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dissertation entitled
The Influence of African American Urban High School Students'

Ethnic Identity and Coping Strategies

on Academic Involvement and Psychological Adjustment
presented by

Hanik Jo

has been accepted towards fulﬁllment

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THE INFLUENCE OF
AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
ETHNIC IDENTITY AND COPING STRATEGIES
ON ACADEMIC INVOLVEMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT

By

Hanik Jo

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology
and Special Education

1998

ABSTRACT

THE INFLUENCE OF
AFRICAN AMERICAN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
ETHNIC IDENTITY AND COPING STRATEGIES
ON ACADEMIC INVOLVEMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT
By

Hanik Jo

The relationships among ethnic identity, coping strategies, academic involvement,
and psychological adjustment were examined in African American urban adolescents
attending a predominantly Aﬁ'ican American high school. One hundred ﬁfty-ﬁve 9th
graders completed the following instruments: the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
(MElM: Phinney, 1992); the Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl Situations (CISS: Endler &
Parker, 1990); and a sixth grade reading level version of the Multiple Aﬂ‘ect Adjective
Check List-Revised (MAACL-R6: Lubin et al., I995, I997). Regression and Multivariate
Analyses of Variance (MAN OVA) showed that: (a) there was a signiﬁcant relationship
between ethnic identity and coping strategies, especially between ethnic identity
achievement and task-oriented coping; (b) ethnic identity had a signiﬁcant effect on GPA,
whereas coping strategies didn’t have an inﬂuence on GPA; (c) both ethnic identity and
coping strategies signiﬁcantly affected psychological adjustment; ((1) the direct effects of

ethnic identity on GPA were signiﬁcantly mediated by psychological adjustment; (e) well-

being rather than negative aﬁ'ect signiﬁcantly predicted GPA; and (0 signiﬁcant sex-
related diﬁ'erences were found in GPA, coping, and psychological adjustment and female
students’ higher levels of negative affect were largely mediated by their greater use of
avoidance- and emotion-oriented coping. In addition, factor analysis of the C188 showed
African American adolescents’ collective and interpersonal approach to coping.
Accordingly, two points can be discussed. The ﬁrst is that ethnic identity was a
signiﬁcant predictor of positive affect rather than negative aﬁ‘ect, whereas coping
strategies was a powerful predictor of negative affect more than positive affect. This
ﬁnding that ethnic identity and coping strategies signiﬁcantly affected the different aspects
of psychological adjustment among African American adolescents deserves further
research. Secondly, students’ other-group orientation was found to be a signiﬁcant
predictor of both GPA and psychological adjustment in this study. This ﬁnding is quite
interesting considering the fact that the sample of this study was drawn ﬁom a
predominantly African American setting. This study’s implications and recommendations

for future research and practice are discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Robbie Steward, who gave me a chance to
prove myself, and consistently provided me with heart-felt care and support. Without her,
there would not be who I am now. I am also very grateﬁrl to my committee members Drs.
Norman Stewart, Joyce Putnam, and Michael Lambert. They supplied me with great
guidance and encouragement throughout the whole process of dissertation writing.

I want to thank Community High School’s students and personnel. Especially, I
thank the classroom teachers and students for their cooperation with my data collection
efforts. I have a high regard for how Community High School personnel supported
academic research to better understand their students.

I also want to extend my gratitude to the professors of the Psychology Department
at Yonsei University in Korea. Their melding of a humanness and professionalism has
provided me with a model I hope to follow in my own career. Especially, I want to thank
Dr. Chung-Hun Choi and Dr. Jong-Chul Han, who taught me a real sense of teacher.

I want to thank my parents, Mr. Sun-Ho Jo and Mrs. Young-GU Lee, and my
brother and sisters. They are always there to support and pray for me. My sister- and
brothers-in law should not be omitted in expressing my thanks. My lovely nephews and
nieces bring me tons of laughter, joy and happiness. My family is truly a blessing for me.

Finally, I thank Jesus Christ who saves and leads me forever.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................... viii
LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................. x
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 1
Ethnic Identity Development of Aﬁican American Urban Adolescents .......... 2
Limited Research on Ethnic Identity Development of
Aﬁican American Adolescents ................................................ 4
The Broader Conceptual Framework to Include
Coping Strategies as a Mediator .............................................. 5
Ethnic Identity of Aﬁican American Adolescents
in Predominantly Black Settings .............................................. 7
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................... 11
Collective Ethnic Identity versus Individual Identity ................................ 11
Ethnic Identity Theories and Models ................................................. 12
The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Psychological Adjustment ...... 17
The Multi-Dimensional Construct of Academic Involvement ..................... 22
The View of Academic Involvement as a Function of Student-School Fit ....... 23
The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Academic Involvement
among African American Students .......................................... 25
Linking Ethnic Identity, Coping Strategies, and Psychological Adjustment. . . .. 3O
Linking Ethnic Identity, Coping Strategies, and Academic Involvement ......... 34
Ethnic and Cultural Conformity Pressure in a Predominantly
Aﬁ’ican American Setting ...................................................... 37
The Major Research Hypotheses of This Study ...................................... 41
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 42
Research Setting ......................................................................... 42
Subjects ................................................................................... 42
Procedure ................................................................................. 43
Instruments ............................................................................... 43
Demographic Information Form .............................................. 43
The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure .................................... 43
The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations .............................. 45
The Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-R6 .............................. 46

Academic Involvement ........................................................ 48

Data Analysis Plan ...................................................................... 48
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS ....................................................................... 51
Participants ............................................................................... 51
Demographic Information .............................................................. 51
Descriptive Statistics ................................................................... 54
Correlations among All the Variables ................................................ 55
Internal Consistency .................................................................... 59
Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MAN OVA) .................................... 61
Sex-Related Group Differences in Academic Involvement ............... 61
Sex-Related Group Differences in Coping Strategies ..................... 62
Sex-Related Group Diﬁ‘erences in Psychological Adjustment ............ 63
Multiple Regression Analyses .......................................................... 66
The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Coping Strategies ....... 66
The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and
Psychological Adjustment ............................................. 68
The Relationship between Coping Strategies and Psychological
Adjustment .............................................................. 70
Ethnic Identity and Coping Strategies as a Predictor of
Academic Involvement ............................................... 72
The Relationship between Psychological Adjustment and
Academic Involvement ................................................ 75
Hierarchical Regression Analyses for Finding a Mediator ......................... 77
The Potential Mediator of C0ping Strategies ............................... 77
Coping Strategies as a Mediator of Gender Effect ........................ 81
The Potential Mediator of Ethnic Identity .................................. 83
The Potential Mediator of Psychological Adjustment ..................... 87
Factor Analyses ........................................................................ 90
Factor Analysis of the Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl
Situations (CISS) ...................................................... 90
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION .................................................................. 93
The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Coping Strategies ................ 94
Psychological Adjustment as a Mediator of the Relationship between
Ethnic Identity and Academic Involvement ................................. 96
Coping Strategies as a Mediator of the Relationship between
Ethnic Identity and Psychological Adjustment .............................. 100
Ethnic Identity as a Mediator of the Relationship between
Coping Strategies and Positive Psychological Adjustment ................ 102
Sex-Related Differences in GPA, Coping Strategies, and Negative Affect ...... 103
Ethnic and Cultural Differences in Coping ........................................... 106
Summary and Conclusions ............................................................. 107
Implications of Findings ............................................................... 109
Limitations of the Present Study ..................................................... 112

Recommendations for Future Research ............................................. 114

REFERENCES ................................................................................. 118
APPENDICES .................................................................................. 127
Appendix A - Parental/Guardian Consent Form ................................... 127
Appendix B - Consent Form for Participation in Research Project ............. 128
Appendix C - Demographic Information Form .................................... 129
Appendix D - Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure ............................... 130
Appendix E - Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-Adolescent .......... 131
Appendix F - Multiple Affect Adjective Check List .............................. 132

Table 1.

Table 2.

Table 3.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Table 6.

Table 7.

Table 8.

Table 9.

Table 10.

Table 11.

Table 12.

Table 13.

Table 14.

Table 15.

LIST OF TABLES

Sample Demographic Information .................................................
Descriptive Statistics for All the Variables ......................................
Correlations among All the Variables Examined in This Study ...............
Internal Consistency of Scales ....................................................
Means and T-test Statistics for GPA and Average Absence by Sex. . . .....
Means and T-test Statistics for Coping Strategy Variables by Sex ..........

Means and T-test Statistics for Psychological Adjustment Variables
by Sex ..........................................................................

Multiple Regression of the Relationship between
Ethnic Identity and Coping ....................................................

Multiple Regression Predicting Psychological Adjustment
ﬁom Ethnic Identity ............................................................

Multiple Regression with Coping as a Predictor of
Psychological Adjustment .....................................................

Multiple Regression with Ethnic Identity as a Predictor of GPA ..............

Hierarchical Multiple Regression Predicting GPA
after Controlling for Sex ........................................................

Multiple Regression with Psychological Adjustment
as a Predictor of GPA ...........................................................

Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Coping Strategies as a Mediator ..........

Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Coping
as a Mediator of Gender Effect ................................................

viii

53

54

58

6O

61

62

64

67

69

71

73

74

76

78

82

Table 16. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Ethnic Identity as a Mediator .............. 84

Table 17. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Psychological Adjustment
as a Mediator ..................................................................... 88

Table 18. Factor Analysis of the Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl Situations (CISS). . . .. 91

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Signiﬁcant Sex Differences among African American Adolescents ............. 65

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Ethnic identity development during adolescence has received limited attention
despite the commonly-held view that one of the basic developmental tasks during
adolescence is to establish a secure sense of self-concept and that ethnic identity is a core
part of individual identity or self-concept for minority adolescents. Given the fact that
ethnic identity has been considered an essential component of individual identity or self-
concept among minority people (Cross, 1971; Tajfel, 1978; Parham & Helms, 1985a,
1985b; Phinney, 1989, 1992), the signiﬁcance of ethnic identity becomes more salient
especially for minority adolescents. Adolescents must explore and resolve personal
identity issues and conﬂicts in order to secure a stable sense of self that Erikson (1968)
and Marcia (1980) described as an achieved identity. But, minority youth face the
additional developmental task to explore and resolve ethnic or group identity issues and
conﬂicts in order to come to the genuine appreciation of their ethnicity that Phinney
(1989) called as an achieved ethnic identity. Minority youth experience race-and culture-
speciﬁc stress related to their minority status in American society. In this regard, several
authors have theorized that there is an increased probability for minority adolescents to
experience adjustment problems such as identity confusion, poor self-image, feelings of

alienation (Erikson, 1968; Tajfel, 1978).

2

However, few empirical studies have been done speciﬁcally addressing minority
adolescents’ ethnic identity development. At this time, most of the ethnic and racial
identity research has focused primarily on children or college students (Phinney, 1990).

Therefore, there is 3 strong need for empirical research on ethnic identity
development and its implications for academic and psychological adjustment among
minority adolescents. Research on minority adolescents’ ethnic identity should examine the
way minority youth cope with ethnic identity issues and conﬂicts and the way ethnic
identity development contributes to psychological and academic outcomes for minority
youth (Phinney et al., 1990).
Ethnic Identig Development of African American Urban Adolescents

This study focuses solely on African American urban high school students. The
experience of discrimination, negative stereotypes, and economic and educational
deprivation have contributed to high rates of psychological and academic problems among
Aﬁican American adolescents. In explaining diverse problems of Aﬁican American youth,
an ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) emphasizes the harsh social reality that
African American youth may face and its detrimental inﬂuence on their academic,
vocational, and psychological adjustment. This perspective holds that race and culture play
a signiﬁcant role in the lives of Aﬁican American adolescents and acknowledges that these
socio-cultural factors are likely to place Aﬁican American adolescents at a disadvantage to
White youth (Gibbs, 1990).

Aﬁican American adolescents, the largest group of minority youth, have been
identiﬁed as an at-risk population for academic and psychosocial dysﬁrnction (Myers,

1989). In terms of academic underachievement and signiﬁcantly higher school drop-out

3

rates, Aﬁican American students remain a serious concern among many educators and
teachers (Sedlacek & Webster, 1978; Sewell et al., 1982; Tracey & Sedlacek, 1984,
1985). Especially, the highest rates of school drop-outs have been found among Aﬁican
American urban male adolescents, which results in the high levels of functional illiteracy
and unemployment for inner-city African American youth (Gibbs, 1990).

Unemployment for African Americans is nearly twice as high as that of the White
population and can range ﬁ'om 37% up to 50 % among Aﬁican American adolescents
(Parham & McDavis, 1987). Therefore, the lower socioeconomic status of many African
American families may be related directly to the high rates of educational deﬁciencies and
accompanying unemployment. Many African Americans who experience such challenges
live in urban areas. Residential concentration of such social deﬁciencies in urban areas can
result in the creation of stressﬁrl and unpredictable environments that may negatively
aﬁ‘ect the psychosocial development of Aﬁican American adolescents (Myers, 1989).
Many of Aﬁican American urban youth have been exposed to the stressful city
environment composed of great levels of economic deprivation and violence, which may
serve as barriers to the development of a secure ethnic identity in Aﬁican American urban
adolescents.

In the face of disadvantageous and discriminatory socio-cultural conditions, it is
possible that African American urban adolescents may prematurely foreclose on their
exploration of ethnic identity issues and make a hasty commitment to an oppositional
ethnic identity. Aﬁican American adolescents who choose an oppositional identity may
engage in anti-social activities in order to seek to defend themselves against the majority

White group (F ordham & Ogbu, 1986; Fordham, 1988). Findings have consistently shown

4

that a secure ethnic identity is essential to the positive academic and psychological
outcomes for minority adolescents (Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Fordham & Ogbu,
1986; Phinney & Alipuria, 1990; Phinney, 1989, 1992). Therefore, it can be hypothesized
that Aﬁican American urban adolescents, when faced with adverse situations, may fail to
make a satisfying commitment to ethnic identity and thus, show a variety of academic and
psychosocial dysfunction.

ch on Ethnic Identi Devel ment of Afrim American Adolescents

Through a long history of disadvantage and discrimination, African Americans
appear to become more aware of ethnicity and to express a stronger sense of racial
belonging and distinctiveness. Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that African American
high school and college students tend to show higher ethnic identity scores than other
ethnic group members (Phinney, 1992). Therefore, ethnic identity is assumed to play a
crucial role in the self-identity of Aﬁican American individuals. Speciﬁcally, for African
Americans, ethnic identity may be a powerful intervening variable that explains the
maintenance of a positive self and group identiﬁcation, even in the face of prejudice and
racism (Cross, 1971, 1994; Phinney, 1989, 1990).

During the past years, diverse research efforts have been made to better
understand ethnic and racial identity development of Aﬁican Americans. However, several
concerns arise from the previous studies: (1) African American participants have been
primarily limited to the college student population; (2) research has been typically
conducted with African American participants in predominantly White settings; and (3)

research has not adequately taken into account the presence of the “third” variables that

5

may mediate the effects of ethnic identity on academic and psychological adjustment
among Aﬁican Americans.

Therefore, further research eﬂ‘orts are required to investigate: (1) ethnic identity
development and its effects on psychological and academic adjustment in Aﬁican
American adolescents; (2) ethnic identity development and its inﬂuence on psychological
and academic outcomes among Aﬁican American individuals in predominantly Black
settings; and (3) the presence of the third variables that mediate the direct eﬂ‘ects of ethnic
identity on a variety of adjustment outcomes among African Americans. In this regard, the
research framework of this study is designed to address the above-mentioned issues and
concerns about ethnic identity studies on African Americans. As already noted, few studies
have been done on the buﬁ‘ering effects of ethnic identity against adverse socio-cultural
conditions in a sample of Aﬁican American adolescents (Phinney, 1990). Thus, the ﬁrst
purpose of this study is to test the effects of Aﬁican American adolescents’ ethnic identity
on their psychological and academic adjustment.

The Broader Concggtual Framework to Include COping Strategies as a Mediator

 

 

Previous studies have shown the positive effects of ethnic identity on healthy
psychological functioning (e. g., Phinney, 1989, 1992). But, little is known about the
intermediate process by which ethnic identity impacts a variety of adjustment outcomes.
This “how” question addresses the need for examining the presence of the third variables
that mediate the effects of ethnic identity on various adjustment outcomes. In this context,
the second purpose of this study is to examine the signiﬁcance of coping strategies as a
mediator that intervenes in the relationship between ethnic identity and a variety of

adjustment outcomes. Incorporating coping strategies as a mediator into the relationship

6

between ethnic identity and various adjustment outcomes will provide an increasingly
explanatory picture of how ethnic identity affects psychological and academic adjustment
among African American adolescents.

Theories and models on ethnic identity development and its eﬂ’ects on adjustment
have not been explicitly validated in terms of a broader notion of coping (Bagley, &
Copeland, 1994; Neville et al., 1997). However, most of ethnic identity models imply that
ethnic identity may play a signiﬁcant role in the coping process of minority individuals.
Although theoretical and empirical research adequately addressing a reliable link between
ethnic identity and coping strategies is limited, the connection between ethnic identity
attitudes and coping strategies is conceptually conceivable. Ethnic identity models assume
that minority individuals are ﬁrnctioning at different stages of ethnic identity and outline
speciﬁc differences among individuals on a continuum of ethnic identity development (e. g.,
Phinney, 1989; Cross, 1971, 1978). Moreover, ethnic identity models imply that such
individual diﬂ‘erences in ethnic identity development are reﬂected in coping with ethnic
identity issues and conﬂicts in reality. Therefore, ethnic identity models theorize a close
link between ethnic identity and coping strategies in dealing with ethnic issues and
problems.

For example, Aﬁican American adolescents who have trouble developing a secure
ethnic identity are those who avoid to face issues and challenges related to their ethnicity,
whereas African American adolescents who have a strong commitment to an ethnic
identity are those who efﬁciently cope with and resolve ethnic issues and conﬂicts (Cross,
1971, 1978; Berry et al., 1987; Phinney, 1989). In other words, more advanced stages of

ethnic identity predict effective and successﬁrl coping with ethnic issues, whereas less

7

mature stages of ethnic identity predict ineffective and unsuccessful cOping with ethnic
conﬂicts. Therefore, ethnic identity theories and models assume a close link between
speciﬁc stages of ethnic identity development and its corresponding coping strategies.
Moreover, ethnic identity models maintain ethnic identity development and its related
coping strategies affect a variety of adjustment outcomes among minority individuals. For
example, mature ethnic identity and its corresponding effective coping strategies
contribute to positive adjustment outcomes, whereas immature ethnic identity and its
accompanying ineffective coping strategies result in academic and psychological
dysfunction (Cross, 1971; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Berry et al., 1987; Phinney, 1989,
1992).

