York County Family Court. In order to be included in the study, participants must be 1) between the ages of 5 and 7; 2) show evidence of maltreatment (emotional, physical, sexual, neglect, etc.), which will be verified by parental scores on the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI). Since recent statistics on child abuse in the United States show that American Indian/Alaska Natives have the highest reported child abuse rates (15.5%) per 1000 children, followed by African American (13.2%), multiple races (10.3%), Pacific Islander (9%), Hispanic (7.8%), White (7.4%), and Asian (1.6%) (Statista, 2022), our sample will be stratified by race/ethnicity accordingly. All of these factors are important so that our sample is more accurately representative of the children involved in forensic interviews.

Procedure

The study will employ an experimental design with

a randomized control trial. During the first half of the procedure, the child will be brought into a room with a confederate and asked to play with a series of toys.

The confederate will then accidentally break a toy and instruct the child not to tell the interviewer. After the play session, the child will be brought back to the waiting room and randomly placed into one of three conditions using a random number generator:

Condition 1. The child will watch a five-minute educational video promoting truth-telling prior to the interview. The video will involve an animated character emphasizing the importance of truthtelling using different types of child-appropriate examples in a story format emphasizing the general consequences of truth/lie telling. After watching the video, an understanding check will be completed to determine whether the child can comprehend the video’s central message. The child will then be taken into an interview room and asked a series of questions regarding the broken toy.

Condition 2. The child will undergo a traditional truth/ lie assessment during the interview. The interviewer will prompt the child to give a conceptual definition of the terms “truth” and “lie,” identify truth and lie statements and take an oath to promise to tell the truth.

Condition 3 (control). The child will neither watch the educational video nor engage in a truth/lie assessment and will instead be asked a series of questions regarding the broken toy.

Measures

Rapport Building

Child/Adult Rapport Measure-Child Report (CHARM-C). Following the interview, participants will complete the CHARM-C to measure perceived rapport with the interviewer (Gurland & Grolnick, 2003). The questionnaire includes 20 items: “The interviewer gave me a relaxed feeling; made me feel important; seemed to like children,” etc. Responses will be reverse-scored when necessary (e.g., The interviewer only pretended to be my friend; didn’t want to get to know me better). The items will be adjusted to reflect more developmentally appropriate language in order to ensure that the children comprehend the questions. Children will indicate their answers by pointing to a sheet with the answers written and four smiley faces

corresponding to the 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not True at All) to 4 (Very True). The scores on the 20 items will be totaled to create summary scores, with higher scores indicating greater rapport.

Truth-Telling Interview

The interview will be conducted in a semi-structured format. The semi-structured format will help allow the conversation to flow naturally and help the researcher build on what the child says. The child will be asked the following critical questions: (1) “What happened to the toy?” (2) “Did you break it?” (3) “Did the researcher break it?” and (4) “Did someone else come into the room and break it?” Afterward, the interviews will be transcribed. Responses to each key question will be coded using existing codes according to whether participants engaged in truth-telling behavior using the NVivo program (QSR International, 2010).

Results

In order to analyze trends between the experimental conditions and truth-telling behaviors, children’s interviews will be videotaped and then transcribed into written transcripts. Two interviewers will code transcripts to establish inter-rater reliability. Children who disclose the researcher’s involvement in the toy-breaking incident in response to the openended and closed-ended structured questions will be coded as truth-tellers. In contrast, children who do not disclose will be coded as concealers. A chisquare test for dichotomous outcome variable will be conducted to determine whether children who watched the educational video (condition 1) are more likely to engage in truth-telling behavior than children involved in the traditional truth/lie assessment (condition 2) and control condition (condition 3).

In order to analyze trends between children’s feelings of rapport and experimental condition, a one-way ANOVA will be conducted on CHARM-C scores. A Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) post hoc test will then be conducted to assess which groups differed from each other. It is anticipated that scores on the CHARM-C will be correlated with the experimental condition, i.e., children who watch the educational video and children in the control condition will experience greater levels of rapport with the interviewer as opposed to children who engaged in the traditional truth/lie assessment.

Discussion

The current proposal focused on the impact of an educational video in promoting (a) better rapport between young children and interviewers and (b) truth-telling behavior in children during forensic interviews. Since research has shown that the traditional practice of truth/lie assessments hinder rapport-building between the interviewer and child (London & Nunez, 2002; Anderson et al., 2010) and that children tend to mimic prosocial behavior promoted through television (Friedrich, 1973), we hypothesize that children who watch the educational video prior to the interview will engage in more truth-telling behavior and experience better rapport with the interviewer.

There are several strengths to the methodology of this study. To our knowledge, previous research has primarily focused on how to effectively question children during the interview process (Hershkowitz et al., 2011; Lamb & Fauchier, 2001) while this study is the first of its kind that integrates technology into child forensic interviews. Since the sample consists of maltreated children involved in the court system, the study has high ecological validity as it is representative of the population of children who are involved in forensic interviews. Moreover, since interviews are conducted directly following the toy-breaking incident, fewer confounding variables make for a stronger correlation between the dependent and independent variables.

