Browsing by Subject "African American women--Education (Higher)"
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Item The relationship of racial identity and gender role identity to voice representations of African American women in higher education(2001-08) Brinkley, Edna; Falbo, Tony; Ramirez, Manuel, 1937-Voice representations have been conceptualized as those attitudes and behaviors that African American university women have and exhibit to assist them in managing certain interpersonal relationships in university settings. This study represents an attempt to identify and quantify the attitudinal and behavioral correlates of voice representations with a written questionnaire that includes components of racial and gender role identity. The Voice Representations Questionnaire (VRQ), a measure designed to assess voice representations, was developed and pilot tested by the author. Participants for the study were 102 Black undergraduate women who were recruited from a very large, predominantly White, public state university. Although previous research with African American female students attending a predominantly Black high school revealed that there were three different voice representations, the present study with university women yielded three new types as well as confirmed the three previously identified types. The three new types could be related to the fact that participants in the present study were older, attending university, and the academic environment was predominantly White. Results from the present investigation suggest that different types of voice representations may be needed for coping with different academic environments, i.e., predominantly Black vs. predominantly White university. Principal axis factor analysis yielded six factors and these were labeled: Gender Passing, Silent/Invisible, Passage to Whiteness, Racial Pride, Fitting in with Whites, and Gender Invisibility. These factors were found to have good internal consistency: Factor 1, a = .84; Factor 2, a = .83; Factor 3, a = .72; Factor 4, a = .72; Factor 5, a = .71; Factor 6, a = .67. Correlational and regression analyses were done to explore the relationships among the VRQ, racial identity, and gender role identity instruments. Pearson product moment correlations indicated significant moderate correlations between the subscales of the Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (RIAS) and the VRQ and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) and the VRQ. Linear regression revealed that racial identity was found to be a better predictor of voice representations than gender role identity. Most participants endorsed Internalization (RIAS) and Femininity (PAQ) attitudes. Implications for voice representations theory and mental health and academic professionals are presented.Item A sense of community? : voices of undergraduate African American women at a predominately white southern institution(2006) Seifert, Annemarie Helen, 1973-; Ovando, Martha N., 1954-A sense of belonging and connection to community on campus is imperative for a student’s successful college experience. Developing community at institutions of higher education is as significant today as it was when Boyer (1990) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published Campus life: In search of community. Today’s college campuses more closely reflect the diversity of the larger communities they serve; yet most campus policies and procedures have not been adjusted to reflect this diversity. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the perceptions of a select group of undergraduate African American women about their experiences with community on-campus at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), a predominately White Southern institution. The higher education institution and participants chosen for this study were selected using purposeful sampling. Efforts were made to learn about the students’ views from their own voices. Data was collected through focus group and individual in-depth interviews. Additionally, a pilot study and peer debriefers were employed. Two research questions guided the study: (1) How do undergraduate African American women characterize community on campus at The University of Texas at Austin, a predominately White Southern institution of higher education? and (2) How do undergraduate African American women describe their experiences with respect to community on campus at The University of Texas at Austin, a predominately White Southern institution of higher education? Findings suggest that the characterization of community includes four major themes: Ideal Community Attributes; Frustration; Diversity; and Groups. Findings also indicate that undergraduate African American frmale students’ experiences include: Support Networks; On-Campus Residence; Physical Space; Connection to Other African American Students; Disappointment in Peers; Relationships with Non-Black Students; Divide in the African American Student Community; Competition; Mentors; Faculty Accessibility; and Subtle Racism. Although research is meant to have certain generalizability, the researcher notes that it is important to remember that all students have unique history, perceptions, experiences and challenges. Thus, further inquiry may illuminate how to connect better with individuals and may lead to the development of a framework that higher education educators may utilize to support student success.