Therefore, it can be hypothesized that there is a close relationship between ethnic
identity development and coping strategies, and that such a relationship affects subsequent
psychological and academic adjustment. Stated differently, ethnic identity is assumed to
signiﬁcantly contribute to academic and psychological adjustment, and coping strategies
may mediate the eﬁ‘ects of ethnic identity on positive adjustment outcomes. In this regard,
the main purpose of this study is to test whether ethnic identity will affect academic and
psychological adjustment, and also whether coping strategies will mediate the direct
effects of ethnic identity on positive adjustment outcomes in African American urban
adolescents.

Ethnic Identity of Aﬁican American Adolescents in Predornin_antlyBla_ck Settings

The third purpose of this study is to examine ethnic identity and its implications

for academic and psychological adjustment of Aﬁican American adolescents operating in

predominantly Black settings. As mentioned already, ethnic or racial identity research has

 

8

been typically conducted with African Americans in predominantly White settings. For
example, ethnic or racial identity studies based on Cross’s (1971, 1978) model of Black
racial identity have been done exclusively with Aﬁican American students in
predominantly White colleges or universities (e. g., Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b;
Carter, 1991).

Such studies have examined the relationship of ethnic identity to psychological
functioning of Aﬁican American students, assuming that African American students in
predominantly White settings are more likely to encounter race-related stress, and
therefore, that ethnic identity may play a more salient role in healthy psychological
functioning of those students. In contrast, few empirical studies have been conducted
about ethnic identity development and its effects on psychological and academic
adjustment of Aﬁican American students in predominantly Black settings (e. g., F ordham
& Ogbu, 1986; Fordham, 1988; Pyant & Yanico, 1991). Although little has been known
about the ethnic identity development of Aﬁican Americans, especially adolescents in
predominantly Black settings, Fordham and Ogbu (1986) and F ordham (1988) conducted
an interesting study on this topic. They found that African American students in
predominantly Black settings also experienced race-or culture-speciﬁc stress like those in
predominantly White settings. Furthermore, they suggested that such cultural or racial
stress was mainly caused by the cultural conformity pressure existing in the racially
homogenous environment.

Speciﬁcally, F ordham and Ogbu (1986) have argued that Aﬁican American
students oﬁen perceive successﬁrl schooling as acting “White” or becoming unilaterally

assimilated into the majority White society at the expense of their own ethnic identity or

 

9

cultural frame of reference. Therefore, some Aﬁican American students may demonstrate
their distinctive ethnic or cultural identity by intentionally failing to succeed in school. In
an ethnographic study of Aﬁican American urban adolescents in a predominantly Black
public high school, Fordham and Ogbu (1986) and F ordham (1988) showed how Aﬁican
American adolescent students in a predominantly Black setting encountered cultural
conformity pressure against academic involvement, and how those students coped with
such anti-achievement peer pressure.

For example, some students used ineﬁ’ective avoidance coping strategies to cope
with the peer accusation of acting White by consciously putting little time and efforts in
schoolwork. However, others successfully coped with such anti-achievement cultural
conformity pressure, and made an active academic involvement without being rejected by
peers who regarded academic success as acting White. In other words, cultural conformity
pressure against academic involvement differently affected Aﬁican American students’
academic and psychological adjustment depending on the coping strategies employed by
students. Students who succeeded in managing the anti-achievement peer pressure gained
high levels of both peer support and academic involvement, whereas those who failed to
cope with such pressure showed negative academic and psychological outcomes.

Fordham and Ogbu (1986) and Fordham (1988) provided a valuable perspective
on a multifaceted relationship among ethnic identity, coping strategies, and academic and
psychological adjustment in African American urban adolescents attending a
predominantly Black high school. However, most of the studies on Aﬁican Americans’
ethnic identity issues in the predominantly Black environment have been descriptive and

qualitative (e.g., Fordham, 1988; F ordham & Ogbu, 1986). Therefore, the ﬁndings have

10

exclusively depended on researchers’ subjective observations and interpretations. Lack of
the systematic empirical studies on this topic results from the immature status of this ﬁeld
of study (Arroyo & Zigler, 1995). Therefore, the ﬁnal purpose of this study is to
empirically test the effects of ethnic identity on academic and psychological adjustment
and the role of coping strategies as a mediator among Aﬁican American urban adolescents

attending a predominantly Black high school.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Several authors have theorized that minority adolescents are likely to have
adjustment problems such as identity confusion, poor self-image, and feelings of
alienation due to their minority status in society (Erikson, 1968; Tajfel, 1978). However,
little empirical work has been done about ethnic identity development and its related
issues of minority adolescents (Phinney, 1990). This chapter will provide a
comprehensive summary of the existing empirical studies linking the constructs of ethnic
identity and coping strategies to academic and psychological adjustment in African
American adolescents. The literature review will be made to build a conceptual
framework to relate the constructs of ethnic identity, coping strategies, and academic and
psychological adjustment among African American urban adolescents.

Collective Ethnic Identity versus Individual Identity

Individual identity may be labeled as the self-concept. The establishment of a
secure individual identity or self-concept is a central developmental task regardless of
race (Erikson, 1968). However, in understanding the identity of persons from non-White
origins, it is necessary to consider a group identity, or an ethnic identity which has been
shaped by a unique history of a cultural heritage. A group or ethnic identity includes

distinctive patterns of commonly shared cultural values, beliefs and behaviors among the

11

12

same ethnic group members.

In describing the collective ethnic identity of Aﬁican Americans, not only a cultural
heritage, but also socio-political factors have to be taken into account. A majority of
Aﬁican Americans have led lifestyles that are directly or indirectly inﬂuenced by racial
discrimination in society. According to Cross (1971, 197 8), the process of the Black
ethnic or racial identity development is a psychological struggle to cope with racism and
discrimination in the mainstream White society and adapt to the oppressive environments.
All of these cultural and socio-political factors have contributed to a unique group
identiﬁcation or ethnic identity of African American individuals.

Ethnic Identity Theoriemd Models

Minority individuals living in the US participate simultaneously in both their own
ethnic culture and the dominant White culture. Acculturation and its related issues which
minority individuals living in two different cultures face have been examined by several
researchers (e.g., Berry, Kim, Minde, & Mok, 1987). Berry et al. (1987) described the
following four different modes of acculturation: (1) marginalization; (2) separation; (3)
assimilation; and (4) cultural integration.

Minority individuals who are marginal don’t appreciate their own ethnic culture
nor participate in the dominant culture. Separation is characterized by the exclusive
identiﬁcation with the ethnic culture and a rejection of the majority culture. Minority
peOple with assimilation attitudes strive to be a part of the majority group by means of
disassociating themselves ﬁ'om their own ethnic group. Finally, cultural integration is the
most sophisticated mode of acculturation, in which minority individuals maintain their own

ethnic identity and at the same time, participate in the majority culture. From an empirical

l3

perspective, Berry and his colleagues (1987) found that minority individuals favoring
cultural integration experienced much less acculturative stress, whereas those favoring
separation or marginalization experienced the most stress.

Pinderhughes (1982) used the 4 diﬂ‘erent modes of acculturation to describe the
within-group differences in African Americans’ cultural orientations. First, Aﬁican
Americans with marginalization attitudes have neither a strong Afrocentric nor a
Eurocentric cultural tradition. This cultural marginality, according to Pinderhughes
(1982), may apply to a high percentage of Aﬁican American population who have been
exposed to high levels of poverty, crime, and educational and cultural deprivation. Aﬁican
Americans favoring assimilation prefer to identify with the majority Eurocentric culture,
whereas Aﬁican Americans who deeply value their unique cultural heritage are actively
involved in an identity formation process leading to Afrocentrism. Finally, bicultural
Aﬁican Americans are those who are capable of being part of both Aﬁican American and
majority White groups.

The major theoretical framework for studying ethnic identity originates from
Erikson’s (1968) theory of ego identity formation, which described the developmental
process by which people construct their identity. According to Erikson, ego identity
achievement is the outcome of active exploration and clear commitment. That is, persons
who have achieved a strong sense of ego identity are those who have actively explored
identity options and made a ﬁrm commitment about them.

Marcia (1980) proposed four identity statuses in an attempt to empirically assess
Erikson’s (1968) theory of ego identity. Marcia’s empirical conceptualization of four

identity statuses has now become an important part of identity theory. Persons who show

14

the absence of both exploration and commitment are those in an identity chﬁusion status,
whereas a clear commitment based on active exploration indicates an achieved identity.
An immature and hasty commitment without exploration represents an identity
foreclosure status, whereas persons who are actively exploring identity options without
making a hasty commitment about them are those in moratorium.

Ethnic identity formation also involves a developmental process similar to ego
identity formation. Therefore, several ethnic identity models have been proposed based on
Erikson’s (1968) theory of ego identity and Marcia’s (1966, 1980) empirical ﬁamework
for four identity statuses. Focusing on minority adolescents, Phinney (1989) proposed a
three-stage model of ethnic identity development, in which minorities’ ethnic identity
progresses ﬁ'om the ﬁrst stage of unexamined ethnic identity through the second stage of
ethnic identity search to the ﬁnal third stage of achieved ethnic identity.

The ﬁrst stage, an unexamined ethnic identity is characterized by minority
individuals’ little thought and interest in their ethnicity. A second stage, ethnic identity
search is represented by an active exploration of ethnic identity issues. This ethnic identity
search, according to Phinney (1989), may often result from a shocking personal and social
experience that awakens one’s ethnic identity. This awakening experience of ethnicity is
also described in the encounter stage of Cross’s (1971, 1978) Black racial identity model,
which will be discussed later. The third stage of achieved ethnic identity suggests that
minority individuals ﬁnally come to a genuine appreciation of their own ethnicity and make
a ﬁrm commitment about it as a result of active ethnic identity search. The ethnic identity
model proposed by Phinney (1989) is aimed at describing the process of ethnic identity

development that can be applied across various ethnic minority groups.

15

Cross (1971, 1978), focusing exclusively on Aﬁican Americans, has developed a
model of Black racial identity development. His model is characterized by a dynamic
conversion experience of psychological nigrescence which moves Aﬁican Americans from
a Eurocentric White frame of reference to a Aﬁ'ocentric Black frame of reference. The
term nigrescence means the process of becoming “Black” (Cross, 1994). Cross’s (1971,
197 8) model of Black racial identity development is most often operationalized by the
Racial Identity Attitude Scale, Form-B (RIAS-B: Helms, 1990; Parham & Hehns, 1981,
1985a, 1985b). The RIAS-B is a self-reported measure designed to assess characteristic
attitudes of each of the four stages of Cross’s model. The RIAS-B has now become the
most widely used instrument of its kind.

The four stages of Cross’s Black racial identity model are pre-encounter,
encounter, immersion/emersion, and internalization. In the ﬁrst pre-encounter stage, one
is pro-White and anti-Black. One only embraces a Eurocentric White view of the world at
the expense of a Aﬁican American frame of reference. In the second stage of encounter,
one’s old attitudes of pre-encounter is challenged and abandoned as a result of a series of
negative racial experiences that awaken one’s Black racial identity. As a result of these
encounters, in the third stage of immersion/emersion, One immerses oneself in Aﬁican
American frame of reference by distancing from a Eurocentric White world view. The
denial of Whiteness is one’s effort to deﬁne a Black racial identity. This stage is the exact
opposite of the pre-encounter stage.

Intemalization is the ﬁnal stage in one becomes more bicultural by resolving racial
identity conﬂicts and internalizing a more realistic Black racial identity. Psychological

ﬂexibility and a general decline in anti-White feelings also characterize the internalization

16

stage. In Cross’s model (1971, 1978), the impact of racism on Black racial identity
development is greatly emphasized. According to Cross, his Black racial identity model
describes Aﬁican Americans’ self-actualization experience of nigrescence through a
psychological struggle to cope with racial discrimination in the dominant White society.
The varying degree of theoretical emphasis on racism can distinguish racial identity models
ﬁom ethnic identity models. In this regard, Helms (1995) suggested that identiﬁcation
with one’s ethnic culture and identiﬁcation with one’s race may not be the same.
Regarding the differences between ethnic and racial identity models, Helms (1995)
has argued that racial identity models (a) have a high emphasis on adverse socio-political
factors such as racial discrimination, and (b) concern with how minority individuals
overcome racism and develop a positive attitude toward their racial group. On the other
hand, ethnic identity models (a) concern one’s psychological attachment to his/her ethnic
group members and culture, and (b) don’t have a particular emphasis on racism in society,
but more concern with how minority persons cope with the acculturative stress and
cultural conﬂicts stemming from simultaneous participation in two different cultures.
In contrast, concerning the common assumptions shared by ethnic and racial
identity models, Helms and Piper (1994) noted:
“(a) one’s ethnic or racial group membership becomes a critical aspect of one’s
psychosocial identity; (b) healthy identity development occurs by means of a
maturation process in which the person learns to substitutes internal deﬁnitions and
standards of ethnic or racial group identity for externally or socially imposed
deﬁnitions; and (c) the maturation process potentially involves increasingly

sophisticated differentiation of the ego, called “ego statuses” (Helms & Piper,

l7

1994,p.126)
Incorporating ethnic or racial identity models into counseling research, Parham and Helms
(1981) pointed out that qualitative methods in which people are classiﬁed into a single
stage on the basis of their most salient ethnic or racial identity attitudes can cause a
problem of ignoring important variances associated with the different types of attitudes
that people may hold at the same time. The reason is that ethnic or racial identity attitudes
are assumed not to be mutually exclusive and therefore, that individuals can have diﬁ‘erent
types of attitudes at the same time. In this regard, for ethnic or racial identity studies,
Parham and Helms (1981, 1985a, 1985b) strongly recommended a quantitative rather than
qualitative methods such as regression analysis in which each variance associated with
each type of attitudes is independently taken into account.
The Relationship between Ethnic Identig and Psychological Adjustment

As an achieved ego identity has been found to have a positive effect on healthy
psychological functioning (Marcia, 1966, 1980), empirical studies have shown that there is
a signiﬁcant relationship between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment (e.g.,
Phinney, 1989, 1992). Speciﬁcally, a secure ethnic identity is related to positive
psychological outcomes and vice versa. For example, in a study of 91 minority tenth
graders, Phinney (1989) found that about 50% of the students had not explored their
ethnicity and thus, belonged to the immature stage of unexarnined ethnic identity. About
25% of the students were involved in ethnic identity search and the remaining 25% of the
students had achieved a secure ethnic identity. Moreover, it was found that those minority
adolescents who had achieved a secure ethnic identity showed much higher scores on

psychological adjustment measures of self-evaluation, sense of mastery, and peer and

18
family relations, compared to those who showed diffused or foreclosed ethnic identity.

Similar results were reported in the study of African-, Asian-, and Mexican-
American and White college students. It was found that that students who were higher in
ethnic identity search and commitment were more likely to have higher self-esteem and
vice versa. (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990). Phinney (1992) also studied both 417 high school
students and 136 college students to examine the relationship between ethnic identity and
self-esteem and found that ethnic identity had a signiﬁcantly positive correlation with self-
esteem only for minority high school and college students. However, among White
students, ethnic identity was not related to self-esteem. It is an important ﬁnding that the
relationship between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment such as self-esteem was
statistically signiﬁcant only for ethnic minority students, but not for the White students.
This evidence indicates that a relationship between ethnic identity and psychological
adjustment is much stronger for minority students, especially Aﬁican American high
school and college students than for the White students.

In terms ofCross’s (1971, 1978) Black racial identity attitudes and corresponding
affective states, a few studies to date have comprehensively demonstrated the empirical
relation between racial identity and particular aﬂ’ective states. In a study of 166 Aﬁican
American college students enrolled in four predominantly White universities, Parham and
Helms (1985a) showed that pre-encounter and immersion/emersion attitudes were
negatively associated with self-actualization, but positively associated with feelings of
anxiety, inferiority, personal inadequacy, and hypersensitivity. Especially,
immersion/emersion attitudes were a signiﬁcant predictor of anger. By contrast, encounter

attitudes were positively related to self-actualization and self-acceptance, but negatively

19

related to anxiety. Internalization attitudes were not signiﬁcantly related to any measures
of aﬂ’ective states and self-actualizing tendencies.

Parham and Helms (1985b) also examined the relations between the stages of
Black racial identity attitudes and self-esteem among 166 Aﬁican American college
students attending predominantly White universities. The statistically signiﬁcant results
were that pre-encounter and immersion/emersion attitudes were associated with lower
self-esteem, and that encounter attitudes were consistently related to higher self-esteem.
Internalization attitudes were positively related to self-esteem in terms of the direction of
the regression beta weight, but it was not statistically signiﬁcant. In addition, in a sample
of 95 African American college students, Carter (1991) found that pre-encounter attitudes
were signiﬁcantly positively related to self-reported anxiety, memory impairment,
paranoia, hallucination, alcohol concerns, and global psychological distress. One possible
explanation for a close link between alcohol concerns and pre-encounter attitudes is that
individuals with high levels of pre-encounter attitudes may cope with high anxiety and low
self-esteem by the use of alcohol. Immersion/emersion attitudes were also found to be
signiﬁcantly positively related to self-reported concerns about using drugs to cope with
one’s problems.

These ﬁndings suggested that pre-encounter and irnmersion/emersion attitudes
are negatively related to mental health variables, which may be mediated by inefficient and
avoidance coping strategies such as the use of alcohol and drugs. However, Pyrant and
Yanico’s (1991) study presented somewhat inconsistent results on the positive effects of
encounter attitudes on psychological adjustment, which may be due to differences in the

populations from which the samples were drawn. Parham and Helrn’s two studies (1985a,

20

1985b) were based on Aﬁican American college men and women drawn ﬁ'om
predominantly White universities, whereas Pyant and Yanico’s (1991) study included only
Aﬁican American women who were non-students as well as college students drawn ﬁ'om a
predominantly Black university. In Pyant and Yanico’s (1991) study, in a sample of non-
students, higher levels of encounter attitudes predicted lower self-esteem and more
depressive symptoms. This result was the Opposite of what Parham and Helms (1985a,
1985b) found. However, for both students and non-students, pre-encounter attitudes were
negatively related to both general well-being and self-esteem, but were positively related
to depressive symptoms (Pyant & Yanico, 1991), which was consistent with the previous
ﬁndings.