Some limitations also exist within the methodology. Since the sample consists of a very narrow age group (5-7-year-olds), the video may not be developmentally appropriate for children from other age groups. Hence, the study may not be generalizable to children outside that age bracket. Moreover, unlike the study by Talwar et al. (2004), the confederate was a researcher, not a family member. Therefore, the study might explain truthtelling behavior and rapport between interviewers and children when reporting transgressions/ maltreatment by strangers as opposed to family members.

Despite its limitations, the current study will provide invaluable insight into unique methods of promoting truth-telling behavior and rapport-building without compromising the quality of child forensic interviews. Future research can examine how truthtelling behavior may differ when the perpetrator is a family member or a stranger, whether a delay in an interview following the alleged incident influences children’s disclosures, and how different age groups

respond to the educational video. Hopefully, this proposal will be a stepping stone in integrating technology into child forensic interviewing to promote more streamlined and effective procedures.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

Anderson, D. R., & Pempek, T. A. (2005). Television and Very Young Children. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(5), 505–522.

Anderson, J., Ellefson, J., Lashley, J., Lukas, M. A., Olinger, S., Russell, A., Stauffer, J., Weigman, J. (January 01, 2010). CornerHouse Forensic Interviewing Protocol: RATAC. Thomas M. Cooley Journal of Practical and Clinical Law, 12.

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2017, July). Forensic Interviewing: A Primer for Child Welfare Professionals. Website

Fast Facts: Preventing Child Abuse & Neglect |Violence Prevention|Injury Center|CDC. (2022, April 6). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Retrieved July 1, 2022, from Website

Fisch, S. M. (2012). Children’s Learning from Television. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 532–534.

Friedrich, L. K., & Stein, A. H. (1973). Aggressive and prosocial television programs and the natural behavior of preschool children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38(4), 63.

Gurland, S. T., & Grolnick, W. S. (2003). Children’s expectancies and perceptions of adults: Effects on rapport. Child Development,74(4), 1212–1224.

Hershkowitz, I., Lamb, M. E., Orbach, Y., Katz, C., & Horowitz, D. (2011). The Development of Communicative and Narrative Skills Among Preschoolers: Lessons From Forensic Interviews About Child Abuse. Child Development, 83(2), 611–622.

Lamb, M. E., & Fauchier, A. (2001). The effects of question type on self-contradictions by children in the course of forensic interviews. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15(5), 483–491.

London, K., & Nunez, N. (2002). Examining the efficacy of truth/lie discussions in predicting and increasing the veracity of children’s reports. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 83(2), 131–147.

Lyon, T. D., & Saywitz, K. J. (1999). Young Maltreated Children’s Competence to Take the Oath. Applied Developmental Science, 3(1), 16–27.

Lyon, T. D., & Saywitz, K. J. (1999). Young Maltreated Children’s Competence to Take the Oath. Applied Developmental Science, 3(1), 16–27.

Lyon, T.D., and Dorado, J.S. 2008. Truth induction in young maltreated children: The effects of oathtaking and reassurance on true and false disclosures. Child Abuse & Neglect 32(7):738–748.

Lyon, T.D., and Evans, A.D. 2014. Young children’s understanding that promising guarantees performance: The effects of age and maltreatment. Law and Human Behavior 38(2):162–170.

Mart, E. G. (2010). Common errors in the assessment of allegations of child sexual abuse. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 38, 325–343.

QSR International NVivo Qualitative Data Analysis Software [Computer software]. (2010).

Springman, R. E., Wherry, J. N., & Notaro, P. C. (2006). The Effects of Interviewer Race and Child Race on Sexual Abuse Disclosures in Forensic Interviews. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15(3), 99–116.

Statista. (2022, January 26). Child abuse rate in the U.S. - victims 2020, by race/ethnicity. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from Website

Talwar, V., Lee, K., Bala, N., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (2004). Children’s Lie-Telling to Conceal a Parent’s Transgression: Legal Implications. Law and Human Behavior, 28(4), 411–435.

U.P.K.

STRENGTHENING THE ARCHITECTURE FOR HIGH QUALITY UNIVERSAL PRE-K

PI: Pamela Morris-Perez

Mentors: Rachel Abenavoli + Jessica Siegel

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.

The Role of Recorded Lectures in College Students’ Academic and Mental Health Outcomes

Grace Gu

In 2020, as COVID-19 shut down much of everyday life, schools shifted to online, virtual learning. Many people tried to understand the effects of virtual learning on student outcomes, parsing out the positive and negative components of online instruction. One component that has been debated is the use of recording lectures and sharing them with students. Some see the recordings as a learning aid students can return to review material, while others see recordings as a possible way to reduce student engagement and attendance. The current study aims to understand the relationship between recorded lectures and student academic and mental health outcomes.

