The self-reported content and function of religious and spiritual beliefs :: a grounded theory.

Thesis (M.S.

Ethnic and Racial Identity in Multiracial Sansei: Intergenerational Effects of the World War II Mass Incarceration of Japanese Americans1

This paper reflects on ways in which intergenerational familial experience of the Japanese American World War II mass incarceration may have differentially affected the ethnic and racial identity development of multiracial Sansei (third generation Japanese Americans). I begin with a brief review of the literature related to the effects of the camps on Nisei, integrating psychological understandings of racial and ethnic identity development, contextual history, and research on the psychological effects; I focus here on effects for Nisei that have been connected to their intergenerational interactions: distancing from Japanese American heritage and identity, silence about the camp experience, and the negotiation of racism and discrimination. I turn then to the primary focus of the paper: Using a combination of autoethnographical reflection, examples from qualitative interviews, and literature review, I engage in reflective exploration of two ways in which intergenerational effects of the camp experience influenced Sansei racial and ethnic identities that vary among monoracial and multiracial Sansei: familial transmission of Japanese American culture by Nisei to Sansei, and the intergenerational effects and transmission of racial discrimination and racial acceptance. I conclude with reflections on intergenerational healing within Japanese American families and communities, and reflections on the relation of these dynamics to current issues of racial justice more generally

What Do We Mean by “Ethnicity” and “Race”? A Consensual Qualitative Research Investigation of Colloquial Understandings

Lack of clarity and questionable congruence between researcher and participant understandings of ethnicity and race challenge the validity and impact of research utilizing these concepts. We aimed to both elucidate the multiple meanings that research participants in the United States might bring to questions about ethnicity and race and examine their relation to formal conceptualizations of these variables. We used consensual qualitative research-modified analyses to conduct thematic content analysis of 151 responses to open-ended survey questions about meanings of ethnicity and race. Participants included a racially diverse sample of 53 males, 87 females, and 11 unidentified gender with a mean age of 28.71 years. Results indicated that the most frequent colloquial meanings of ethnicity included origin, culture, ancestry, related or similar to race, social similarity, religion, and identity. The most frequent colloquial meanings of race included physical characteristics, ethnicity, origin, social grouping, ancestry, and imposed categorization. Results also illustrated how participants approached defining ethnicity and race. Results support the acknowledged and critiqued colloquial confounding of ethnicity and race and indicate a lack of agreed upon meaning between lay representations/meanings and formal meanings used by social scientists. This incongruence threatens valid operationalizations for research and challenges our ability to use these concepts in interventions to promote social justice and psychological health

Therapists\u27 conceptualizations of the function and meaning of delicate self-cutting in female adolescent outpatients

The delicate self-cutting syndrome (Pao, 1969) refers to repetitious non-lethal cutting or scratching traditionally associated with female adolescents. While research and theory have explained the reasons for this behavior in various ways, little attempt has been made to integrate these reasons into broader models. An examination of the literature suggested eight clearly differentiable models that integrated groups of reasons: behavioral, systemic, avoidance of suicide, sexual, expression of affect, control of affect, ending depersonalization and creating boundaries. This study evaluated these models and investigated the relationships between them by surveying therapists about the conceptualizations they use to understand patients who engage in delicate self-cutting. Related developmental issues were also briefly investigated. A pretest was conducted with clinical psychology graduate students and faculty to validate the theoretical associations between specific reasons and the models used to integrate them. The main survey asked a nationwide sample of psychologists and social workers who treat adolescents and adults in individual outpatient therapy to rate a patient on the specific reasons for cutting and the integrative models. Forty-four completed surveys were analyzed. The systemic, suicide, sexual, expression, depersonalization and boundaries models were supported by a factor analysis and the generation of alpha coefficients. Examination of the patterns of relationships between and within models and individual reasons suggested that the behavior model was undifferentiable from the systems model and that the control model addressed the general need to regulate affect and was an issue underlying all other models. The expression model showed a similar patterns of relationships while maintaining its ability to be differentiated. A new structure is hypothesized with control and expression models reflecting basic underlying functions of the self-cutting behavior and the other six models reflecting more subjective meaning assignment. Results also indicated that therapists find the expression, control, depersonalization and boundaries models most useful in understanding and treating their patients. There was little support for the sexual or suicide models. Implications for therapeutic interventions and difficulties are examined in light of the new structure and therapists\u27 preferences for certain models. Directions for future research are proposed

What does it mean to "go beyond race"?

In this commentary piece, we argue that we must interrogate the meaning of race and examine why and how race does matter in different societies across contexts before we can even consider moving "beyond race." We understand race as fundamentally related to power, privilege, and oppression; we discuss how we cannot go "beyond race" in the face of persistent racisms, hierarchies and maintenance of power and privilege. We address that demographic changes in itself does not bring us "beyond race" and the importance of active policies and political mobilization through addressing race as an analytical category is necessary to go "beyond racism.

Toward a Ripple Effect: Psychologists Collaborate in Social Justice Education at a High School

Social justice education aims to develop critical thinking about social inequities and social responsibility to increase civic engagement in high school youth. While high schools increasingly recognize the importance of social justice education, teachers are often initially under-prepared to teach this material, particularly about managing challenging emotions, and working with a group- processes as students work with social justice content and process. Psychologists are often asked to be diversity consultants or instructors, creating opportunities to contribute to social justice education. Drawing from implementation science, this paper describes a model of collaboration between university-based psychologists and high-school educators in providing a social justice course to high school students. Our education model enabled a multi-layered collaborative network that maximized the contributions of collaborators (i.e., Students, High School Teachers, Consultants, and Mentor) and enabled sustainability within the high school