Although Cross (1971, 197 8) has convincingly speculated that internalization
attitudes are more closely related to psychological adjustment and health than are any
other racial identity attitudes, a number of empirical studies on Aﬁican Americans’ racial
identity attitudes, including those mentioned above, have failed to ﬁnd a signiﬁcant
relationship between internalization attitudes and psychological health variables. Only little
empirical evidence that has validated the positive relationship between internalization
attitudes and psychological adjustment among African Americans can be found.

For example, in a study conducted by Mitchell and Dell (1992), it was shown that
racial identity attitudes signiﬁcantly predicted participation in cultural (Black-oriented) and
noncultural (non-Black Oriented) campus activities for African American undergraduates
enrolled at a predominantly White university. More speciﬁcally, encounter,
immersion/emersion, and internalization attitudes were found to be positively related to

participation in cultural (Black-oriented) campus activities, whereas pre-encounter

21

attitudes were negatively related to those campus activities. Therefore, persons with
higher levels of pre-encounter attitudes were less likely to participate in cultural Black-
oriented campus activities and therefore, were more likely to become culturally isolated.
Interestingly enough, internalization attitudes were found to be positively related to
participation in both cultural and noncultural campus activities. This result may suggest
that people with high levels of internalization attitudes are those who are able to be
ﬂexible with their racial identity and show genuine openness to both cultural and
noncultural activities.

In addition, in a study of 146 Aﬁican American university students and 83 Aﬁican
American adults, Munford (1994) also showed that pre-encounter attitudes were
signiﬁcantly positively correlated with depression, but negatively related to self-esteem.
That is, persons with higher pre-encounter attitudes were more likely to have greater
depression and lower self-esteem. In contrast, internalization attitudes were signiﬁcantly
negatively correlated with depression, but positively related to self-esteem. Therefore,
persons with higher internalization attitudes were more likely to have lower depression
and higher self-esteem. Finally, Neville et al. (1997) found that, for 90 Aﬁican American
college students, internalization attitudes were negatively related to the prediction of
culture-speciﬁc stressors, although it was based on the one-tailed statistical signiﬁcance.
Therefore, individuals with higher levels of internalization attitudes were less likely to
experience culture-speciﬁc stressors.

In summary, considerable empirical ﬁndings presented above have consistently
suggested a close link between ethnic identity and various measures of psychological

adjustment among African American high school and college students. Moreover, the

22

relationship between ethnic identity development and psychological adjustment has been
found to be much stronger for African Americans than for the Whites (e.g., Phinney, 1990,
1992; Baldwin, 1979). Based on this evidence, the direct as well as indirect eﬁ‘ects of
ethnic identity attitudes on psychological adjustment among Aﬁican American urban
adolescents will be examined in this study.

The Multi-er_n' ensional Construct of Academic Involvement

The term academic achievement seems to give us the impression that it focuses
exclusively on the cognitive aspects of students’ academic activities such as grade point
average (GPA). In contrast, the term academic involvement concerns more
comprehensive dimensions of students’ academic activities with respect to both GPA and
academic persistence. The term academic involvement rather than academic achievement
will be consistently adopted in this study because both cognitive and noncognitive aspects
of Aﬁican American students’ academic activities will be investigated in this study. GPA
focuses primarily on the cognitive dimensions of academic activities, whereas academic
persistence measured by class attendance is closely related to noncognitive and
psychosocial components of academic activities.

Therefore, in this study, cognitive and noncognitive dimensions of academic
activities; that is, grade point average (GPA) and academic persistence (class attendance)
will be examined together within the same construct of academic involvement. GPA and
academic persistence interact with each other. For example, a student can’t get a good
grade if the student misses a lot of classes. Therefore, GPA and class attendance should be
examined together within the integrated notion of academic involvement in order to

accurately investigate the multi-dimensional concept of academic activities. This is the

23

rational for creating and using the term academic involvement in this study.
The View of Academic Involvement as a Function of Student-School Fit

The perspective of person-environment congruence may be useful in predicting
academic involvement among both White and minority students. A good ﬁt between
students and the school environment increases students’ academic involvement, whereas a
poor ﬁt causes negative academic and psychological outcomes (Thompson & Fretz,
1991). From the standpoint of student-school ﬁt, Tinto’s (1975) model explains the
process by which students voluntarily decide whether or not to become academically
involved in school. Tinto has postulated that the student-school ﬁt is the best predictor of
students’ academic involvement, and proposed two diﬁ’erent kinds of student-school ﬁt.
One is the academic ﬁt between student and school, called as academic integration, and
the other is the psychosocial ﬁt between student and school, called as social integration
(Tinto, 1975). According to Tinto, students who are successﬁrlly integrated into the
psychosocial and academic systems of schools are very likely to show high levels of
academic involvement, and the opposite is also true.

As another model of students’ academic involvement, Bean and Metzner (1985)
have also asserted that two major dimensions underlie students’ intent to become
academically involved in school. Those two underlying dimensions are: (a) academic
dimension--- GPA and cognitive academic ability; and (b) psychological dimension---
satisfaction, goal commitment and stress. In this model, high academic performance and
the experiences of satisfaction and goal commitment in school are predicted to increase
students’ academic involvement. In contrast, low academic performance and psychological

stress are theorized to decrease students’ academic involvement.

24

Tinto’s (1975) and Bean and Metzner’s (1985) models of academic involvement
seem to share a lot of similarities, considering that they all view students’ academic
involvement as a function of two kinds of student-school ﬁt. One is cognitive, and the
other is noncognitive or psychosocial. Therefore, their models put a theoretical emphasis
on both cognitive and noncognitive academic dimensions. For example, the notion of the
“academic integration” proposed by Tinto (1975) focuses mainly on the cognitive aspects
of academic activities, and it is similar to the “academic dimension” described in Bean and
Metzner’s (1985) model. However, the concept of the “social integration” described in
Tinto’s (1975) model centers primarily on noncognitive or psychosocial components of
academic activities, and it is also similar to the “psychological dimension” proposed by
Bean and Metzner (1985).

In sum, growing evidence indicates that noncognitive or psychosocial dimensions
are more predictive of academic involvement for minority, especially Aﬁican American
students than for White students. Stated differently, noncognitive dimensions are more
highly correlated with academic involvement of Aﬁican American students than that of
White students (e.g., Tinto, 1975; Tracey & Sedlacek, 1984, 1985, 1987). Given this fact,
the traditional perspective on academic involvement may not be useﬁrl in explaining
unique aspects of African American students’ academic involvement because it has put an
exclusive emphasis on the cognitive academic ability (Tracey & Sedlacek, 1985). In this
regard, Tinto’s (1975) and Bean and Metzner’s (1985) models of academic involvement
can be eﬂ’ectively applied in explaining and predicting African American students’
academic involvement based on the fact that their models have an equally balanced

emphasis on cognitive and noncognitive dimensions of academic activities.

25

The Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Acedemic Involvement emorgﬂcen
American Students

A serious problem in the US. higher education is the high attrition rates among
ethnic minority students. Ethnic minority groups have consistently shown higher attrition
rates than the majority White group. Concerning the attrition rates of Aﬁican American
students, Sedlacek and Webster (1978) have shown that, compared to White students, the
dropout rate is much higher for Aﬁican American students, especially those students
attending predominantly White academic institutions. Supporting this fact is the empirical
ﬁnding that a signiﬁcant proportion of Aﬁican American students in predominantly White
institutions encountered racial discrimination and related mistreatment on campus, and
that such incidents were negatively related to academic and psychological adjustment of
those students (Suen, 1983; Smith, 1985).

Tinto’s (1975) model also provides a possible explanation of the high attrition
rates among Aﬁican American students in predominantly White institutions. For example,
it can be assumed that African American students in predominantly White institutions are
very likely to have a poor student-school ﬁt due to the culturally and racially diﬂ’erent
school environment, and that such a poor student-school ﬁt decreases academic
involvement of those Aﬁican American students. Supporting this assumption is the
empirical ﬁnding that Aﬁican American college students attending a predominantly White
(97 % of the students were White) public university were more likely than White students
to feel racially or culturally alienated on a campus, and that this feeling of alienation was
positively related to attrition among those Aﬁican American students (Suen, 1983).

If Aﬁican American students perceive the school environment as culturally

26

insensitive and racially exclusive, their academic involvement with respect to both GPA
and academic persistence will be predicted to signiﬁcantly decrease. Therefore, it is
strongly suggested that noncognitive factors can be a signiﬁcant predictor of academic
involvement for Aﬁican American students. In other words, noncognitive or psychosocial
factors are as important or even more important to academic involvement of African
American students than are the cognitive factors such as academic ability (Tinto, 1975;
Tracey & Sedlacek, 1984, 1985, 1987).

In this regard, Tracey and Sedlacek (1984) proposed seven noncognitive variables
affecting minority, especially Aﬁican American students’ academic involvement and those
variables are: (1) positive self-concept, (2) realistic self-appraisal, (3) understanding of and
ability to deal with racism, (4) preference for long-term goals over short-term goals, (5)
availability of strong social support, (6) successful leadership experience, and (7)
demonstrated community service. Tracey and Sedlacek (1985) examined the predictive
validity of those seven noncognitive variables for both White and Aﬁican American
college students at various points over 4 years. They found that the noncognitive variables
provided accurate predictions of grades for both races, usually equal to or better than
predictions made only based on the traditional cognitive measure of academic ability (e.g.,
SAT scores). Regarding academic persistence, the noncognitive variables signiﬁcantly
predicted African American students’ attrition. However, the traditional cognitive ability
measure, SAT scores were not predictive of Aﬁican American students’ continued
enrollment.

Across all periods of times, the noncognitive variables of positive self-concept and

realistic self-appraisal were related to Aﬁican American students’ academic persistence.

27

As time went by, however, the importance of the ability to understand and deal with
racism increased and thus, the noncognitive variable of coping with racism was found to
be signiﬁcantly related to academic persistence later in Aﬁican Americans’ academic
careers. The two most important ﬁndings were that (1) none of the noncognitive variables
mentioned above was found to be signiﬁcantly related to academic persistence among
White students, and (2) the cognitive academic ability represented by the SAT scores was
not especially predictive of Aﬁican American students’ academic persistence.

The empirical evidence presented above indicates that noncognitive or
psychosocial factors are as important or even more important to academic involvement of
Aﬁican American students than are the cognitive ability factors. But, there is also some
opposite evidence. For example, Fox (1986) studied ethnic minority students with
disadvantaged backgrounds in an urban commuter university and found that the cognitive
factors of academic ability had the greatest direct inﬂuence on those students’ academic
involvement. That is, minority students who had high GPA were more likely to become
academically involved, and vice versa. Surprisingly, noncognitive or psychosocial factors
were found to have a negative effect on students’ academic involvement. Fox (1986)
hypothesized that this conﬂicting ﬁnding might result ﬁom the interaction between
commuting students’ psychosocial needs and the limited capacity of urban institutions to
oﬂ’er those students sumcient opportunities to meet their psychosocial needs.

In contrast, Mallinckrodt and Sedlacek (1987) showed that the noncognitive
factors were more important than the traditional cognitive ability factors in predicting the
retention of Aﬁican American students. For example, more active participation in school

activities was related to higher levels of identiﬁcation with the school, which, in turn,

28

increased academic persistence among Aﬁican American students. In a study of 196
Aﬁican American undergraduates in technical programs, “Williams and Leonard (1988)
examined the relationship between academic involvement and noncognitive variables such
as self-efﬁcacy, racial identity, and vocational interests. They found that self-emcacy and
several scales of vocational interests were signiﬁcant predictors of academic involvement.
That is, Aﬁican American college students who scored higher on self-efﬁcacy and
vocational interests showed higher levels of academic involvement than did students with
lower scores. However, racial identity didn’t signiﬁcantly predict academic involvement
because the majority of Aﬁican American students (81%) reported having internalization
attitudes. In this case, it seems that social desirability may prevent African American
students from revealing their true racial identity attitudes.

Bullock-McNeil] (1992) investigated the extent to which academic involvement of
African American students at a predominantly White university was affected by
noncognitive variables, and found that the ability to understand and deal with racism had a
positive relationship to the freshman grade point of average. Accordingly, Swanson (1994)
studied a sample of 370 Aﬁican American males and 192 females attending public middle
schools in an urban city. His hypotheses were that ethnic identity would buffer against the
negative effects of stress, especially for impoverished urban Aﬁican American adolescents,
and that ethnic and personal identity formation would relate to academic outcomes among
Aﬁican American youth. It was reported that ethnic identity as well as self-eﬂicacy were a
strong predictor of academic achievement of those Aﬁican American urban adolescents. In
addition, Aspinwall and Taylor (1992) indicated that self-esteem and positive mood had a

signiﬁcant relationship to academic involvement, and that coping strategies largely

29

mediated such a relationship.

Most recently, Zea and her colleagues (1997) studied 507 White and 139 ethnic
minority university freshmen to examine the eﬂ‘ects of each of cognitive and noncognitive
factors on students’ academic involvement. It was found that noncognitive factors such as
identiﬁcation with the university and experience of disrespect because of racial group
signiﬁcantly predicted academic involvement for all students. More speciﬁcally,
identiﬁcation with the university was positively related to academic involvement and
experience of disrespect was negatively related to academic involvement. The cognitive
ability factor of grade point average (GPA) also had an effect on academic involvement,
especially for minority students. That is, GPA had a much stronger effect on the academic
involvement of ethnic minority students than on that of White students. White students,
compared to minority students, had higher levels of academic involvement regardless of
GPA. The important ﬁnding is that those students who reported more experience of
disrespect from their peers showed much lower levels of academic involvement, and that a
signiﬁcantly greater portion of ethnic minority students reported having experienced
disrespect because of race or ethnicity.

In summary, the above-mentioned studies suggested that noncognitive or
psychosocial factors are as important or even more important to academic involvement of
Aﬁican American students than are the cognitive ability factors, and also that noncognitive
variables are signiﬁcantly more predictive of academic involvement for African American
students than for White students. The major noncognitive factors that have been found to
affect Aﬁican American students’ academic involvement are self-concept, coping with

racism, identiﬁcation with the school, and experience of racial disrespect (Tracey &

3O

Sedlacek, 1985; Mallinckrodt & Sedlacek, 1987; Williams & Leonard, 1988; Zea et al.,
1997).

These noncognitive variables seem to be all interrelated to one another. For
example, if Aﬁican American students experience racial disrespect from their peers in
school and cope ineffectively with such incidents, they are likely to Show a negative self-
concept and have trouble identifying with the school, which results in lower levels of
academic involvement. Given the fact that ethnic identity signiﬁcantly aﬂ’ects self-esteem
among Aﬁican American students (Phinney & Alipuria, 1990; Phinney, 1989, 1992;
Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Munford, 1994), and that noncognitive factors such as
self-esteem, coping with racism, and experience of racial disrespect are the important
predictors of academic involvement among Aﬁican American students (Suen, 1983;
Tracey & Sedlacek, 1985; Mallinckrodt & Sedlacek, 1987; Bullock-McNeill, 1992;
Swanson, 1994; Zea et al., 1997), the direct as well as indirect eﬁ’ects of ethnic identity
attitudes on academic involvement in Aﬁican American urban adolescents will be
examined in this study.

Linking Ethnic Identity, Coping Strategies, and Psychological Adjustment

 

Coping is deﬁned as any goal-directed sequence of cognitive, affective and
behavioral activities and purposeful responses for managing internal and external demands
or challenges (Heppner & Krauskopf, 1987). Coping has been conceptualized as an
important construct that moderates the relations between stress and psychological well-
being. Considerable research suggests that coping and problem-solving activities play an
important role in maintaining physical and psychological well-being when people are

confronted with negative or stressful events (e.g., D’Zurilla & Nezu, 1982; Friedman,

31
1991)

Although there are a number of ways of conceptualizing coping styles, Endler and
Parker (1990) noted “If there is a consensus in the coping literature, it is the important
distinction between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping” (p. 846). Problem-
focused coping is cognitive, affective, and behavioral activities directed at altering the
cause of the stressor, whereas emotion-focused coping is aimed at reducing emotional
distress by avoiding direct conﬁontation with a stressful problem (Lazarus & F olkrnan,
1984). Problem-focused coping is an effective problem-solving activity, whereas emotion-
focused coping involves avoidance, blaming others, and denial (Lazarus & Folkman,
1984). A second major conceptualization has deﬁned coping as approach versus avoidant
activities (e.g., Roth & Cohen, 1986). This approach versus avoidance distinction is made
on the basis of whether one approaches or moves away from confronting and resolving
stressﬁrl problems (Heppner et al., 1995).

Gender differences in coping strategies have also been addressed in the coping
literature. The socialization theory has guided most of the gender-related research on
coping. Speciﬁcally, it has been suggested than women are socialized to express emotion,
to employ emotion-oriented coping, and to seek the emotional support of others (Pearlin
& Schooler, 1978; Rosario et al., 1988). In this regard, several studies have indicated that
women seem to be inclined to use more emotion-oriented COping and less problem-
oriented coping than men (F olkman & Lazarus, 1980; Stone & Neals, 1984; Pearlin &
Schooler, 197 8; Brems & Johnson, 1989). As already mentioned, in terms of the
eﬂ‘ectiveness of coping strategies, problem-focused, or task-oriented coping has been

related to positive psychological outcomes (Lazarus & F olkman, 1984; Compas et al.,

32

1988; Bowman & Stern, 1995). For example, Compas et al. (1988) found that the self-
reported use of problem-focused coping strategies was negatively related to emotional and
behavioral disturbance in junior high school students.