Pandemic Insights

Studies conducted on students’ opinions of learning experiences during the pandemic reveal a positive skew in favor of having recorded lectures. In a study conducted on a diverse group of American college students in STEM, 35% of participants viewed hybrid instructions, as in live lectures recorded and shared, as the most helpful approach during remote learning (Pagoto et al., 2021). In a mixedmethods study conducted in Norway after the COVID-19 lockdown, most students agreed that recorded streamed lectures supplemented with active virtual meetings and response systems could improve learning outcomes in future digital courses (Almendingen et al., 2021).

Despite the reception of recorded lectures being somewhat mixed in previous literature, current studies suggest the positive reception of recorded lectures by students, particularly when utilized in a hybrid learning context. A few studies acknowledged that while longer lecture recordings are ineffective in engaging and holding students’ attention, shorter recordings may be more effective as a learning supplement (Martin et al., 2018; Witton, 2021). Additionally, the results of a UK study show that a varied hybrid model is generally preferred, with students referring to live sessions paired with pre-recorded lectures as having “the best of both worlds” (Harris, Blundell-Birtill, Sutherland, & Pownall, 2021).

Academic and Mental Health Outcomes

Besides being positively received by students, lecture recordings have also been found to increase academic outcomes in exam and homework scores. A study in the Netherlands found that students who use recorded lectures as a supplement scored higher in exams than those who only attended lectures (Bos, Groeneveld, van Bruggen, & Brand-Gruwel, 2016). Additionally, a Taiwan study generated similar results and found that students who preferred recordings scored higher on homework than those who preferred slides (Li & Tsai, 2017). This study also suggests that using recorded lectures has a bidirectional relationship with student motivation, which indicates that the implementation of recorded lectures may lead students to be more driven to perform better academically.

However, recorded lectures have rarely, if ever, been analyzed in conjunction with mental health, which is surprising considering that previous studies have suggested a close correlation between mental health and academic outcomes. In a study conducted with university students, lower mental health outcomes were closely associated with lower GPA (gradepoint average) and a higher probability of dropping out (Eisenberg, Golberstein, & Hunt, 2009). Another study indicates that students perceive live lectures as more stressful than pre-recorded lectures (Harris, Blundell-Birtill, Sutherland, & Pownall, 2021). This suggests that using recorded lectures may help reduce stress and improve students’ mental health outcomes, which would, in turn, correlate with academic outcomes. Additionally, this cements the role of mental health outcomes in the relationship between recorded lectures and academic outcomes, making it an essential part of this study.

In an educational landscape that the advance of virtual learning has influenced, the utility of recorded lectures has been heavily debated among instructors and students alike for its role in engagement and understanding of course material. Thus, the primary goals of this study include comparing academic outcomes and the difference in mental health outcomes of the students randomly

assigned to one of two conditions: in-person learning supplemented by recorded lectures and in-person learning without recorded lectures. The secondary goal of this study is to analyze and explore themes in students’ opinions of recorded lectures and other learning methods. With this in mind, the following research question was developed: Do recorded lectures, as a supplement to in-person lectures, improve college students’ academic outcomes, and do mental health outcomes mediate this relationship? While this research question has become especially relevant since the pandemic, findings of studies conducted before the onset of the pandemic shed skepticism on the value of recorded lectures for college students.

This study will employ a mixed methods approach to analyze the utility of recorded lectures to supplement in-person learning for university students. As a result, this study hopes to utilize surveys and focus groups to investigate the role recorded lectures have as a supplement to inperson lectures and how they may be correlated with potential changes in students’ academic and mental health outcomes. In this study, academic outcomes refer to final exams, and mental health outcomes will refer to anxiety and depression. Participants in the study who have access to recorded lectures and in-person lectures will most likely experience a simultaneous improvement in academic and mental health outcomes, which will be reflected in both the quantitative aspect of exam performance and surveys as well as the qualitative aspect of focus groups.

Methods

Participants/Sampling

This study will recruit professors from a large US public university across various disciplines (humanities, social sciences, STEM) that teach introductory courses and their students (n = 150200 per course) to take two quantitative surveys and participate in focus groups. The study will be conducted over two class sections: one section will be assigned to the control group (which will not receive recorded lectures), and one section will be assigned to the intervention group (which will receive recorded lectures). Both the professor and the students will be unaware of which condition they are being assigned. Participation in the study for students will follow an opt-out basis.

Study Design

This study will employ a randomized trial where a few professors who teach large introductory courses will implement recorded lectures to supplement their in-person lectures for one group of students and have only in-person lectures for another group. The study design utilizes a mixed methods approach where participants will first take two online surveys. Then out of groups of willing participants, 24 students will be randomly chosen from the intervention and control groups to participate in focus groups (n=6).

