Black Communities and Families: Exploring Strengths, Assets, and Resilience Across Contexts

Current research has strived to disrupt deficit-based approaches that often ignore the cultural strengths and assets of Black communities. Building upon these efforts, this research colloquium underscores the importance of culturally-relevant studies for understudied populations within the Black community: Black fathers and Black LGBTQ young adults. 

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Multidimensional Social Support and Parenting among Black Fathers:

A Profile-Oriented Approach

MARGARETT MCBRIDE                                  

Doctoral Student                                    

Developmental Psychology

Though research indicates that social support serves a critical role for families, few studies have examined the concerted efforts of Black fathers’ support systems in relation to parenting. This study utilizes a profile analysis to understand social support patterns among Black fathers. The specific aims of this investigation are to: 1) examine if parenting stress influences Black father parenting outcomes (beliefs and involvement); 2) identify profiles of support across various domains (general; parenting) and contexts (family; friends; community); and 3) explore how these profiles are associated with demographic, stress, and parenting-outcomes. 

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Black Fathers’ STEM-focused Racial Socialization: Associations with Discrimination Experiences and Gender

MARKETA BURNETT

Doctoral Student

Developmental Psychology 

Though scholars have highlighted the roles that Black fathers play in the academic socialization and involvement of their children, little research has explored the ways in which Black fathers communicate racially/culturally focused STEM messages. An additional focus is understanding how the stress of racial discrimination experiences may shape fathers’ STEM-focused racial socialization messages. The current investigation examines Black fathers’ STEM-focused racial socialization and the ways in which discrimination experiences (father, spouse, and child) may predict these practices. Additionally, how child’s gender may moderate the relation between discrimination and STEM-focused racial socialization was assessed.  

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Intragroup Marginalization and  Community: Pathways to Activism among Black LGBTQ Emerging Adults

JANAE SHAHEED 

Doctoral Student

Developmental Psychology 

Activism can play an important role in healing and positive development among marginalized young adults. However, research has primarily focused activism around a single identity, missing the ways in which race and sexual orientation intersect to influence the communities and organizations young adults politically engage in. Applying an intersectional lens to theoretical frameworks of sociopolitical development, this study assesses how Black LGBTQ emerging adults’ unique experiences of discrimination and community influence their activism in LGBTQ communities of color.