In contrast, avoidance-oriented cOping has been generally associated with negative
affect and aversive mood states (Bowman & Stern, 1995). Regarding emotion-oriented
coping, some studies have found that emotion-oriented coping is less adaptive than
problem-oriented coping (e. g., Latack, 1986), whereas others have suggested for a
functional role for certain types of emotion-oriented coping that include aﬁ’ective eﬁ’orts to
inﬂuence the appraisal of the stressﬁrlness of a problem (e.g., Parkes, 1990; Strentz &
Auerbach, 1988). However, there is a consensus that escape—avoidance types of emotion-
oriented coping have been strongly associated with negative psychological outcomes
(Collins et a1, 1983; Aldwin & Revenson, 1987; Bowman & Stern, 1995).

Ethnic identity development can be conceptualized on a approach versus avoidance
dimension of coping although ethnic identity has not been explicitly and empirically
validated in terms of a broader notion of coping. However, theories and models of ethnic
identity development imply that ethnic identity development is a result of coping with
ethnic issues and conﬂicts. For example, African American adolescents who have an
insecure ethnic identity are those who use maladaptive avoidance coping strategies in
dealing with their ethnicity. When faced with ethnic conﬂicts and acculturative stress,
those people are likely to engage in avoidance c0ping strategies by not directly
confronting race-and culture-speciﬁc problems. In contrast, Aﬁican American youth who
have a ﬁrm and secure ethnic identity are those who actively approach and resolve ethnic

issues and conﬂicts, using effective problem-focused coping strategies. Therefore, ethnic

33

identity models suggest that a secure ethnic identity enhances the effectiveness of one’s
coping strategies and problem-solving ability in dealing with ethnic issues and stress, and
vice versa.

There has been empirical evidence on the relationship between ethnic identity and
coping strategies. Carter (1991) found a signiﬁcant relationship between pre-encounter
attitudes and ineffective avoidance coping strategies. More speciﬁcally, pre-encounter
attitudes were positively related to self-reported concerns about drinking alcohol to cope
with one’s problems. Moreover, high levels of anxiety and global psychological distress
associated with pre—encounter attitudes were also assumed to negatively affect the coping
process. In addition, a signiﬁcantly positive relationship was also found between
immersion/emersion attitudes and self-reported concerns about using drugs to cope with
one’s problems (Carter, 1991).

In a recent study, Neville et al. (1997) tested the hypotheses that pre-encounter
and immersion attitudes would predict one’s tendency to avoid conﬁonting problems and
working on creative solutions to deal with stressors, whereas internalization attitudes
would predict one’s conﬁdence in approaching problems and working on ﬂexible and
efﬁcient solutions. They found that higher levels of immersion/emersion attitudes were
signiﬁcantly related to a more negative problem-solving appraisal and associated with
greater levels of avoidant and suppressive coping strategies. Contrary to the hypotheses,
internalization and pre-encounter attitudes were not related to problem-solving or coping
strategies.

The ﬁndings discussed so far strongly indicate that there is a close relationship

between ethnic identity attitudes and psychological adjustment, and that coping strategies

34

may mediate such a relationship. For example, pre-encounter and immersion/emersion
attitudes have been found to closely relate to low levels of general psychological
adjustment (e. g., Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Carter, 1991). Furthermore, ineffective
and maladaptive coping strategies associated with those pre-encounter and
immersion./emersion attitudes may mediate such a relationship (Carter, 1991; Bagiey &

Copeland, 1994; Neville et al., 1997).

Linking Ethnic Identig, COping Strategies, and Academic Involvement

 

A small number of studies have evaluated the role of coping strategies in academic
and psychological adjustment among minority students. Mantzicopoulos (1990) examined
the coping strategies used by 120 elementary school children (4th, 5th, and 6th graders)
when faced with a stressful failure experience in school. He found that children who used
effective problem-focused and action-oriented coping strategies were more likely to have
high levels of academic achievement and self-esteem. Speciﬁcally, high academic achievers
tended to employ positive problem-focused and action-oriented coping strategies and
therefore, had a high sense of self-esteem and competence in such areas as academic
achievement and peer relations. Low academic achievers tended to be negative and
ineffective copers who blamed others, denied the school failure, or engaged in destructive
self-criticism when faced with a failure experience in school.

Students’ cognitive appraisal of a failure experience has been shown to predict
whether or not they can cope effectively with failure. Diener and Dweck (197 8) conducted
an experiment in which seventy 5th grade children were systematically exposed to a failure
experience in school. In their study, it was found that mastery-oriented children, when

faced with failure, were more likely to engage in positive problem-focused coping

35

strategies by perceiving failure as a challenge and attributing failure to controllable factors
such as lack of effort. Effective coping strategies which these mastery-oriented children
employed were to be less concerned about past failure and more concerned about ﬁnding
ways to achieve future success. In contrast, maladaptive children were likely to engage in
ineffective avoidance coping strategies by attributing failure to uncontrollable factors such
as lack of ability and giving up ﬁnding possible problem solutions.

In a study of high school students in Nebraska, Andelt (1994) investigated a
relationship between coping strategies used by students and academic involvement.
Coping strategies used by students were found to account for 28 % of the variance
associated with grade point average and thus, signiﬁcantly predicted students’ academic
involvement. Accordingly, Weist et al. (1995) studied 164 ninth graders attending a large
inner-city high school serving primarily African American (82%) and low income youth to
examine the protective effects of the stress mediators (family cohesion, social support, and
coping strategies) on both psychological outcomes (behavior problems and self-concept)
and school-related outcomes (grades, absences, and disciplinary encounters). They found
that the use of problem-focused strategies protected against behavior problems and low
self-concept for female students. For male students, family cohesion was the only variable
to protect against stress.

Talor and Brown (1988) have suggested that high self-esteem, optimism, and
resulting positive mood are all associated with enhanced higher motivation, greater
persistence in the face of obstacles, more eﬂ‘ective task performance, and eventually,
greater likelihood of success. In other words, Taylor and Brown (1988) have argued for

the direct eﬂ‘ects of self-esteem and positive mood on effective performance and

36

adjustment. However, Aspinwall and Taylor (1992) hypothesized that the direct effects of
self-esteem and positive mood would be largely mediated by coping strategies. They
conducted a study to conﬁrm this hypothesis and found that the beneﬁcial eﬂ’ects of self-
esteem and positive mood on academic and psychological adjustment were signiﬁcantly
mediated by the less frequent use of ineffective avoidance coping, greater use of active
problem-focused coping, and greater seeking of social support.

The empirical studies discussed above indicate that variables of family or social
support and coping strategies may play a crucial role in mediating the effects of stress or
failure on academic and psychological outcomes. For Aﬁican American urban adolescents,
the issue of stress becomes even more complicated because they encounter multiple
stressors. Therefore, it can be suggested that the protective effects of family, social
support, and coping strategies on academic and psychological adjustment may become
even more salient for Aﬁican American urban adolescents. Given the fact that self-esteem
and positive mood have a signiﬁcant relationship to psychological and academic
adjustment, and that such a relationship is largely mediated by the use of coping strategies
(Talor & Brown, 1988; Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992), it can be suggested that Aﬁican
American students’ ethnic identity, as a major inﬂuence on their self-esteem and positive
mood (e.g., Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Phinney, 1992; Carter, 1991; Munford,
1994; Neville et al., 1997), has a signiﬁcant relationship to their academic and
psychological adjustment, and that such a relationship is mediated by coping strategies.

Taken together, the major hypotheses to be tested in this study are: (1) ethnic
identity, as a major inﬂuence on self-esteem and positive mood, will signiﬁcantly affect

psychological and academic adjustment among African American urban high school

37

students; and (2) coping strategies will largely mediate this relationship.

Ethnic and Culture] Conformity Pressure in e Predominantly Aﬁican Americen Setting

Fordham and Ogbu (1986), and Fordham (1988) provided an interesting
description of the multifaceted relationship among ethnic identity, coping strategies, and
academic involvement in Aﬁican American adolescents attending a predominantly Black
urban high school. Fordham and Ogbu (1986), and F ordham (1988) have argued that poor
academic involvement among African American students can be interpreted as their
attempts to maintain their distinctive ethnic or cultural identity. There have been continued
conﬂicts between minority and majority groups in society and these long-standing racial
and cultural conﬂicts lead minority people to form an oppositional ethnic identity or
cultural frame of reference (DeVos, 1967). In particular, Aﬁican American individuals are
more likely to develop a collective sense of ethnic identity in opposition to the majority
White group because of racism they have experienced (Green, 1981). Along with the
oppositional ethnic identity formation, Aﬁican Americans may also develop an
oppositional cultural frame of reference in order to maintain their own boundary from the
dominant White group. Therefore, Aﬁican American individuals who exhibit behaviors
and attitudes that are characteristic of White Americans may be negatively sanctioned by
other Aﬁican Americans (F ordham & Ogbu, 1986).

In this context, Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have asserted that high levels of
academic involvement are often perceived by Aﬁican American students as acting “White”
because they may perceive active academic involvement as becoming unilaterally

assimilated into the majority White society at the expense of their own ethnic identity or

38

cultural frame of reference. Therefore, Aﬁican American students may try to demonstrate
their distinctive ethnic or cultural identity from White Americans by intentionally failing to
succeed in school. There are also some indications that other minorities in the US. such as
American Indians and Mexican Americans often perceive academic involvement as one-
way assimilation into the dominant White society. Aﬁican Americans, and other minorities
alike consider such assimilation to be detrimental to their ethnic or cultural identity (Ogbu
& Matute-Bianchi, 1986, as cited in F ordham & Ogbu, 1986).

F ordham and Ogbu (1986) and F ordham (1988) conducted an ethnographic and
qualitative study of African American adolescents attending a predominantly Black public
high school located in a poor neighborhood of Washington, DC. They showed how
Aﬁican American students in a predominantly Black setting encountered cultural
conformity pressure against academic involvement, and how those students coped with
such anti-achievement peer pressure. In their studies, it was well described that many
Aﬁican American academic underachievers used ineffective avoidance strategies to cope
with the peer accusation of acting White by intentionally putting little time and efforts in
schoolwork. In contrast, some high-achieving students coped successfully with the anti-
achievement cultural conformity pressure. For example, they actively participated in
athletic activities or other team-oriented activities in order to protect themselves ﬁom the
rejection of their peers who consider high academic involvement as acting White. Other
high achievers deliberately employed coping strategies such as acting as a clown or a
comedian. The high-achieving Aﬁican American students mentioned above seemed to use
effective problem-focused coping strategies to deal with such cultural conformity pressure

against academic involvement. As a result, they were able to succeed in Obtaining good

39

grades without being rejected by peers for acting White.

However, there were also different kinds of high-achieving students who adopted
ineffective avoidance strategies to cope with the peer accusation of acting White. These
high achievers were those who pursued academic success by dissociating themselves from
their own ethnic members and communities. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) proposed the term
raceless to describe the characteristics of these maladaptive high-achieving Aﬁican
American students. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) and Fordham (1988) have suggested that
those raceless Aﬁican American students are very likely to experience cultural alienation,
depression, and anxiety because of their lack of bicultural ability to integrate the demands
of the academic environment with those of their own culture. As supporting empirical
evidence, Arroyo and Zigler (1995) found that high-achieving Aﬁican American college
students reported higher levels of raceless attitudes and behaviors than their low-achieving
counterparts, and that the “raceless” attitudes and behaviors were positively related to
depression.

Therefore, the hypothesis of “racelessness” has important implications for
understanding the multifaceted interrelationships among ethnic identity, coping strategies,
academic involvement, and psychological adjustment in Aﬁican American students,
especially those operating in a predominantly African American environment. Based on the
observations that coping with cultural conformity pressure aﬂ’ected the academic and
psychological adjustment of both high- and low-achieving Aﬁican American students,
Fordham and Ogbu (1986) have concluded that the perception of academic involvement as
acting “White” may strongly inhibit active academic involvement of minority, especially,

African American students. The fear of being accused of “acting White” was found to

40

strongly discourage African American students’ academic eﬂ‘orts. Therefore, it can be
suggested that low levels of Aﬁican American students’ academic involvement may arise
not only from a limited opportunity structure of the discriminatory society (e. g., Ogbu,
1987), but also from the way African American students perceive academic involvement
(Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Fordham, 1988).

As mentioned earlier, most of ethnic or racial identity research on Aﬁican
Americans has been done with Aﬁican American college students attending predominantly
White universities (e.g., Parham & Helms, 1985a, 1985b; Carter, 1991). Therefore, few
studies have been done on Aﬁican American adolescents, especially those operating in
predominantly Black settings. In this regard, the major purpose of this study is to address
a strong need for ethnic identity research on Aﬁican American adolescents attending
predominantly Black schools. Most of the previous studies on African American
adolescents in predominantly Black settings have been descriptive and qualitative in
nature. For example, F ordham and Ogbu (1986), and F ordham (1988) conducted an
ethnographic study of Aﬁican American adolescents attending a predominantly Black
public high school. They argued that African American students in a predominantly Black
setting encountered strong cultural conformity pressure against academic involvement and
proposed the raceless hypothesis to describe Aﬁican American high achievers who failed
to integrate the demands of the academic environment with those of their own culture.
However, their ﬁndings were exclusively based on researchers’ subjective observations
and interpretations. Lack of the systematic empirical studies on Aﬁican Americans’ ethnic
identity issues in the predominantly Black environment is due to the immature status of

this ﬁeld of study. Therefore, this study will empirically test the effects of ethnic identity

41

on academic and psychological adjustment and the role of COping strategies as a mediator

among Aﬁican American adolescents attending a predominantly Black urban high school.

The Major Research Hypotheses of This Steely

 

Based on the above literature review, the present study hypothesizes a conceptual

model incorporating measures of ethnic identity and coping strategies in predicting

academic involvement and psychological adjustment among Aﬁican American urban high

school students. Based on this model, the following 3 hypotheses will be tested in this

study.

1.

Ethnic identity, as the most important predictor in this study, will signiﬁcantly
aﬂ’ect academic involvement and psychological adjustment among Aﬁican
American urban high school students. Thus, ethnic identity attitudes will be a
major predictor of the academic and psychological outcomes among Aﬁican
American urban adolescents.

Coping strategies will also signiﬁcantly affect psychological adjustment and
academic involvement among African American high school students. More
speciﬁcally, task-oriented cOping will predict high levels of psychological
adjustment and academic involvement. Whereas, avoidance- and emotion-oriented
coping will predict low levels of psychological and academic adjustment.

The direct effects of ethnic identity on academic involvement and psychological
adjustment will be signiﬁcantly mediated by coping strategies among Aﬁican
American urban high school students. That is, ethnic identity will exert an indirect
inﬂuence on academic involvement and psychological adjustment through its

eﬂ‘ects on coping strategies.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

R h in

Community High School is located in a predominantly African American
community in Flint, Michigan. The community is generally of a low socio-economic
status. According to data obtained by the school system, Community High School serves
an average of 1123 students. Ninety-seven percent (97%) of the student body identify
themselves as Aﬁican Americans. In terms of the racial distribution of staff, the school
staff consists of 43% of Aﬁican Americans, 55% of Caucasians, and 2% of Hispanics.
During the 1996-1997 academic year, the high school’s average GPA was 1.72. The
average GPA advanced from 1.69 to 1.72, but still ranked below the city average of 2.00.
The average GPA of the ninth graders was 1.3 and fell far behind school’s average.
During the 1996-1997 academic year, attendance sharply improved from 82.8% to
88.2%. Students missed an average of 21 days a year. However, dropout rate jumped
from 10.3 % to 21.7%.
m

Participating students in this study included 155 African American 9th graders

recruited from Community High School. The sample was racially homogeneous. 100% of

42

43

the participants identiﬁed themselves as African Americans.
Procedpre
After reading a brief description of the study to the students, teachers asked all

students to take parental/guardian consent forms (Appendix A) home in order to obtain a
parent’s signature. In addition, all students were also asked to provide their own written
agreement by signing a consent form (Appendix B) at the time of assessment. Data
collection occurred during normal school hours. Teachers instructed in the methods of
administering the instruments provided each ninth grader with a packet containing a
consent form, a demographic information form, the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure,
the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, and the Multiple Aﬂ‘ect Adjective Check
List-R6. The instruments were careﬁrlly chosen for their applicability to the high school
setting and their reading level requirements. The completion of these packets was
scheduled to occur during one class period of the regular school day.
Instruments

Demegraphie Information Form. Subjects were asked to provide the following
demographic information: name, sex, mother’s educational level, father’s educational
level, and farnily’s socio-economic status. Names were asked on this form in an effort to
obtain data on students’ GPA and average class absence from the school report cards. A
copy of this form can be found in Appendix C.

The Multigroup Ethnic Identig Measure. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity
Measure (MEIM: Phinney, 1992) was developed to assess ethnic identity attitudes among
diverse minority groups. The MEIM consists of 14 items measuring three aspects of ethnic

identity: ( 1) A ﬂirmation/Belonging (5 items); (2) Ethnic Identity Achievement, including

44

both exploration and resolution of identity issues (7 items); and (3) Ethnic Behaviors (2
items). Item responses are obtained using a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 4 (strongly
agree) to 1 (strongly disagree). Additional 6 items are included in the questionnaire to
assess Other—Group Orientation. Scores are calculated by reversing the negatively keyed
items, summing across items, and dividing by the number of items to obtain the mean.
Scores range from 4 (indicating high ethnic identity ) to 1 (low ethnic identity).
Afﬁrmation/Belonging assesses ethnic pride, feeling good about one’s ethnic background,
and being happy with one’s ethnic group membership, as well as feelings of belonging and
attachment to the group (Phinney, 1992). Ethnic Identity Achievement measures both
one’s levels of exploration and resolution of ethnic identity issues. Ethnic Behaviors assess
involvement in social activities with members of one’s ethnic group and participation in
cultural traditions. Other-Group Orientation measures one’s attitudes and orientation
toward other ethnic groups.

Reliability coefﬁcients (Cronbach’s Alphas) were reported for the Multigroup
Ethnic Identity Measure and two of its subscales. Phinney (1992) found that overall
reliability of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure was .81 for the 417 high school
students and .90 for the 136 college students. For the S-item Amrmation/Belonging
subscale, reliabilities were .75 for the 417 high school students and .86 for the 136 college
students. For the 7-item Ethnic Identity Achievement subscale, reliabilities were .69 for
the 417 high school students and .80 for the 136 college students. Reliabilities were not
calculated for the subscale of Ethnic Behaviors because it has only two items. For the
separate 6—item scale of Other-Group Orientation, reliabilities were .71 for the high school

students and .74 for the college students. A copy of this form can be found in Appendix D.