Procedure

Survey. Participants will take two questionnaires: one before and one after the class is over. Questions from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) will include questions following the Likert scale observing students’ opinions and usage of recorded lectures and relevant professors/ classes. The surveys will end with a question about the participant’s understanding of the study. The main objectives of the surveys will be:

1. to identify quantifiable differences in mental health outcomes, 2. to measure students’ usage of recorded lectures and opinions of relevant classes/professors to the study, 3. to determine what questions should be asked for focus groups.

Focus Groups. Focus groups will be six participants each. The main objectives of the focus groups will be: (1) to identify any themes regarding recorded lectures; (2) to discover students’ perceived academic and mental health outcomes due to course methods; (3) and to explore how students’ anxiety/depression may have impacted their learning in the classroom with/without recorded lectures.

Measures Academic

Recruited professors will provide unweighted exam scores of the participating students for the study.

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

A 21-item self-report scale (i.e., ‘how discouraged are you about the future?’) scoring individual items

on a scale of 0-3 will be used to observe differences in outcomes of depression through surveys in this study. The highest possible score for the BDI is 63, and the lowest is 0.

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)

A 14-item self-report scale with seven items each for anxiety and depression (i.e., ‘how often do you get sudden feelings of panic?’) scoring individual items on a scale of 0-3 that will be used to observe differences in outcomes of anxiety through surveys in this study. Only the seven items for anxiety will be used from this scale, so the maximum score is 21, and the minimum is 0.

Students’ Perceptions and Attitudes

This measure involves a series of questions on a scale from 1-5, quantitatively assessing participants’ perceptions and attitudes toward classroom methods. Some questions include:

• If recorded lectures were provided for a class, how often would you choose to use them? 1- Never, 2- Rarely 3- Occasionally/Sometimes 4- Almost Always 5- Always

• How satisfied are you with the professor’s teaching methods? 1– Not At All Satisfied 2– Slightly Satisfied 3– Moderately Satisfied 4– Very Satisfied 5– Extremely Satisfied

Semi-structured focus group interviews

Focus group interviews will follow a semi-structured format where themes regarding recorded lectures and students’ experiences with mental health and academic outcomes will be explored. This measure will provide a qualitative perspective for the quantitative outcomes gathered through surveys and exam scores. Some questions include:

• Over the past few years, what has been your experience with recorded lectures?

Follow-up: What do you think are some of the pros and cons of recorded lectures?

• What are some things that you liked and disliked about this class?

• How was your experience with mental health over the past semester?

Follow-up: How do you feel like this course may have affected your mental health?

Planned Analysis

Quantitative

Pre-post differences in mental health outcomes for both participant groups will be analyzed using paired t-tests. Academic outcomes and students’ perceptions and attitudes will be compared across groups using an unpaired t-test.

Qualitative

Qualitative analysis will involve a team of research assistants and PIs first reviewing/editing the focus group transcripts, then generalizing domains to develop a working codebook collectively, and finally coding each transcript. Coding will focus on each thematic section of the transcript at a time to minimize drift. The coding will first happen individually to avoid cross-influence, and then the RAs will meet in pairs for consensus coding, where a PI will step in for any disagreements. The interrater agreement will aim to be 85-100%.

Anticipated Results

According to the hypotheses and the relevant literature, students are expected to view recorded lectures positively. In previous surveys, students have found recorded lectures to be helpful. Students have appreciated the flexibility afforded by rewatching recordings, so it is likely that the participants in this study will have similar opinions. Additionally, students offered recorded lectures are expected to score higher on exams. Studies conducted in the Netherlands and Taiwan show that watching recorded lectures can improve exam and homework performance (Bos et al., 2016; Li & Tsai, 2017). Finally, because of the correlation between academic and mental health outcomes, students assigned to the intervention are also expected to significantly increase positive mental health outcomes. Moreover, even though mental health outcomes have not yet been analyzed in relation to recorded lectures, students’ descriptions of live lectures as “stressful” suggests that a secondary lecture modality could reduce stress and improve mental health outcomes.

Discussion

This study aims to compare academic outcomes from recorded lecture usage as a supplement to inperson lectures and to determine any correlation with changes in mental health outcomes. With the recent rise in the popularity of recorded lectures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential to conduct research that will further analyze the utility and effectiveness of this learning supplement.

With the results expected to show comparatively higher academic outcomes and a larger increase in positive mental health outcomes for students with access to recorded lectures, this study could have serious implications for using recorded lectures in future learning environments. Though studies conducted in other countries have shown a positive correlation between recorded lectures and quantitative academic outcomes like homework and exam scores (Bos et al., 2016; Li & Tsai, 2017), there have not been any similar studies conducted post-pandemic in the U.S. as of the publication of this research proposal. Pursuing a similar research question in the U.S. would provide insights into how the student population and classroom operation compare with countries worldwide. Additionally, this would be one of the first studies to analyze the correlation of mental health with recorded lectures, which would be essential in exploring the relationship between academic and mental health outcomes.