45

The Coping Inventory for Stregﬁrl Situations. The Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl

 

Situations (CISS: Endler & Parker, 1990) is a self-report paper and pencil measure of
coping, consisting of 48 items. Using a 5-point frequency Likert- scale format, the CISS
asks respondents to indicate how much they engage in certain types of coping activities
when they encounter a difﬁcult, stressﬁrl, or upsetting situation. The respondent circles a
number from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much) to indicate the ﬁequency of engaging in
certain types of coping activities under stress. If there are 5 or fewer items that have been
left blank or have more than one response circled, each ambiguous response should be
assigned a response of “3.” If more than 5 items have ambiguous responses, valid scores
can’t be obtained. The potential range for each of the three main 16-item coping scales is
from 16 to 80.

The CISS is a reliable multidimensional measure of basic coping styles and has
three main scales: T ask-Oriented, Emotion-Oriented, and Avoidance-Oriented Coping,
with the last one also being divided into 2 subscales, distraction and social diversion. 16
items assess Task-Oriented Coping, another 16 items assess Emotion-Oriented Coping,
and the remaining 16 items assess Avoidance-Oriented Coping. There are two subscales
for the Avoidance-Oriented scale: distraction (8 items), and social diversion (5 items).
There is an adult form as well as an adolescent form which was used in this study. For the
adolescent version of the CIS S, six of the original adult items were reworded for use with
a younger population. The CISS (both adult and adolescent versions) can be completed in
apprordmately 10 minutes by normal respondents.

Endler and Parker (1990) found the internal reliability coefficients of the CISS to

be excellent for a variety of normative samples. On the Task-Oriented Coping scale, the

46

coemcient alphas were .885 for 537 adults, .90 for 1242 undergraduates, .91 for 313 early
adolescents, and .90 for 504 late adolescents. On the Emotion-Oriented Coping scale, the
coemcient alphas were .895 for 537 adults, .875 for 1242 undergraduates, .835 for 313
early adolescents, and .885 for 504 late adolescents. On the Avoidance-Oriented Coping
scale, the coeﬂicient alphas were .815 for adults, .84 for undergraduates, .835 for early
adolescents, and .815 for late adolescents.

6-week test-retest reliabilities were also found to be adequate in a sample of 238
undergraduates including 74 males and 164 females (Endler & Parker, 1990). For
example, on the Task-Oriented Coping scale, test-retest correlations were .73 for males
and .72 for females. On the Emotion-Oriented Coping scale, test-retest correlations were
.68 for males and .71 for females. On the Avoidance-oriented Coping scale, test-retest
correlations were .55 for males and .60 for females. A copy of this form can be found in
Appendix E.

IhLMultiple Affect Adiective Check List-R6. The adolescent version of the
Multiple Aﬂ‘ect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL-R6: Lubin, Whitlock, & Rea,
1995; Lubin, Grimes, & Whitlock, 1997) is a sixth grade reading level version of the
Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised (MAACL-R: Zuckerrnan & Lubin, 198 5).
The MAACL-R6 is a briefer version of the original MAACL-R, and it includes only
adjectives (n = 59) that were empirically found to be at or below the sixth grade reading
level. Preliminary study of MAACL-R6 demonstrated the acceptable psychometric
characteristics of the MAACL-R6 (Lubin, Whitlock, & Rea, 1995). The MAACL-R6
consists of ﬁve individual scales: Anxiety (A); Depression (D); Hostility (H); Positive

Affect (PA); and Sensation Seeking (SS). The individual scale scores of the MAACL-R6

47

are obtained by summing the number of adjectives checked on each of the ﬁve respective
scale.

In addition to the 5 individual scale scores, the MAACL-R6 has several composite
scores. For example, The Dysphoria (Dys) score, so-called “the Negative Affect score” is
obtained by adding the raw scores of the Anxiety (A), Depression (D), and Hostility (H)
scales. The Positive Affect and Sensation Seeking (PASS) composite score, so-called “the
Well-Being score” is obtained by adding the raw scores of the Positive Aﬂ‘ect (PA) and
Sensation Seeking (SS) scales. These two composite scores as well as the ﬁve individual
scale scores of the MAACL-R6 were used in this study. The MAACL-R6 has the two
different versions. One is a state version (“how do you feel now-today”), and the other is a
trait version (“how do you generally feel”). The state version of the MAACL-R6 was used
in this study.

Zuckerman and Lubin (1985) found the internal reliability coemcients of the
MAACL-R to be satisfactory for a variety of normative samples. On the Anxiety scale, the
coeﬂicient alphas were .80 for 536 college students, .77 for 285 adolescents, and .85 for
105 mental health center outpatients. On the Depression scale, the coemcient alphas were
.82 for 536 college students, .76 for 285 adolescents, and .87 for 105 mental health center
outpatients. On the Hostility scale, the coefﬁcient alphas were .82 for college students, .85
for adolescents, and .82 for mental health center outpatients. On the Positive Affect scale,
the coefficient alphas were .93 for college students, .91 for adolescents, and .93 for mental
health center outpatients. Finally, on the Sensation Seeking scale, the coefﬁcient alphas
were .74 for college students, .69 for adolescents, and .60 for mental health center

outpatients.

48

Reliability coeﬁicients (Cronbach’s Alphas) of the MAACL-R and the MAACL-R6 are
almost identical for the ﬁve scales. On the Anxiety scale of the MAACL-R6, the
coefﬁcient alphas were .86 for 78 college students and .87 for 202 mental health center
outpatients. On the Depression scale of the MAACL-R6, the coeﬁcient alphas were .88
for 78 college students and .85 for 202 mental health center outpatients. On the Hostility
scale, the coefficient alphas were .89 for college students and .88 for mental health center
outpatients. On the Positive Affect scale, the coeﬁicient alphas were .94 for college
students and .92 for mental health center outpatients. Finally, on the Sensation Seeking
scale, the coefﬁcient alphas were .60 for college students and .63 for mental health center
outpatients (Lubin, Whitlock, & Rea, 1995; Lubin, Grimes, & Whitlock, 1997). 2-week
test-retest reliabilities for the MAACL-R6 were .63 for the Anxiety scale, .65 for the
Depression scale, .65 for the Hostility scale, .60 for the Positive Aﬂ’ect scale, and .52 for
the Sensation Seeking scale (Lubin, Whitlock, & Rea, 1995). A copy of this form can be
found in Appendix F.

Academic Involvement. Students’ academic involvement was measured by both
GPA and average class absence. Data on participating students’ GPA and average class
absence were objectively obtained from the school report cards. The average GPA and
class absence during the lst and 2nd marking periods of the 1997 were used as the
measure of students’ academic involvement because data collection occurred during those
periods.
Dete Analysis Plan

This study uses a nonexperimental and correlational design. Thus, the internal

validity of this study would be low because the independent variables were not

49

systematically manipulated and participants were not randomly sampled. Regarding the

treatment of missing data, if respondents missed scores for one or two scales, the sample

means for these scales were imputed to them. When respondents missed several items

ﬁ'om a multi-item scale, the mean of the subjects’ own responses to the rest of the scale

was imputed to the missing items. The following is the speciﬁc data analysis plan of this

study.

1.

Descriptive statistics will be calculated for each of the measures of the proposed
variables as well as for the appropriate demographic variables (e. g., sex, mother’s
educational level, father’s educational level, and family’s socio-economic status).
Coeﬂicient alpha, a measure of internal consistency reliability will be computed
for all the measures used in this study. In addition, intercorrelations among all the
measures will be calculated to examine the relationship among the proposed
variables.

Several hierarchical multiple regressions will be conducted to assess the
magnitude of association between predictors and the dependent variable. In this
study, the dependent variable will be either academic involvement or
psychological adjustment and the major predictors will be ethnic identity and
COping strategies. To control for the confounding variances associated with the
sample’s demographics, the demographic variables will be ﬁrst entered into every
regression analysis.

Multivariate analyses of variance (MAN OVA) will be used to detect signiﬁcant
sex-related group differences in ethnic identity, coping strategies, academic

involvement, and psychological adjustment among African American high school

50

students.

Factor analysis will be conducted on all the items of the Coping Inventory for
Stressﬁrl Situations (CISS) to ﬁnd whether the CISS has a reasonable construct
validity and accurately measures Aﬁican American adolescents’ coping.

The ﬁnal stage of data analysis will consist of examining the variable that may
mediate the relationship among the proposed variables. This analysis of ﬁnding a
potential mediator will be conducted by using hierarchical multiple regressions.
The direct effects of the predictor on the dependent variable will be substantially
eliminated when both the predictor and the mediator are entered into regression
analysis, but the mediator is entered just before the predictor (Baron & Kenny,
1986). Therefore, it will be tested in this study whether or not the direct eﬂ’ects of
ethnic identity on academic involvement and psychological adjustment will be
substantially eliminated when the hypothetical mediator of coping strategies is

entered into regression analysis before ethnic identity.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS

P i i n

A total of 155 African American high school 9th graders participated in this
study. However, data on ﬁve students were excluded ﬁom the analysis because they
didn’t make any response on one or a combination of the instruments. Therefore, data on
a total of 150 students were analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses.
Demographic Information

Students were asked to provide the following demographic information: sex,
mother’s education, father’s education, and family socio- economic status. With regard to
the demographic information, missing values were often found for mother’s education
(n= 20), father’s education (n= 44), and family socio- economic status (n= 27). The
majority of the students who did not respond to the question about parents’ education
were those who currently live with either of their parents because their parents were
divorced or one of their parents was deadlable 1 contains descriptive information on the
demographic characteristics of the sample. With regard to sex, 44% (n= 66) of the
sample were males and 56% (n= 84) were females. Concerning family socio-economic

status, 41.5% (n= 51) of the students in this study who responded to the question about

family socio-economic status indicated that their family belonged to more than middle

51

52

class and 58.5% (n= 72) identiﬁed that their family belonged to either middle class or less
than middle class.

In terms of mother’s education, 45.4% (n= 59) of the students who responded to
the question about mother’s education showed that their mothers received high school or
less than high school education and 54.6% (n= 71) indicated that their mothers ﬁnished
college or graduate school. Regarding father’s education, 47.2% (n= 50) of the students
responded that their fathers received high school or less than high school education and
52.8% (n= 56) identiﬁed that their fathers ﬁnished college or graduate school. Overall,
results on students’ demographics seem to be elevated in a positive direction, which may
be partly due to the fact that data on students’ demographics were obtained not from

objective sources, but from self-reported questions.

53

Table 1. Sample Demographic Information

 

 

Variable Frequency Percent
Sex
Males 66 44%
Females 84 56%
Mother’s Education
Primary Education 3 2%
High School Graduation 56 37.3%
College Graduation 56 37 .3%
Graduate School 15 10%
No Response 20 13.3%
Father’s Education
Primary Education 3 2%
High School Graduation 47 31%
College Graduation 47 31%
Graduate School 9 6%
No Response 44 30%
Self-Reported Family Socio- Economic Status
Lower Working Class 1 0.6%
Working Class 19 12.7%
Lower Middle Class 9 6%
Middle Class 43 35%
Upper Middle Class 33 22%
Upper Class 18 12%
No Response 27 18%

 

Note. n = 150.

54
Descriptive Statistics
Means and standard deviations for all the variables examined in this study are
presented in Table 2. Participating students’ average GPA was 1.92, which ranks above
the school average of 1.88. Participants’ average class absence during the lst and 2nd
marking periods of the 1997 was 19.5 hours, which falls behind the school average of 23 .6

hours. The average GPA and absence of the whole 9th graders were 1.30 and 28.9 hours.

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for All the Variables

 

Variable Mean SD N

 

Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM)

Ethnic Identity Achievement 2.80 .56 150
Afﬁrmation/Belonging 3.30 .66 150
Ethnic Behaviors 2.80 .81 149
Other-Group Orientation 3.02 .63 150
Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS)
Task-Oriented Coping 3.45 .77 149
Emotion-Oriented Coping 3.03 .77 149
Avoidance-Oriented Coping 3.53 .83 149
Academic Involvement
GPA 1.92 .96 138
Average Absence 19.50 16.94 138
Multiple Aﬂ’ect Adjective Checklist-R6 (MAACL-R6)
Anxiety 1.52 1.76 150
Depression 1.15 1.92 150
Hostility 2.33 2.84 150
Positive Affect 10.14 5.35 150
Sensation Seeking 3 .05 2.09 150
Negative Affect (Composite Score) 5.00 5.49 150
Well-Being (Composite Score) 13.19 6.93 150

 

55

Given the fact that this study’s 9th grade participants showed higher GPA and
lower class absence than other 9th graders in the same school, it can be suggested that this
study’s participants, when compared with an average 9th grader, were more academically
involved. Concerning the MEIM scales, participants, as compared to the established norm,
showed slightly higher scores on the Ethnic Identity Achievement, Aﬁrmation/Belonging,
and Ethnic Behaviors scales. However, they scored lower on the Other-Group Orientation
scale. The established norm of the MEMI for the 417 minority high school students was:
(1) Ethnic Identity Achievement (M= 2.78, SD= .53); (2) Affirmation/Belonging (M=
3.32, SD= .59); (3) Ethnic Behaviors (M= 2.71, SD= .76); and (4) Other-Group
Orientation (M= 3.15, SD= .59).

In addition, this research’s participants, as compared to the norm, scored higher on
the all scales of the CISS. The established norm of the CISS for the 504 late adolescents
was: (1) Task-Oriented Coping (M= 3.09, SD= .68); (2) Emotion-Oriented Coping (M=
2.75, SD= .73); and (3) Avoidance-Oriented Coping (M= 2.95, SD= .67). For the
MAACL-R6, the norm has been established only for college students and mental health
center outpatients.

Correlations among All the Va_r_iebles

Pearson Product correlations were conducted for all the variables examined in this
study. The results for the correlations among the proposed variables are shown in Table 3.
As expected, signiﬁcant relationships among ethnic identity, coping strategies, academic
involvement, and psychological adjustment were identiﬁed. The following are the
correlations that were found to be statistically signiﬁcant at the p < .01 level. First of all, a

signiﬁcantly large correlation was found between GPA and average absence (r = -.67).

56

The negative correlation between GPA and average absence was in the expected direction.
Moreover, GPA was signiﬁcantly correlated with the Aﬂirmation/Belonging (r = .24) and
Other-Group Orientation scales (r = .26), indicating that one’s positive feelings of
belonging and attachment to the ethnic group and one’s open attitudes toward other ethnic
groups are positively associated with one’s active academic involvement indicated by high
GPA.

With regard to the relationship of ethnic identity to coping strategies and
psychological adjustment, correlation data suggested a positive relationship among secure
ethnic identity, effective coping strategies, and mental health. For example, the Ethnic
Identity Achievement scale was positively correlated with the Task-Oriented Coping (r =
.34), Positive Aﬂ‘ect (r = .25), and Well-Being scales (r = .23). Similarly, the
Aﬂirmation/Belonging scale was positively correlated with the Task-Oriented Coping (r =
.22), Sensation Seeking (r = .23), Positive Aﬂ‘ect (r = .44), and Well-Being scales (r =
.41). However, the Affirmation/Belonging scale was negatively correlated with the
Depression scale (r = -.29).

Therefore, it was shown that one’s successﬁrl exploration and resolution of ethnic
identity issues and feeling good about one’s ethnic group membership are positively
related to one’s use of effective coping strategies and mental health. In addition, The
Other-Group Orientation scale was positively correlated with the Positive Affect (r = .33)
and Well-Being scales (r = .31), indicating a close relationship between one’s positive
attitudes toward other ethnic groups and one’s mental health.

Concerning the relationship between coping strategies and psychological

adjustment, the Avoidance-Oriented Coping scale was positively correlated with the

57

Hostility (r = .29) and Negative Aﬂ’ect scales (r = .28). The Emotion-Oriented Coping
scale was also positively correlated with the Anxiety (r = .29), Depression (r = .37),
Hostility (r = .26), and Negative Affect scales (r = .36). The Task-Oriented Coping scale
was positively correlated with the Positive Aﬂ‘ect (r = .22) and Well-Being scales (r =
.22). Taken together, consistent with the theoretical assertions, correlation data conﬁrmed
a positive relationship between effective coping strategies and mental health, and a
positive relationship between ineffective coping strategies and psychopathology.

With regard to the intercorrelations among the psychological adjustment scales of
the MAACL-R6, the Positive Affect and Well-Being scales were not signiﬁcantly
correlated with any of the Anxiety, Depression, Hostility, and Negative Affect scales in
either positive or negative directions. This result can evidence the independence of
positive affect and negative affect proposed by Watson and Clark (1984), and Zuckerman
(1980) who have asserted that positive affect is deﬁned as more than the absence of

negative aﬂ’ect.

58

Table 3. Correlations among All the Variables Examined in This Study

 

Var./ GPA ABS ACH BEL ETH 0TH AVO EMO TAS ANX DEP HOS POS SEN

 

GPA 1.00

ABS -.67"1.00

ACH .17 -.13 1.00

BEL .24* -.10 .52" 1.00

ETH .14 -.14 .49“I .49**1.00

OTH .26‘ -.18 .33" .39" .11 1.00

AVO -.08 -.03 .19 .05 .09 .001 1.00

EMO-.03 -.06 .13 -.01 .06 .12 .39" 1.00

TAS .04 -.04 .34” .22" .20 .14 .61"”‘I .38" 1.00

ANX-.07 .13 .02 -.O6 .06 .001 .21 .29“l .21 1.00

DEP -.18 .13 -.12 -.29" -.14 -.09 .16 .37" .03 .58**1.00
HOS-.14 .16 -.06 -.13 -.02 -.10 .29" .26* .15 .51" .58" 1.00
PCS .17 -.04 .25* .44" .22* .33" .18 .05 .22" .ll -.08 -.12 1.00

SEN .20 -.06 .12 .23" .13 .18 .13 .01 .19 .16 -.02 .06 .67“1.00

 

Note: GPA= Grade Point Average; ABS= Average Absence; ACH= Ethnic Identity
Achievement; BEL= Afﬁrmation/Belonging; ETH= Ethnic Behaviors; OTH=
Other-Group Orientation; AVO= Avoidance-Oriented Coping; EMO= Emotion-
Oriented Coping; TAS= Task-Oriented Coping; ANX= Anxiety; DEP= Depression;
HOS= Hostility; POS= Positive Affect; SEN= Sensation Seeking.