Some limitations of the study come from the design, as only recruiting students taking the same course could lead to students sharing lecture recordings across conditions, even if students are taking the course in different semesters. Another possible limitation of this study is that students assigned to the intervention condition may need to utilize the recorded lectures fully. It is important to fully assess the participants’ usage and inclination towards lecture recordings through quantitative surveys. Additionally, although this study tries to minimize any external confounds by asking relevant questions through surveys and focus groups, there is a possibility that students will experience stressors outside of academics that will severely impact their mental health outcomes. This could be especially confounding if the two groups of students participating in the study are taking the course one semester apart; however, the pros and cons of the final design have been carefully weighed against other potential designs before being chosen for this study.

Opportunities for further study primarily regard the scope, as this study will only operate in one academic institution. Regardless of the results of this study, expanding this research question to other types (private vs. public) and sizes of universities in a broader geographic range would serve to contextualize this study’s results. Another way to broaden this study includes expanding the future analysis to populations with other types of mental conditions (such as psychosis or ADHD) or physical conditions (like disabilities and chronic illnesses) since these groups are particularly vulnerable in learning environments. Additionally, the utility of recorded and in-person meetings could be analyzed outside of the classroom, such as in business or workshop contexts.

The topic of recorded lectures is relatively new in psychology, but mental health and academic outcomes in the classroom have always been essential areas of study. Although recorded lectures have yet to be closely analyzed in conjunction with in-person learning, this research may be helpful for both the students and teachers involved. It may be the first step to understanding how these recordings fit into the classroom model as a supplement for inperson learning.

References

Almendingen, K., Morseth, M. S., Gjølstad, E., Brevik, A., & Tørris, C. (2021). Student’s experiences with online teaching following COVID-19 lockdown: A mixed methods explorative study. PLoS ONE, 16(8), Article e0250378.

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. (1996). Beck depression inventory–II. Psychological assessment.

Bos, N., Groeneveld, C., van Bruggen, J., & BrandGruwel, S. (2016). The use of recorded lectures in education and the impact on lecture attendance and exam performance. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(5), 906–917.

Eisenberg, D., Golberstein, E., & Hunt, J. B. (2009). Mental health and academic success in college. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 9(1).

Harris, R., Blundell-Birtill, P., Sutherland, E., & Pownall, M. (2021). Students’ perceptions of online lecture delivery: An empirical mixedmethods investigation. Psychology Teaching Review, 27(1), 69–78.

Li, L.-Y., & Tsai, C.-C. (2017). Accessing online learning material: Quantitative behavior patterns and their effects on motivation and learning performance. Computers & Education, 114, 286–297.

Martin, L., Mills, C., D’Mello, S. K., & Risko, E. F. (2018). Re-watching lectures as a study strategy and its effect on mind wandering. Experimental Psychology, 65(5), 297–305.

Pagoto, S., Lewis, K. A., Groshon, L., Palmer, L., Waring, M. E., Workman, D., De Luna, N., & Brown, N. P. (2021). STEM undergraduates’ perspectives of instructor and university responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020. PLoS ONE, 16(8), Article e0256213.

Witton, G. (2021). Exploring dissonance in the use of (lecture) capture technologies: Institutional approaches and the realities of student engagement. Interactive Learning Environments. Advance online publication.

Zigmond, A. S., & Snaith, R. P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67(6), 361–370.

Understanding Parental Mental Health and Children’s Academic Performance in the Wake of COVID-19

Stephanie M. Jovel

The following research proposal aims to investigate how parental mental health is associated with the academic performance of prekindergarten children in the wake of COVID-19. With this population in mind, I address whether the quality of interaction between the child and parent mediates the relationship between parental mental health and child academic performance. Parental mental health is an essential area to explore due to its implications on children’s overall well-being and development.

Depression and anxiety are among the most common mental illnesses in the U.S (NIMH, 2022), and therefore an important facet for researchers to understand. The impairment of daily tasks and emotional dysregulation are only a few symptoms of depression and anxiety. In relation to parents, mental health is particularly significant given the responsibilities and emotional endurance it requires. A parent experiencing clinical mental health struggles can cause a decline that could impair their role as caretakers. Studies reveal that depressed parents have trouble changing their unhealthy behaviors to relieve their negative moods while also struggling with limited motivation levels (Leiferman, 2002). Interaction and engagement are particularly affected, and the consequences of this dynamic can have long-term effects (Leiferman, 2002).

Anxiety and depression can negatively impact parents’ involvement with their children. Parental involvement is defined as the communication and integration a parent partakes in to ensure the utmost assistance to their child’s learning (Jeffrey, 1978). It is essential during early developmental years as parental involvement can help build positive behaviors and attitudes towards education and social adjustment, as seen in elementary school children (Sapungan et al., 2014). Reduced parental involvement would, on the other hand, have negative impacts on children’s learning.