* P < .01, ** p < .001.

59
Internal Censistency

Internal consistency reliability coeﬂicients (Cronbach’s Alphas) were calculated for
all measures used in this study such as the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM),
the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and the Multiple Affect Adjective
Check List-R6 (MAACL-R6). They were presented in Table 4. With regard to the MEIM,
the coeﬂicient alphas were .67 for the Ethnic Identity Achievement scale, .79 for the
Aﬁirmation/Belonging scale, .32 for the Ethnic Behaviors scale, and .71 for the Other-
Group Orientation. For the C188 scales, the coefﬁcient alphas were .90 for the Task-
Oriented Coping scale, .87 for the Emotion-Oriented Coping scale, and .89 for the
Avoidance-Oriented Coping scale. For the MAACL-R6 scales, the coefﬁcient alphas were
.68 for the Anxiety scale, .80 for the Depression scale, .84 for the Hostility scale, .90 for
the Positive Aﬂ’ect scale, and .74 for the Sensation Seeking scale.

Overall, the internal consistency values reported in this study are within the
acceptable range (e.g., Alpha= .70 or greater; Nunnally, 1978). This indicates that the
items adequately assess a common construct. Especially, the internal consistency
reliabilities for the 3 scales of the CISS (Alpha= .90, .87, and .89, respectively), and the
MAACL-R6 composite scores such as Negative Aﬂ‘ect (Alpha= .89) and Well-Being
(Alpha= .91) are well above the acceptable range for internal consistency reliability
coefﬁcients. However, the internal consistency of the 2-item Ethnic Behaviors scale
(Alpha =.32) is far below the acceptable standard. This low value may indicate that the

two items are too short to adequately assess the construct.

60

Table 4. Internal Consistency of Scales

 

 

Measure
Scale Name # of Items Cronbach’s Alpha
The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
Ethnic Identity Achievement 7 .6658
Afﬁrmation/Belonging 5 .7886
Ethnic Behaviors 2 .3157
Other-Group Orientation 6 .7090
The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations
Task-Oriented Coping 16 .9022
Emotion-Oriented Coping 16 .8680
Avoidance-Oriented Coping 16 .8912
The Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-R6
Anxiety 10 .6782
Depression 1 1 .7958
Hostility 12 .8442
Positive Affect 19 .8995
Sensation Seeking 7 .7384
Negative Affect (Composite Score) 33 .8929
Well Being (Composite Score) 26 .9136

 

61

Multivariate Anelyses of Vamnce (MANOVA)

SQ-Related ﬂoup Differences in Academic Involvemelt, As mentioned before,
the construct of academic involvement consists of the two variables such as GPA and
average absence. In order to detect sex—related differences in academic involvement
consisting of GPA and average absence, multivariate analyses of variance (MAN OVA)
procedure was used because the multiple dependent variables of both GPA and average
absence were analyzed and these variables were not conceptually independent, but rather
related to each other (Biskin, 1980). Therefore, a multivariate analyses of variance
(MAN OVA) was performed with two levels of student sex (male and female), and with
GPA and average absence as dependent variables. It was found that there was a signiﬁcant
main effect for sex (student gender), F(2, 135)= 6.91, p = .001. Subsequent univariate F-
tests revealed a signiﬁcant main effect for sex on GPA, F(l, 136)= 9.66, p = .002.
However, there was a insigniﬁcant univariate F for the sex main effect on average absence.
As follow-up tests on this signiﬁcant MANOVA for sex, t-tests were performed to
examine the possible impact of sex (student gender) on GPA. Means, standard deviations,

and t-test statistics for the academic involvement variables by sex are presented in Table 5.

Table 5. Means and T-test Statistics for GPA and Average Absence by Sex

 

 

Males Females
Criterion Measure Mean SD Mean SD t-value p-value
GPA 1.64 0.93 2.14 0.93 -3.11 .002

Average Absence 20.48 19.45 18.74 14.82 0.59 .554

 

62

As can be seen in Table 5, female students had signiﬁcantly higher GPA (M= 2.14) than
males (M=1.64),t(136)= -3.11, p < .01.

Sex-Related Group Differences in Coping Strategies. A multivariate analysis of
variance (MANOVA) comparing male and female groups on the coping strategy variables
(the CISS scales) also yielded signiﬁcant group differences. There was a signiﬁcant main
effect for sex (student gender), F(3, 145)= 4.80, p = .003. Subsequent univariate F-tests
revealed a signiﬁcant main effect for sex on Avoidance-Oriented Coping, F(l, 147)= 6.78,
p = .01, and Emotion-Oriented Coping, F(l, l47)= 11.75, p = .001. There was not a
signiﬁcant univariate F for the sex main effect on Task-Oriented Coping. As follow-up
tests on this signiﬁcant MANOVA for sex, t-tests were performed to examine the possible
impact of sex (student gender) on each of the coping strategy variables. Means, standard
deviations, and t-test statistics for the coping strategy variables by sex are presented in
Table 6. As shown in Table 6, female students used signiﬁcantly more Avoidance-Oriented
Coping (M= 3.69) than males (M= 3.34), t(147)= -2.60, p = .01, and Emotion-Oriented
Coping (M= 3.22) than males (M= 2.80), t(147)= -3.43, p = .001. There were no

signiﬁcant differences between genders on Task-Oriented Coping.

Table 6. Means and T-test Statistics for Coping Strategy Variables by Sex

 

 

 

Males Females
Criterion Measure Mean SD Mean SD t-value p-value
Avoidance Coping 3.34 0.86 3.69 0.77 -2.60 .01
Emotion Coping 2.80 0.76 3.22 0.74 -3.43 .001

TaskCoping 3.36 0.78 3.53 0.76 -1.39 .168

 

63

Therefore, it can be suggested that Aﬁican American female adolescents, when
experiencing stress, were more likely than males to try to reduce emotional distress by
avoiding the direct confrontation and resolution of stressful problems. However, it is
important to notice that, despite females’ more use of ineffective coping strategies, males
and females didn’t diﬂ’er in task-oriented coping, the effective coping strategies to change
the cause of the stressor.

Sex-Related goup Differences in Psychological Adjustment, Data on the
relationship between sex (student gender) and the psychological adjustment variables (the
MAACL-R6 scales) were analyzed with a MANOVA between the two groups (male and
female) with Negative Affect and Well-Being as the dependent variables. Negative Affect
and Well-Being used here are the composite scores of the MAACL-R6. The Negative
Affect composite score is obtained by adding the raw scores of the Anxiety, Depression,
and Hostility scales. The Well-Being composite score is also computed by adding the raw
scores of the Positive Affect, and Sensation Seeking scales. As a result, it was found that
there was a statistically signiﬁcant main effect for sex, F(2, 147)= 3.59, p = .03, apparently
due to a signiﬁcant univariate F for Negative Affect, F(l, 148)= 7.07, p = .009. But, there
was not a signiﬁcant univariate F for the sex main effect on Well-Being. This statistically
signiﬁcant MANOVA for sex was followed by separate T-tests. Means, standard
deviations, and t-test statistics for the coping strategy variables by sex are presented in
Table 16. Findings indicate that female students showed signiﬁcantly higher levels of
Negative Affect (M= 6.04) than males (M= 3.68), t(147)= -2.76, p <.01. There were no

signiﬁcant differences between genders in Well-Being.

64

Instead of using the Negative Aﬁ‘ect and Well-Being composite scores as the
dependent variables, another MANOVA comparing males and female groups on Anxiety,
Depression, Hostility, Positive Affect, and Sensation Seeking was conducted. It was found
that there was not a signiﬁcant main effect for sex, F(S, 144)= 1.61, p = .160. However,
on an univariate level, there were signiﬁcant univariate Fs for the sex main effect on
Depression, F(l, 148)= 4.38, p = .038, and Hostility, F(l, 148)= 7.27, p = .008. As
follow-up tests, several t-tests were performed to examine the possible effect of sex on
each of the dependent variables. Table 7 contains descriptive and t-test statistics for the
variables involved. As presented in Table 7, females showed signiﬁcantly higher
depression (M= 1.44) than males (M= 0.79), t(148)= -2. 16, p < .05, and higher hostility
(M= 2.87) than males (M== 1.64), t(148)= -2.78, p < .01. There were no signiﬁcant

differences between genders in Anxiety, Positive Affect, and Sensation Seeking.

Table 7. Means and T-test Statistics for Psychological Adjustment Variables by Sex

 

 

 

Males Females

Criterion

measure Mean SD Mean SD t-value p—value
Anxiety 1.26 1.52 1.73 1.92 -1.62 .106
Depression 0.79 1.60 1.44 2.10 -2.16 .032
Hostility 1.64 2.38 2.87 3.06 -2.78 .006
Sensation Seeking 3.14 1.78 2.99 2.32 0.44 .658
Positive Affect 10.33 4.74 9.99 5.81 0.40 .689
Negative Affect (CS) 3.68 4.38 6.04 6.06 -2.76 .007
Well-Being (CS) 13.47 5.99 12.98 7.62 0.44 .658

 

Note. (CS) = (The Composite Score of the MAACL-R6).

65

In summary, signiﬁcant sex differences were found in coping strategies, academic
involvement, and psychological adjustment. No sex diﬂ’erences were found in ethnic
identity development. Speciﬁcally, Aﬁican American female students, when compared to
males, had higher GPA, used more avoidance- and emotion-oriented coping strategies,
and showed higher levels of negative affect. Major sex differences found in this study are

depicted in Figure l.

7.00

 

.oo
6 ’ 6.04

 

5.00 '1

 

4.00 I

     
  

  

Mean Score

i

3.00 I

   

SEX

- Male
, [:1 Female

  
 

2.oo- m

m E21 *
1.00, ~ '

GPA Emotion Coping
Avoidance Coping Negative Affect

 

 

Figure 1. Signiﬁcant Sex Differences among Aﬁican American Adolescents

Multiple Regression Analyses

The Relationship between Ethnie Identig and Coping Strategies. Multiple

regression analyses were conducted in order to determine the relationship between coping
strategies and ethnic identity among Aﬁican American urban high school students. A
series of simultaneous multiple regressions were performed with each of the coping
strategy variables (the CISS scales) as the dependent variable, and the ethnic identity
variables (the MEIM scales) as predictors. These regression analyses were used to test
whether ethnic identity signiﬁcantly contributed to explaining the variance associated with
coping strategies. Table 8 contains the results of these analyses. It was found that the
entire ethnic identity variables accounted for 12 % of the explained variance in Task-
Oriented Coping and this amount was statistically signiﬁcant (F(4, 143)= 4.74, p < .01).
Out of the ethnic identity variables entered in the equation, only Ethnic Identity
Achievement emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of Task-Oriented Coping. In terms of the
regression coefﬁcients, the positive relationship between Ethnic Identity Achievement and
Task-Oriented Coping (6= .40) indicates that persons with successful exploration and
resolution of ethnic identity issues are more likely to employ task-oriented coping, the
effective coping Strategies to directly change the cause of the stressor.

Another series of simultaneous multiple regressions were performed to test
whether coping strategies signiﬁcantly predicted ethnic identity. Therefore, in these
analyses, each of the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales) was the dependent
variable, and the entire coping strategy variables (the CISS scales) were used as
predictors. Summary statistics for these multiple regressions are also shown in Table 8. It

was found that the entire coping strategy variables accounted for 12 % of the variance in

 

67

Ethnic Identity Achievement and also explained 7 % of the variance in
Affirmation/Belonging. These results were all statistically signiﬁcant (F (3, 145)= 6.34, p <
.001, and F(3, 145)= 3.44, p < .05, respectively). Out of the coping strategy variables
entered in the equation, Task-Oriented Coping emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of both
Ethnic Identity Achievement and Aﬂirmation/Belonging. The positive relationship was
found between Task-Oriented Coping and Ethnic Identity Achievement ([3= .26), and
between Task-Oriented Coping and Affirmation/Belonging ([9= .27), indicating that an
individual who uses more task-oriented coping strategies is more likely to feel good about

one’s ethnic group membership and successﬁrlly explore and resolve ethnic identity issues.

Table 8. Multiple Regression of the Relationship between Ethnic Identity and Coping

 

 

Dependent Variable and ,B t p-value
Predictors Entered
(1). Task-Oriented Coping
Ethnic Identity Achievement .40” 2.96 .0036
Affirmation/Belonging .05 0.37 .7125
Ethnic Behaviors .04 0.42 .6738
Other-Group Orientation .02 0.22 .8264
(2). Ethnic Identity Achievement
Avoidance-Oriented Coping -.02 -0.26 .7971
Emotion-Oriented Coping 9.87987E-04 0.02 .9874
Task-Oriented Coping 26*" 3.54 .0005
(3). Afﬁrmation/Belonging
Avoidance-Oriented Coping -.09 -1.15 .2513
Emotion-Oriented Coping -.07 -0.95 .3437
Task-Oriented Coping .27 ** 3.15 .0020

 

Note.*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<

.001.

68

The above regression analyses suggest that there is a reciprocal relationship
between coping strategies and ethnic identity. That is, it appears that coping strategies and
ethnic identity have a simultaneous effect on each other. Especially, a reciprocal
relationship was found between Task-Oriented Coping and Ethnic Identity Achievement.
That is, persons who use greater levels of task-oriented coping strategies are more likely
to have a higher sense of ethnic identity achievement, and the reverse is also true. These
results are consistent with the ethnic identity literature which has suggested a reliable link
between coping strategies and ethnic identity.

Ethnic identity theOries have asserted that persons who have a secure ethnic
identity are those who use effective coping strategies in dealing with ethnic identity
conﬂicts, and vice versa (Cross, 1971; Berry et al., 1987; Phinney, 1989). In other words,
more advanced ethnic identity predicts effective coping with ethnic identity issues,
whereas less mature ethnic identity predicts ineffective coping with ethnic issues and
conﬂicts. Ethnic identity models seem to assume that the relationship between coping
strategies and ethnic identity is unilateral, and that ethnic identity is a major predictor of
COping with ethnic issues and conﬂicts. However, the important ﬁnding in this study is that
the relationship between ethnic identity and coping strategies was not unilateral, but rather
reciprocal.

T_he Rel_ations_hip between Ethnic Identiiy and Psychological Adjustment. Another
series of simultaneous multiple regressions were performed with each of the psychological
adjustment variables (the MAACL—R6 scales) as the dependent variable, and the ethnic
identity variables (the MEIM scales) as predictors. Regarding the dependent variable, not

only each of the ﬁve psychological adjustment scales of the MAACL-R6 was used as the

69

dependent variable, but also each of the two composite scores of the MAACL-R6,
Negative Aﬂ’ect and Well-Being was employed as the dependent variable. These
regression analyses were conducted to test whether ethnic identity signiﬁcantly predicted
psychological adjustment. Table 9 presents the results of these analyses. The statistically
signiﬁcant results were that the entire ethnic identity variables accounted for 8 % of the
explained variance in Depression (F (4, 144)= 3.23, p < .05), 22 % of the variance
associated with Positive Affect (F(4, 144)= 10.42, p < .0001), and 19 % of the variance in

Well-Being (F(4, 144)= 8.59, p < .0001).

Table 9. Multiple Regression Predicting Psychological Adjustment from Ethnic Identity

 

 

 

Dependent Variable and ,B t p—value
Predictors Entered
Depression
Ethnic Identity Achievement .16 0.46 .6440
Ethnic Behaviors -.03 -0.11 .9128
Other-Group Orientation .07 0.25 .8011
Afﬁrmation/Belonging -.91 * * -3 .01 .003 1
Positive Affect
Ethnic Identity Achievement -.21 -0.23 .8165
Ethnic Behaviors .20 0.34 .7347
Other-Group Orientation 1.66* 2.37 .0189
Aﬁirrnation/Belonging 297*" 3.81 .0002
Well-Being
Ethnic Identity Achievement -.33 -0.28 .7810
Ethnic Behaviors .34 0.43 .6677
Other-Group Orientation 200* 2. 17 .03 15
Afﬁrmation/Belonging 353*" 3.43 .0008
Note. it = 149.

*p< .05. **p< .01. ***p< .001.

70

Out of the ethnic identity variables entered in the equation, Afﬁrmation/Belonging
emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of Depression, Positive Affect, and Well-Being. Other-
Group Orientation was found to be a signiﬁcant predictor of Positive Affect, and Well-
Being. In terms of the regression coefﬁcients, the positive relationship of
Amrmation/Belonging to Positive Aﬂ’ect (ﬂ= 2.97), and Well-Being (,6= 3.53) and the
negative relationship between Afﬁrmation/Belonging and Depression (,6= -.91) suggest
that a person with positive attitudes about his/her own ethnic group is more likely to show
higher levels of positive affect and well-being, and lower levels of depression. In addition,
the positive relationship of Other-Group Orientation to Positive Affect (,6= 1.66), and
Well-Being (ﬂ= 2.00) indicates that persons with positive attitudes toward other ethnic

groups are likely to have greater levels of positive affect and well-being in this setting.

The Rel_ationship between COping Strategies and Psychological Adjustment.

 

Several multiple regressions were conducted in order to determine the relationship
between coping strategies and psychological adjustment. A series of simultaneous multiple
regressions were performed with each of the psychological adjustment variables (the
MAACL-R6 scales) as the dependent variable, and the coping strategy variables (the CISS
scales) as predictors. These regression analyses were conducted to test whether coping
strategies signiﬁcantly predicted psychological adjustment. Table 10 contains the results of
these analyses. The statistically signiﬁcant results were that the entire coping strategy
variables accounted for 10 % of the explained variance in Anxiety (F (3, 145)= 5.26, p <
.01), 16 % of the variance associated with Depression (F(3, 145)= 9.44, p < .0001), 12 %

of the variance in Hostility (F(3, 145)= 6.35, p < .001), 5 % of the variance in Positive

Aﬁ‘ect (F(3, 145k 2.70, p < .05), 16 % of the variance in Negative Affect (F(3, 145)=

71

8.90, p < .0001), and 6 % of the variance in Well-Being (F(3, 145)= 2.88, p < .05).