The way in which parents interact with their children can have implications for their children’s academic performance. A study focusing on how

parents involve themselves in their child’s academics found that children who attained high test scores were likelier to have highly engaged parents (Khajehpour et al., 2011). Their engagement was measured through activities and interactions, including checking the child’s schedule, encouraging class-content discussions at home, and even other educational activities. Other studies have theorized that parental involvement is one of the most important contributions to children’s learning and growth, alongside engagement from schools and communities (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002).

The COVID-19 lockdown enforced in March 2020 provides an interesting lens to focus on these themes. The lockdown exacerbated the symptoms of those suffering from mental illness and increased the population of people with declining mental health (Ettman et al., 2020). Recent studies have noted that COVID-19 protocols increased overall stress levels. In one study that used a two-wave longitudinal survey, parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their symptoms of anxiety and depression before and after some of the strictest rules were enforced (Johnson et al., 2021). The results of the study revealed that parental stress decreased once lockdown restrictions were lifted. In a similar study, researchers concentrated on the prevalence of depression symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ettman et al., 2020). Likewise, the results showed an increase in mental illness symptoms during COVID, as well as the correlation of these scores to elements of the participant’s background, including social and economic resources. The COVID-19 lockdown generally increased mental health issues, especially in low socio-economic populations. Considering depression symptoms increased during the pandemic, and stress levels decreased after the lift of protocols, these studies provide a foundation for the way COVID-19 affected people dramatically.

Researchers also examined the way in which the pandemic introduced new conflicts that added to parental stress levels. There are other issues besides the conflict of elementary school children needing more support towards online remote learning. Deeb et al. (2022) investigated the consequences of the switch to remote routine on the parents and

children. The disruption of a child’s routine was found to significantly affect the parental symptoms of anxiety, depression, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. For example, researchers found a statistically significant relationship between the increase in cancellations for their child’s activities and their reported anxiety symptoms. This study leads to new questions of whether parents’ mental health has a bidirectional influence coming from the halt of children’s routines from the pandemic. The cancellation of planned activities and childcare services could add to the overall stress of the parents as they scramble to find ways to occupy and take care of their child. In turn, the high parental stress levels due to the lockdown and remote learning conflicts can lead to challenges in supporting their children’s learning.

My proposal seeks to understand these concepts during COVID-19. These relationships have shown associated developmental outcomes, and so concentrating on these themes during the transition to the COVID-19 lockdown can allow us to understand how parental mental health can be associated with child academic outcomes. My proposal uses the quality of interactions to examine the nuances of the interactions occurring in the home as a potential mediator to the relationship. Distractibility, responsiveness, and affection are all components of this proposal’s definition of quality involvement. Recent studies show that distractibility can be a medium of understanding depression and parenting stress as well as parenting quality (McDaniel, 2021).. Responsiveness is measured by the length of time at which the parent responds and how positive the response is. Parpal et al. (1985) describe how positive reinforcement can help shape child compliance which is particularly important for academic tasks like homework. The dynamic of responsiveness is important and is a way in which parents have a directive of their child’s academic performance. Lastly, affection is crucial for shaping positive attachments with caregivers as it builds trust. Distractibility, responsiveness, and affection are elements that can determine a nurturing environment that allows a child to excel academically. Therefore, these three dimensions will be used in the proposal to understand how lowquality interactions can be associated with certain academic outcomes.

I hypothesize that parental depression and anxiety levels will negatively affect children’s academic achievement. I also hypothesize that a major mediator of this relationship will be the lack of quality interactions the child may experience while the parent is in distress.

In a study looking at the effectiveness of a new parental engagement intervention with parents with depression, it was found that children had significantly greater behavioral improvements with the intervention (Clarke et al., 2012). The intervention promoted the parents’ heightened activity levels and decreased the children’s distractibility. This study shows how the quality of interaction is significant. My research proposal hopes to address a current gap in research by examining the dynamic between the quality of parent and child interaction in the context of parental mental health. Though much research provides evidence of increasing mental health issues due to the pandemic, new research is emerging and has yet to investigate other questions. There is a deficit in content related to exploring the mechanisms of parent-child interaction through the lens of mental health symptoms and in the context of the home. This study is important to add to the literature on supporting parents through mental health struggles, specifically through a pandemic.