Table 10. Multiple Regression with Coping as a Predictor of Psychological Adjustment

 

 

 

Dependent Variable and 6 t p-value
Predictors Entered
Anxiety
Avoidance-Oriented Coping .16 0.75 .4577
Emotion-Oriented Coping .53" 2.63 .0095
Task-Oriented Coping .18 0.76 .4510
Depression
Avoidance-Oriented Coping .30 1.34 .1810
Emotion-Oriented Coping .98**** 4.73 .0000
Task-Oriented Coping -.50* -2.06 .0414
Hostility
Avoidance-Oriented Coping .92“ 2.68 .0082
Emotion-Oriented Coping .70* 2.21 .0288
Task-Oriented Coping -.31 -0.85 .3976
Positive Affect
Avoidance-Oriented Coping .55 0.83 .4099
Emotion-Oriented Coping -.37 -0.60 .5477
Task-Oriented Coping 1.28 1.79 .0760
Negative Affect
Avoidance-Oriented Coping 1.39* 2.13 .0349
Emotion-Oriented Coping 220*" 3.68 .0003
Task-Oriented Coping -.63 -0.91 .3645
Well-Being
Avoidance-Oriented Coping .67 0.77 .4402
Emotion-Oriented Coping -.58 -0.72 .4701
Task-Oriented Coping 1.79 1.93 .0556
Note. n=149. *p< .05. **p< .01. ***p< .001. ****p< .0001.

72

Out of the coping strategy variables entered in the equation, Emotion-Oriented
Coping emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of Anxiety, Depression, Hostility, and Negative
Affect. Avoidance-Oriented Coping was found to be a signiﬁcant predictor of Hostility,
and Negative Affect, and Task-Oriented Coping was a signiﬁcant predictor of Depression.
In terms of the regression coeﬁicients, the positive relationship of Emotion-Oriented
Coping to Anxiety (ﬂ= .53), Depression (ﬂ= .98), Hostility (ﬁ= .70), and Negative Affect
(,6= 2.20) indicates that persons who use greater levels of emotion-oriented coping
strategies are more likely to feel higher levels of negative affect such as anxiety,
depression, and hostility. In addition, the positive relationship of Avoidance-Oriented
Coping to Hostility (,6= .92) and Negative Aﬁ’ect (ﬁ= 1.39) suggests that those who
employ greater levels of avoidance-oriented COping strategies are more likely to feel higher
levels of negative affect such as hostility. With regard to Task-Oriented Coping, the
negative relationship between Task-Oriented Coping and Depression ((ﬂ= -.50) shows
that individuals who endorse higher levels of task-oriented coping strategies are more
likely to feel low levels of depression.

Ethnic Identig and Coping Strategies as a Predictor of Acedemic Involvemen_t_. A
series of simultaneous multiple regression were performed to test whether ethnic identity
or coping strategies would signiﬁcantly predict academic involvement variables such as
GPA and average absence. In these analyses, each of GPA and average absence was used
as the dependent variable and the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales) or the
coping strategy variables (the CISS scales) were used as predictors. With regard to the
relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement, ethnic identity was found

to be a signiﬁcant predictor of GPA, but not average absence.

73

Summary statistics for these multiple regressions are presented in Table 11. The
entire ethnic identity variables accounted for 10 % of the explained variance in GPA,
which was statistically signiﬁcant (F (4, 132)= 3.45, p< .05). Out of the ethnic identity
variables entered in the equation, Other-Group Orientation was found to a signiﬁcant
predictor of GPA. The positive relationship between Other-Group Orientation and GPA (
[9= .31) indicates that persons who show higher levels of acceptance of other ethnic
groups are more likely to have higher GPA. \Vrth regard to the relationship between
coping strategies and academic involvement, coping strategies didn’t signiﬁcantly predict
any of the academic involvement variables such as GPA and average absence. Therefore,
on an univariate level, none of the coping strategies variables was found to be a signiﬁcant

predictor of GPA or average absence.

Table l 1. Multiple Regression with Ethnic Identity as a Predictor of GPA

 

 

 

Dependent Variable and ,6 t p-value
Predictors Entered

GPA
Ethnic Identity Achievement .01 0.05 .9611
Afﬁrmation/Belonging .21 1 .32 . 1887
Ethnic Behaviors .06 0.47 .6363
Other-Group Orientation .31* 2.14 .0340

Note. it = 137.

*p< .05. **p< .01. ***p< .001.

In addition, coping strategies could not mediate the relationship between ethnic

identity and academic involvement because coping strategies didn’t signiﬁcantly predict

74

academic involvement. Therefore, it can be concluded that ethnic identity directly affected
GPA without the mediating effects of cOping strategies.

Table 12 contains the summary statistics of a hierarchical regression conducted to
test whether ethnic identity would signiﬁcantly predicted GPA after controlling for the
sex-related variance in GPA. In the ﬁrst step, the demographic variable of sex was entered
into the regression equation. The reason for this is due to the ﬁndings that there were
signiﬁcant sex-related differences in GPA among Aﬁican American high school students.
Signiﬁcant sex-related group differences in GPA were already discussed earlier in the
MANOVA section. Therefore, the sex-related variance in GPA had to be ﬁrst controlled

by putting sex into regression analysis in the ﬁrst step.

Table 12. Hierarchical Multiple Regression Predicting GPA after Controlling for Sex

 

 

 

 

Step 1 Step 2 Full Model

(Sex) (Ethnic Identity Variables) (Sex, and Ethnic Identity Variables)
Dependent
variable R2 F R2 Change F Change R2 Mimcl F fun model
GPA .0673 9.74" .0894 3.47" .1566 487*"
Note. n = 137.

*p< .05. **p< .or. ***p< .001.

The hierarchical regression shown in Table 12 was to predict the dependent
variable of GPA, using the predictors of sex and ethnic identity. As already mentioned, the

controlled variable of sex was entered into the equation in the ﬁrst step. In step 2, the

75

block of the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales) was entered into regression
analysis. It was found that sex, and ethnic identity all signiﬁcantly predicted GPA. All sets
of predictors together explained 16 % of the variance in GPA (F(5, 131): 4.87, p < .001).
When entered ﬁrst, the controlled factor of sex signiﬁcantly accounted for 7 % of the
explained variance in GPA (F (1, 135)=- 9.74, p < .01), conﬁrming that there existed a
signiﬁcant amount of sex-related variance in GPA. In the second step, the ethnic identity
variables set added a signiﬁcant 9 % of the variance in GPA (F(4, 132)= 3.47, p < .01),
indicating that ethnic identity was a signiﬁcant predictor of GPA even after controlling for
the sex-related variance in GPA.

The Relationship between Psychological Adjustment Mdemic Involvement.
Multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to determine the relationship
between psychological adjustment and academic involvement among Aﬁican American
urban high school students. Simultaneous multiple regressions were performed with each
of the academic involvement variables (GPA and average absence) as the dependent
variable, and the psychological adjustment variables (the MAACL-R6 scales) as
predictors. With regard to predicting GPA, the ﬁve psychological adjustment scales of the
MAACL-R6 (Anxiety, Depression, Hostility, Positive Aﬁ‘ect, and Sensation Seeking)
didn’t explain a signiﬁcant amount of the variance in GPA. However, the construct of
psychological adjustment successﬁrlly predicted GPA, when the ﬁve psychological
adjustment scales of the MAACL-R6 were reduced into the Negative Affect and Well-
Being composite scores of the MAACL-R6, and these two composite scores were used as

predictors Of GPA.

76

Summary statistics of this analysis were presented in table 13. The full model
accounted for 6 % of the explained variance in GPA and this amount was statistically
signiﬁcant (F(2, 135)= 4.34, p < .05). Out of the independent variables entered in the
equation, Well-Being emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of GPA Concerning the
regression coefficients, the positive relationship between Well-Being and GPA (5= .03)
indicates that persons who achieve higher levels of well-being are more likely to have
higher GPA. The negative relationship found between Negative Affect and GPA (p: -.03)
shows that negative affect adversely affects GPA, but it was not signiﬁcant (t = ~1.85, p =
.066). With regard to average absence, psychological adjustment didn’t signiﬁcantly

predict students’ average absence.

Table 13. Multiple Regression with Psychological Adjustment as a Predictor of GPA

 

 

 

Dependent Variable and ,6 t p-value
Predictors Entered

GPA
Negative Affect (CS) -.03 -1.85 .0660
Well-Being (CS) .03 * 2.26 .0252

Note. n = 138.

(CS) = (The Composite Score of the MAACL-R6).
*p < .05. "p < .01. "*p < .001.

77
Hierarchical Regression Analyses for Finding a Mediator

The Potentiel Medihtor of Copirghtrﬂgies, Hierarchical regressions are usually
used to know whether the addition of new predictors may account for a signiﬁcant amount
of the variance in the dependent variable beyond the variance explained by predictors
previously entered into the regression equation. In addition, hierarchical regressions can
also be used to ﬁnd that the effects of predictors on the dependent variable is mediated by
the third variable. According to Baron and Kenny (1986), mediating effect is demonstrated
when the following conditions are met: (1) the independent variable predicts both the
dependent variable and the potential mediator; (2) the potential mediator predicts the
dependent variable; and (3) the effects of the independent variable on the dependent
variable is eliminated or substantially reduced to the non-signiﬁcant level when both the
independent variable and the mediator are entered into the regression equation, but the
mediator is entered before the independent variable.

In this context, several hierarchical regressions were conducted to test the
hypothesis of this study that the effects of ethnic identity on psychological adjustment
would be mediated by coping strategies. According to Baron and Kenny’s (1986)
suggestions, the mediating effect of coping strategies would be demonstrated when the
following conditions are met: (1) the independent variable of ethnic identity signiﬁcantly
predicts both the dependent variable of psychological adjustment and the potential
mediator of coping strategies; (2) the potential mediator of coping strategies signiﬁcantly
predicts the dependent variable of psychological adjustment; and (3) the effects of ethnic
identity on psychological adjustment is eliminated or substantially reduced to a non-

signiﬁcant level when both the independent variable of ethnic identity and the potential

78

mediator of COping strategies are entered into the regression equation but coping
strategies are entered before ethnic identity.

As already shown in Table 9 and 10, the independent variable of ethnic identity
and the potential mediator of coping strategies signiﬁcantly predicted the psychological
adjustment variables such as Depression, Positive Affect, and Well-Being. If coping
strategies mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment,
the effects of ethnic identity on psychological adjustment should be signiﬁcantly eliminated
when the potential mediator of coping strategies is entered into the regression analysis
before the independent variable of ethnic identity. Table 14 contains the summary statistics
of hierarchical regressions conducted to test whether coping strategies would mediate the
relationship between predictors of the ethnic identity variables and each of the dependent

variables of Depression, Positive Affect and Well-Being.

Table 14. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Coping Strategies as a Mediator

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

(Sex) (Coping Strategy Variables) (Ethnic Identity Variables)
Dependent
Variable R2 F R2 change F change R2 change F change
Depression .0278 417* .1372 7.83*** .0589 264*
Positive Aﬂ‘ect .0006 0.09 .0544 2.74“ .1966 9.13”"
Well-Being .0010 0.14 .0575 291* .1660 7.44""
Note. n = 148.

*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. ****p<.0001.

79

In the ﬁrst step of every regression analysis, the demographic variable of sex was
entered into the equation. The reason for this is due to the ﬁndings that there were
signiﬁcant sex-related differences in the psychological adjustment variables (the MAACL-
R6 scales) among Aﬁican American high school students. Therefore, the sex-related
variance in the psychological adjustment variables had to be ﬁrst controlled by putting sex
into regression analysis in the ﬁrst step. Signiﬁcant sex-related group diﬂ‘erences in the
psychological adjustment variables were already discussed earlier in the MANOVA
section. As shown in Table 14, the ﬁrst hierarchical regression was to predict the
dependent variable of Depression, using the predictors of sex, coping strategies, and
ethnic identity. As already mentioned, the controlled variable of sex was entered into the
equation in the ﬁrst step. In step 2, the coping strategy variables set (the CISS scales) was
entered into regression analysis, and the block of the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM
scales) was entered in the last step.

It was found that sex, coping strategies and ethnic identity all signiﬁcantly
predicted Depression. All sets of predictors together explained 22 % of the variance in
Depression (F(8, 139): 5.01, p < .0001). When entered ﬁrst, the controlled factor of sex
signiﬁcantly accounted for 2.8 % of the explained variance in Depression (F (1, 146)=
4.17, p < .05), suggesting that there existed a signiﬁcant amount of sex-related variance
explained in Depression. In the second step, the potential mediator of the coping strategy
variables added a signiﬁcant 13.7 % of the variance in Depression (F (3, 144)= 7.83, p <
.001), indicating the second criteria set by Baron and Kenny (1986) was met that the
potential mediator predicts the dependent variable. However, in the third step, the set of

the ethnic identity variables accounted for a signiﬁcant 5.9 % of the explained variance in

80
Depression (F (4, 143)= 2.64, p < .05), which suggested that the effects of the ethnic

identity variables on Depression were not eliminated when the potential mediator of the
cOping strategy variable was entered into the regression equation before the ethnic identity
variables set. Therefore, it can be concluded that coping strategies didn’t mediate the
relationship between ethnic identity and depression.

Next, Positive Aﬂ‘ect was substituted as the dependent variable. All sets of
predictors together explained 25 % of the variance in Positive Affect (F (8, 139)= 5.84, p <
.0001). In the ﬁrst step, the controlled variable of sex was entered into the equation and
explained an insigniﬁcant 0.06 % of the variance in Positive Aﬁ‘ect, indicating that
contrary to the dependent variable of Depression, there didn’t exist a signiﬁcant amount of
sex-related variance explained in Positive Aﬂ’ect. It is interesting to see that signiﬁcant
sex-related variance was found in Depression, but not in Positive Affect. In the second
step, the potential mediator of the coping strategy variables added a signiﬁcant 5 % of the
variance in Positive Affect (F (3, 144)= 2.74, p < .05), indicating the second criteria set by
Baron and Kenny (1986) was met that the potential mediator predicts the dependent
variable. However, in the third step, the set of the ethnic identity variables accounted for a
signiﬁcant 20 % of the explained variance in Positive Affect (F(4, 143)= 9.13, p < .0001),
which suggested that the effects of the ethnic identity variables on Positive Affect were
not eliminated when the potential mediator of the coping strategy variables was entered
into the regression equation before the ethnic identity variables set.

Therefore, it can be concluded that coping strategies didn’t mediate the
relationship between ethnic identity and positive affect. In the case of the dependent

variable of Well-Being, the results were identical to the above case where the dependent

81

variable was Positive Affect. That is, after controlling for an insigniﬁcant 0.1 % of the sex-
related variance and a signiﬁcant 6 % of the cOping strategy-related variance in Well-
Being (F (3, 144)= 2.91, p < .05), ethnic identity variables still predicted Well-Being by
explaining a signiﬁcant 17 % of the variance in Well-Being (F(4, 143)= 7.44, p < .0001).
Therefore, as in the case of positive affect, it can also be concluded that coping strategies
didn’t mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and well-being. In conclusion,
coping strategies didn’t mediate the relationship between the independent variable of
ethnic identity and each of the dependent variables of Depression, Positive Aﬂ’ect, and
Well-Being. In other words, ethnic identity directly affected psychological adjustment such
as depression, positive affect, and well-being without the mediating effects of coping
strategies.

COping Strategies as a Mediator pf ﬁnder Effect. As discussed earlier in Table
14, it was found that coping strategies didn’t mediate the relationship between ethnic
identity and psychological adjustment. But, it was early to conclude that coping strategies
didn’t mediate any relationship. As discussed earlier in the MAN OVA section, there were
sex-related differences in coping strategies and negative affect. More speciﬁcally, Aﬁican
American female students used higher levels of emotion-and avoidance-oriented coping
and felt higher levels of negative affect compared to males. Therefore, it became
reasonable to hypothesize that the effects of sex (student gender) on negative affect would
be mediated by coping strategies, especially, emotion-and avoidance-oriented coping. To
test this hypothesis, a hierarchical regression was conducted with the dependent variable

of Negative Affect (the composite score of the MAACL-R6), and the predictors of sex,

82

and the coping strategies variables (the CISS scales). Table 15 presents the summary
statistics of this analysis.

In the ﬁrst step, the potential mediator of the coping strategy variables set was
entered into the equation. In step 2, the variable of sex (student gender) was entered into
regression analysis. It was found that all sets of predictors together signiﬁcantly explained
16 % of the variance in Negative Affect (F(4, 144)= 7 .07, p < .0001). When entered ﬁrst,
the potential mediator of coping strategies signiﬁcantly accounted for 15.6 % of the
explained variance in Negative Affect (F (3, 145)= 8.90, p < .0001), suggesting that there
was a signiﬁcant amount of coping-related variance in Negative Aﬂ’ect. In the second step,
the variable of sex just added an insigniﬁcant 0.86 % of the variance in Negative Aﬂ‘ect
(F (1, 147)= 1.48, p = .226), indicating the eﬁ‘ects of sex (student gender) on Negative
Aﬁ’ect were substantially eliminated when the potential mediator of coping strategies was
entered into the regression analysis before the independent variable of sex.

Therefore, it can be concluded that coping strategies mediated the relationship between

sex and negative affect.

Table 15. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Coping as a Mediator of Gender Effect

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 Step 2 Full Model
(Coping Strategies) ( Sex) (COping Strategies, and Sex)
Dependent
Variable R2 F R2 change F change R2 mu model F fun mode.
Negative Affect .1555 8.90“" .0086 1.48 .1641 7.07"”
Note. it = 149.

p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. ****p<.0001.

83

Out of the entire independent variables entered in the equation, Emotion-Oriented
Coping emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of Negative Affect. Concerning the regression
coemcients, the positive relationship between Emotion-Oriented Coping and Negative
Aﬁ‘ect (ﬁ= 2.04) indicates that persons who use higher levels of emotion-oriented coping
strategies are more likely to feel greater levels of negative affect. The positive relationship
was also found between Avoidance-Oriented Coping and Negative Affect (,0= 1.28), but
it was only marginally signiﬁcant (t = 1.95, p = .0527).