Method

Participants/Sampling

For the participants, I plan to use data from semistructured interviews with 18 families and survey data. The semi-structured interviews were done in the summer and fall after the participants finished pre-kindergarten and transitioned to kindergarten, while the surveys were completed towards the spring and extended to the end of the pre-kindergarten year. These materials were collected in 2021 specifically. This study revolves around this specific age group since children at this age need more support to do daily tasks than teenagers. Children at this age also need more support with online remote learning instructions, which is relevant to the COVID-19 lockdown. Families that were involved in this data collection process broadly represented the pre-kindergarten NYC school system. Of the families, 13% lived in Manhattan, 27% in Bronx, 33% in Brooklyn, 25% in Queens, and 2% in Staten Island. New York City was one of the first cities to be affected dramatically by COVID-19 (Kerr, 2022). Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in NYC, strict lockdown protocols were implemented, leaving children transitioning to remote learning under frantic time constraints (Feur et al., 2020). With the circumstance of COVID-19, NYC families can give unique insights into what we already know about parental interactions with children, but also how the pandemic affected dynamics further, given that it increased depression and anxiety levels (Ettman et al., 2020).

Study Design

The study will be conducted with a mixed methods approach, using both qualitative and quantitative measures. The 18 families that participated in semistructured interviews for the UPK project will be reached out to once again. In addition, existing survey data was taken from 340 caregivers across 51 pre-K programs. This study uses data taken shortly after the lockdown, more specifically after the end of the pre-K year, and new data taken from 2022-2023.

Qualitative Approach

The proposal seeks to use existing semi-structured interviews with parents after the lockdown from the UPK lab. In addition, there will be follow-up interviews to gather more specific data. The semistructured interviews will be coded independently based on defined domains and later discussed through consensus analysis (Hill et al., 1997). The main purpose of incorporating these interviews is to assess the mechanisms of quality of interaction, the children’s academic background, and parental mental health. The categories created to measure the quality of interaction will include affection, distractibility, and responsiveness. Affection would be able to measure the way in which a parent would reciprocate compassionate feelings towards their children through verbal or physical reinforcement and gestures. Distractibility is measured through the extent to which parents couldn’t give their children full attention to the learning task, activity, and time together. Responsiveness would be determined based on how quickly and positively the parent would answer their child’s questions or even thoughts. Parents have been asked to reflect on their daily routines, stress, and coping during the lockdown. Some of these questions also reveal their children’s challenges, allowing an opportunity to explore how parents respond. The interviews also look at the academic concerns and experience of the children, which allow us to understand where the child’s academic standing and background.

Quantitative Approach

The use of a pre-existing survey will be used to understand parental mental health. The COVID-19 Caregiver Survey, developed in the UPK Lab, contains a section that questions the parents’ stress levels, interactions with their children, and the transition to online learning. These scores will be used to understand the mental state of the parents and the quality of interactions during the lockdown.

Additionally, the same families will now be given a new questionnaire modeled after the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, 1996) and the Health Utilities Index (Horsman et al., 2003) to reflect on their mental health during the lockdown.

Families will also be given another survey created on Qualtrics to assess the quality of interactions based on the domains of affection, distractibility, and responsiveness. These questions will be crafted using a Likert scale to better understand these domains. The Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities will be implemented to test the current academic performance of the children who are now entering the second grade.

Measures

Parental depression and anxiety would be measured through a questionnaire modeled after the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Health Utilities Index. Though the BDI encompasses the measure of depressive symptoms, the Health Utilities Index provides an assortment of guides that have measures of negative mood in relation to daily stressors, which are significant to the COVID-19 lockdown (Furlong et al., 2001). The COVID-19 caregiver survey also measures mental health in the stress and coping section of the survey. It questions the parent’s stress levels primarily.

For this study, the quality of interaction would be operationalized through three different components: affection, distractibility, and responsiveness. These separate dimensions are modeled after the Getting Ready intervention, which sought to increase parental engagement with families experiencing mental illness and poverty (Clarke et al., 2012). Affection measures the way in which a parent reciprocates compassionate feelings towards their children through verbal or physical affirmations and gestures. Distractibility measures the extent to which parents couldn’t give their children full attention to the learning task and activity. Responsiveness measures how quickly and positively the parent answers their child’s questions or comments.

Another measure would be the academic standing of the children in the present. The children will be tested using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities to examine their cognitive abilities (Mather et al, 2001).

Procedure Planned Analysis

A t-test will be conducted with the two surveys to analyze the average stress levels of the parents and

their differences. Based on the results of both mental health surveys, families will be separated into three groups based on their mental health severity. The control group is the parents who experienced little to no forms of negative mental health symptoms.

Afterward, the semi-structured interviews done shortly after the lockdown will be analyzed and consensus coded. As mentioned, these interviews will be coded using qualitative domain codes to distinguish when the parent exhibited affection, distractibility, and responsiveness to their child during the interactions. For example, the qualitative code of “Activity Done Together” would be categorized in the responsiveness dimension. An ANOVA test will be done to compare the codes for the quality of interactions with the parents’ three different mental health severity groups. The quality of interaction will be analyzed using a t-test to assess the average mean for each dimension.

Results

I anticipate that parents with higher depression and anxiety will have children with lower scores on the Woodcock-Johnson test. In addition, parents with higher levels of parental depression and anxiety are expected to have lower scores regarding the measures of affection, distractibility, and responsiveness. I expect this pattern of results to be exacerbated by the lack of support parents experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown that hindered their mental health. Additionally, I anticipate that parents with greater mental health struggles will report (in qualitative interviews) that the difficulty of the transition of the lockdown contributed to parents’ challenges in being fully involved with their children.

Parental Mental Health

Once the data has been collected, it is anticipated that there are overall signs of stress and anxiety in all separate groups of families, but to differing extents. With studies showing an increase in depression and anxiety due to COVID-19 (Ettman et al., 2020), the families also expressed struggles in their interviews that were particularly related to circumstances due to the pandemic. Participants have described events that raised concern for them, including transitioning to online schooling, finding resources for their children with special needs, attaining childcare, and managing a new normal.

Parents also completed the COVID-19 Caregiver Survey, which included sections that allowed them to describe whether there were other factors that

mental health, like unemployment, the death of a loved one, and even financial loss. I predict that all groups will have a significant level of stress and anxiety, but will showcase different magnitudes.

Child Scores

The Woodcock-Johnson test of Cognitive Abilities provides a structured overview of the strengths and deficits of children’s cognitive, oral, and academic abilities (Woodcock et. al, 1997). I expect that children in families with high stress and anxiety levels would be more likely to score lower on the exam. These results suggest a relationship between the parental interactions with the child during the lockdown and their current academic performance. In addition, parents who have expressed their child’s difficulties academically prior to the lockdown are more likely to score lower on the exam if the parents displayed high levels of negative mental health.

Quality of Interaction

I anticipate that the scores of the quality of interaction measures will be associated with the parent’s mental health. I expect parents with more symptoms will report interactions of lower quality, and these lower interactional quality assessments will mediate the relation between parents’ mental health and children’s test scores.

Discussion

The anticipated findings of this study reveal parents with higher levels of depression and anxiety had children with low scores on the cognitive ability exam. Parents who presented signs of depression and anxiety also reported low-quality of interactions with their children. The findings allow for further takeaways that point to the significance of a child’s home environment that can shift based on the parent’s mental health. The results will help us to understand the importance of parental interaction with their child. Studies in the past have been able to research social adversities, including poverty and single-family households, to understand children’s academic scores, but these results look specifically at the context and nature of the home. The home environment should be researched more and should not be overlooked as a factor in children’s academic outcomes. In addition, the results reveal the ways in which mental health can be potentially associated with learning deficits in children. This proposal seeks to understand these dynamics through a lens of a time when parents were confined to their children.

One of the biggest strengths of the study is its access to data taken shortly after the pandemic. The lockdown was unforeseen, so interviews were not conducted during the lockdown; however, it was collected shortly after the lockdown was lifted. This data was able to capture the parents’ emotions based on their memory of the lockdown. The mixed methods approach was taken to account for parental mental health holistically through qualitative and quantitative measures. It was important to understand parents and their experiences with the transition to the lockdown therefore, interviews were conducted while the follow-up surveys were used to assess their mental health from a symptom perspective.

It is important to note that due to the study focusing on COVID-19 as a time period, there were challenges associated with quantifying academic performance and what could be determined as a control. Since the children were in Pre-k during the time of data collection, report cards or any standardized exams administered during the school year were not used as controls. Instead, the proposal uses information from the interviews to gauge the child’s academic standing. Another limitation of the proposal is the lack of diversity among the participants. For future directions, it is important to answer remaining questions about the sensitivity of the results, and other characteristics of households, including the number of children, employment status (unemployed versus a remote worker), race, and socio-economic status. In addition, it would be interesting to replicate this study with children who are neuro-divergent.

Conclusion

Understanding the anticipated results of the proposal is only a step forward to supporting parents who experience parental mental health and their children. This proposal seeks to gain insight into parent and child interactions and dynamics, which can help therapists, doctors, and communities to find intervention-based practices to support families. The interviews shared the vulnerabilities of being a parent that needed to adapt to an unforeseen environment. The results and interviews can allow researchers and clinicians to create better practices that are realistic and doable. This study also reveals the lasting issues of access to mental health care and how children can be best supported when parents are receiving care. The focus of this study and, hopefully, follow-up studies revolving around parental mental health and child outcomes should focus their research on underrepresented

and marginalized communities where mental health is often stigmatized. In addition, researchers should understand the deficits of certain measures and try implementing ones that are accessible and appropriate to their participants. The context of the COVID-19 lockdown was particularly hard on families, and examining these questions is critical to know about how to support children as they make their way through elementary school post-COVID. It is also significant to continue the research from the perspective of supporting the mental health of families to better familial interactions.

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2022

QUEST AUTHORS

Gerard Samson

Jason Le

Shambaleed Nayyer

Kyleah Parr

Janquel Acevedo

Stephanie Jovel

Grace Gu

Kadejatou Drammeh

Hannah Agbaroji