The Potenthrl Medial» of Ethnic Identity. Earlier, it was found that coping
strategies didn’t mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological
adjustment. Therefore, it became necessary to check if ethnic identity would mediate the
relationship between coping strategies and psychological adjustment. When the order of
entry of the two sets of predictors, coping strategies, and ethnic identity was reversed, it
was possible to identify whether ethnic identity mediated the eﬁ’ects of coping strategies
on psychological adjustment. Therefore, the potential mediator of ethnic identity was
entered into the regression analysis before the independent variable of coping strategies to
see if the effects of the coping strategy variables on psychological adjustment would be
eliminated by the potential mediator of the ethnic identity variables.

As shown in Table 16, the ﬁrst hierarchical regression was to predict the
dependent variable of Depression, using the predictors of sex, ethnic identity, and coping
strategies. In the ﬁrst step, the controlled variable of sex was entered into the equation. In
step 2, the block of the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales) was entered into
regression analysis, and the c0ping strategy variables set (the CISS scales) was entered in

the last step.

84

Table 16. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Ethnic Identity as a Mediator

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

(Sex) (Ethnic Identity Variables) (Coping Strategy Variables)
Dependent
Variable R2 F R2 change F change R2 change F change
Depression .0278 4.17” .0762 3.02“ .1200 717*”
Positive Affect .0006 0.09 .2176 9.88"" .0334 2.07
Well-Being .0010 0.14 .1878 8.22"" .0358 2.14
Note. n = 148.

*p<.05. **p<.01. ***p<.001. ****p<.0001.

It was found that sex, ethnic identity and coping strategies all signiﬁcantly
predicted Depression. All sets of predictors together explained 22 % of the variance in
Depression (F (8, 139)= 5.01, p < .0001). When entered ﬁrst, the controlled factor of sex
signiﬁcantly accounted for 2.8 % of the explained variance in Depression (F (1, 146)=
4.17, p < .05), suggesting that there existed a signiﬁcant amount of sex-related variance
explained in Depression. In the second step, the potential mediator of the ethnic identity
variables added a signiﬁcant 7.6 % of the variance in Depression (F (4, 143)= 3.02, p <
.05), indicating the second criteria set by Baron and Kenny (1986) was met that the
potential mediator predicts the dependent variable. However, in the third step, the set of
the coping strategy variables accounted for a signiﬁcant 12 % of the explained variance in
Depression (F (3, 144)= 7.17, p < .001), which suggested that the effects of the coping
strategy variables on Depression were not eliminated when the potential mediator of the

ethnic identity variables was entered into the regression equation before the coping

85

strategy variables set. Therefore, it can be concluded that ethnic identity didn’t mediate the
relationship between COping strategies and depression.

Next, Positive Affect was substituted as the dependent variable. All sets of
predictors together explained 25 % of the variance in Positive Affect (F (8, 139)= 5.84, p
< .0001). In the ﬁrst step, the controlled variable of sex was entered into the equation and
explained an insigniﬁcant 0.06 % of the variance in Positive Affect, indicating that
contrary to the dependent variable of Depression, there didn’t exist a signiﬁcant amount of
sex-related variance explained in Positive Affect. In the second step, the potential
mediator of the ethnic identity variables added a signiﬁcant 22 % of the variance in
Positive Affect (F (4, 143)= 9.88, p < .0001), indicating the second criteria set by Baron
and Kenny (1986) was met that the potential mediator predicts the dependent variable.
Most importantly, in the third step, the set of the coping strategy variables accounted only
for an insigniﬁcant 3 % of the explained variance in Positive Affect (F(3, 144)= 2.07, p >
.05).

In other words, the effects of the coping strategy variables on Positive Aﬂ‘ect were
substantially eliminated when the potential mediator of the ethnic identity variables was
entered into regression analysis before the coping strategy variables set. This result
suggested that the third criteria set by Baron and Kenny (1986) was met that the eﬁ’ects of
the independent variable on the dependent variable is eliminated or substantially reduced
to the non-signiﬁcant level when both the independent variable and the mediator are
entered into the regression equation, but the mediator is entered before the independent
variable. Therefore, it can be concluded that ethnic identity mediated the relationship

between coping strategies and positive affect.

86

It is interesting to see that ethnic identity didn’t mediate the relationship between
COping strategies and depression, but it did mediate the relationship between coping
strategies and positive affect. The most important reason why ethnic identity could
mediate the relationship between coping strategies and positive aﬁ‘ect is that ethnic identity
was a much more powerﬁrl predictor of positive affect than coping strategies. Supporting
evidence is that the ethnic identity variables accounted for most of the explained variance
in Positive Affect (22 % out of the total 25 %), compared to 3 % of the variance explained
by the coping strategy variables. Therefore, ethnic identity could play a role of mediator
because ethnic identity was such a powerﬁrl predictor of positive affect and explained all
or most of the association between coping strategies and positive affect.

Similarly, the most important reason why ethnic identity was not able to mediate
the relationship between coping strategies and depression is that coping strategies, as
compared to ethnic identity, were a much more powerﬁrl predictor of negative affect such
as depression. Supporting evidence is that the coping strategy variables accounted for
most of the explained variance in Depression (12 % out of the 22 % total), compared to
7.6 % of the variance explained by the ethnic identity variables. Therefore, ethnic identity
could not play a role of mediator because coping strategies were such a powerful
predictor of depression and explained most of the relationship between coping strategies
and depression.

In the case of the dependent variable of Well-Being, the results were identical to
the above case where the dependent variable was Positive Affect. That is, after controlling
for an insigniﬁcant 0.1 % of the sex-related variance, the potential mediator of the ethnic

identity variables accounted for a signiﬁcant 19 % of the explained variance in Well-Being

87

(F (4, 143)= 8.22, p < .0001), indicating that the potential mediator successfully predicted
the dependent variable. Surprisingly, the set of the coping strategy variables, when entered
last, accounted only for an insigniﬁcant 4 % of the explained variance in Well-Being (F (3,
144)= 2.14, p > .05). In other words, the direct effects of the coping strategy variables on
Well-Being were substantially eliminated when the potential mediator of the ethnic identity
variables was entered into regression analysis before the cOping strategy variables set.
Therefore, as in the case of positive aﬂ’ect, it can also be concluded that ethnic identity
mediated the relationship between coping strategies and well-being.

The Potential Mediator of Psychological Adjugment. Hierarchical regression
analyses were used to examine psychological adjustment as the potential mediator of the
relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement, especially GPA. Earlier, it
was found that ethnic identity signiﬁcantly predicted psychological adjustment and GPA.
In addition, psychological adjustment also explained a signiﬁcant amount of the variance in
GPA. Therefore, there was a need to ﬁnd the potential mediator of the relationship among
ethnic identity, psychological adjustment, and academic involvement such as GPA. As can
be seen in Table 17, a hierarchical regression was conducted to predict the dependent
variable of GPA with sex, psychological adjustment, and ethnic identity as predictors.

This analysis showed that psychological adjustment mediated the relationship
between ethnic identity and GPA because the effects of ethnic identity on GPA were
considerably reduced by the mediator of psychological adjustment. In the ﬁrst step, sex,
the controlled variable was entered into the equation because, as already discussed in the
MANOVA section, there was a signiﬁcant amount of the sex-related variance in GPA.

Therefore, the sex-related variance in GPA had to be controlled by putting sex into

88

regression analysis in the ﬁrst step. In step 2, the block of the psychological adjustment
variables (the Negative Affect and Well-Being composite scores of the MAACL-R6) was
entered into regression analysis, and the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales) was
entered in the last step.

It was found that all sets of predictors together explained 20 % of the variance in
GPA (F (7, 129)= 4.56, p < .001). When entered ﬁrst, the controlled factor of sex
signiﬁcantly accounted for 6.7 % of the explained variance in GPA (F(l, 135)= 9.74, p <
.01), suggesting that there existed a signiﬁcant amount of sex-related variance in GPA. In
the second step, the potential mediator of the psychological adjustment variables added a
signiﬁcant 8.6 % of the variance in GPA (F (2, 134)= 6.78, p < .01), indicating the second
criteria set by Baron and Kenny (1986) was met that the potential mediator signiﬁcantly

predicts the dependent variable.

Table 17. Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Psychological Adjustment as a Mediator

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

(Sex) (Psychological Adjustment) (Ethnic Identity)
Dependent
Variable R2 F R2 change F change R2 change F change
GPA .0673 9.74" .0862 6.78“ .0448 1.80
Note. n = 137.

*p< .05, **p<.01. ***p< .001.

89

Most importantly, in the third step, the set of the ethnic identity variables
accounted for 4.5 % of the variance in GPA, which was not signiﬁcant (F (4, 132)= 1.80, p
= .1322). This result also met the third criteria set by Baron and Kenny (1986). More
speciﬁcally, the effects of the ethnic identity variables on GPA were substantially
eliminated when the potential mediator of the psychological adjustment variables was
entered into regression analysis before the ethnic identity variables set. Therefore, it can be
concluded that psychological adjustment mediated the relationship between ethnic identity

and academic involvement.

F ester Analygs
Fﬂer Analysis of the Coping Inven_tory for Stressﬁrl Situations (CISS ). A factor

 

analysis was completed on all the items of the Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl Situations
(CISS). The results were calculated from a principal component factor analysis (Varimax
rotation). The results of factor analysis showed that some items simultaneously had high
loadings ( .40 or greater) on two different component factors, but others did not had high
factor loadings on any component factors. The eigenvalues and the rotated factor loadings
associated with those problematic items for task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented
coping factors can be found in table 18. The ﬁrst component factor accounted for 28.7%
of the variance, and appeared to measure problem-focused or task-oriented coping. The
second component factor explained 10.5% of the variance, and assessed emotion-oriented
coping. The third component factor measured avoidance-oriented coping, and accounted
for 6.8% of the variance. This three-factor model accounted for the total 46% of the
variance.

Considering that only items with factor loadings of .30 or greater should be
examined (Tabachnik & Fidell, 1983), item #9 did not have a high factor loading on any of
task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented coping factors. The task-oriented coping item #1,
as compared to its factor loadings on emotion- and avoidance-coping factors, did not have
a considerably higher factor loading on task-oriented coping factor. The same was true for
the item #28 which was originally intended to measure emotion-oriented coping. Items #6,
10, 24, 34, and 39 simultaneously had high factor loadings on two different coping factors.

The items #33 and 34 designed to assess emotion-oriented coping had the highest factor

91

loading on task-oriented coping factor. Finally, the items #35 and 44 for measuring

avoidance-oriented coping had the highest factor loading on task-oriented coping factor.

Table 18. Factor Analysis of the Coping Inventory for Stressﬁrl Situations (CIS S)

 

Mag

 

Coping Items Task Emotion Avoidance
1. Schedule my time better. .40 .31 .32
6. Do what I think is best. .36 -.04 .34
9. Window shop. .06 .26 .10
10. Outline my priorities. .33 .31 .28
24. Work to understand the situation. .57 .43 .23
28. Wish that I could change
what had happened or how I felt. .31 .42 .15
33. Tell myself that it will never happen again. .51 .35 .34
34. Focus on my general inadequacies. .50 .41 .27
35. Talk to someone whose advice I value. .57 .20 .14
39. Adjust my priorities. .41 .52 .33
44. Take some time oﬂ’ and
get away ﬁom the situation. .41 . 19 .16
Eigenvalue 13.8 5.03 3.25
% of the Expigined VMe 28.7 10.5 6.8

 

 

92

All the items of the CISS mentioned above seemed to hurt the construct validity of
the CISS in measuring the coping strategies used by Aﬁican American adolescents. This
ﬁnding has many implications for practice and research, which will be more speciﬁcally

discussed in the following chapter.

CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION

The overall purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among ethnic
identity, coping strategies, academic involvement, and psychological adjustment in Aﬁican
American urban high school students. Especially, this study was designed to
ﬁnd a variable which mediated the relationship among the proposed variables. The original
hypothesis of this study was that coping strategies would mediate the relationship of
ethnic identity to the two outcome variables such as academic involvement and
psychological adjustment. Only recently have empirical studies been undertaken to
examine the possible relationship between ethnic identity and coping strategies, and the
combined effects they may have on minority individuals’ academic and psychological
adjustment (Carter, 1991; Neville et al., 1997). The results of the present study not only
conﬁrmed a signiﬁcant relationship among the proposed variables, but also contributed to
adding new knowledge about the variables that mediated the relationship among the
proposed variables. In the next section, the ﬁndings in this study will be discussed in more
detail with implications and theoretical assertions. Finally, the limitations of the study and

recommendations for future research will be outlined.

93

94

The Releiieﬁhip between Ethnic Identity and COping Strategies

One of the major hypotheses in this study was that coping strategies would
mediate the relationship of ethnic identity to the outcome variables such as academic
involvement and psychological adjustment among Aﬁican American urban high school
students. This hypothesis was generated on the basis of ethnic identity theory and research
that have asserted that more advanced ethnic identity achievement predicts more eﬁ‘ective
coping strategies in dealing with ethnic issues and conﬂicts, and vice versa. (Cross, 1971;
Berry et al., 1987; Phinney, 1989; Carter, 1991; Neville et al., 1997). Therefore, ethnic
identity theories seem to assume that there is a unilateral relationship between ethnic
identity and coping strategies by emphasizing ethnic identity as a major inﬂuence on
coping with ethnic issues and conﬂicts. Consistent with theoretical assertions, it was found
in this study that there was a close relationship between ethnic identity and coping
strategies. However, the relationship between ethnic identity and coping strategies was
found to be not unilateral from ethnic identity to coping strategies, but rather reciprocal.
This ﬁnding was one of the most notable results in this study.

Multiple regression analyses showed that ethnic identity and coping strategies were
signiﬁcant predictors of each other. For example, in regression analyses with each of the
coping strategy variables (the CISS scales) as the dependent variable and the ethnic
identity variables (the MEIM scales) as predictors, Ethnic Identity Achievement was found
to be a major predictor of Task-Oriented Coping. When the dependent variable and the
predictor were reversed, Task-Oriented Coping emerged as a signiﬁcant predictor of

Ethnic Identity Achievement and Aﬂirmation/Belonging. Therefore, it was concluded in

95

this study that ethnic identity and cOping strategies had a reciprocal and bi-directional
relationship by signiﬁcantly predicting each other.

Besides the reciprocal nature of the relationship found between ethnic identity and
coping strategies, the results of the present study also indicated the positive relationship
between task-oriented coping and achieved ethnic identity. That is, individuals who use
greater levels of task-oriented coping are more likely to have a higher sense of achieved
ethnic identity. The reverse is also true due to the reciprocal relationship between ethnic
identity and coping strategies. That is, persons who have a higher sense of achieved ethnic
identity achievement are likely to use more task-oriented coping than avoidance- or
emotion-oriented coping. The positive relationship found between task-oriented coping
and achieved ethnic identity is supportive of ethnic identity models and theories which
have consistently implied a reliable link between secure ethnic identity and effective coping
strategies. For example, Phinney’s (1989) ethnic identity development model holds that
minority individuals ﬁnally come to achieve a secure ethnic identity as a result of active
ethnic identity search and effective coping with ethnic issues and conﬂicts. Moreover,
task-oriented coping, so-called “problem-focused coping” has been deﬁned as more
adaptive and effective compared to other types of coping activities such as avoidance— or
emotion-oriented coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Compas et al., 1988; Bowman &
Stern, 1995). Taken together, a conceptual link between ethnic identity and coping
strategies was empirically conﬁrmed among Aﬁican American adolescents in this study.

Furthermore, the nature of this relationship was found to be reciprocal.

96

Psycholegical Adjustment as e Medi_etor of the Reietionship between Ethnic Identiiy and

 

A_ca_demic Involvemen_t_

The relationship among ethnic identity, psychological adjustment, and academic
involvement has been separately studied and very few studies have examined a whole
picture of the complex interrelationships among them. For example, in terms of ethnic
identity and psychological adjustment, a secure ethnic identity has been found to relate to
positive psychological adjustment among Aﬁican American students (e.g., Phinney, 1989,
1992). Regarding the relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement, it
has been suggested that noncognitive or psychosocial factors such as culturally ﬁiendly
academic environment and coping with racism are as important or even more important to
Aﬁican America students’ academic involvement than are the cognitive academic ability
factors represented by the SAT scores (Tinto, 1975; Suen, 1983; Tracey & Sedlacek,
1984, 1985, 1987). Finally, concerning the relationship between psychological adjustment
and academic involvement, it has been found that self-esteem, optimism, and resulting
positive mood have a signiﬁcant relationship to academic as well as psychological
adjustment, and that such a relationship is largely mediated by the use of coping strategies
(Taylor & Brown, 1988; Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992).

As mentioned earlier, this study addressed the need for getting a big picture of the
interrelationship among ethnic identity, psychological adjustment, and academic
involvement. This was done by ﬁnding a possible mediator. Consistent with previous
studies, the results of this study indicated that ethnic identity, psychological adjustment,
and academic involvement were all signiﬁcantly related to one another. First of all, in

regression analyses of the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological

97

adjustment, it was found that the entire ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales)
signiﬁcantly accounted for 22 % of the explained variance in Positive Affect, 19% of the
variance in Well-Being, and 8 % of the variance in Depression. That is, ethnic identity was
found to be the strongest predictor of mental health such as positive affect and well-being
among Aﬁican American urban high school students. This ﬁnding is consistent with
previous research efforts that minority adolescents who had a secure ethnic identity scored
high on the psychological adjustment measures of self-esteem (Phinney, 1989, 1992).

On a univariate level, out of the ethnic identity variables, (the MEIM scales),
Affirmation/Belonging and Other-Group Orientation had a signiﬁcantly positive
relationship to both positive affect and well-being. Taken together, individuals who show
strong attachment to their own ethnic group, and also accept other ethnic groups are more
likely to achieve high levels of mental health such as positive affect and well-being.
Furthermore, special attention should be drawn to the ﬁnding that ethnic identity was a
powerful predictor of positive psychological adjustment rather than psychopathology
among African American urban adolescents. That is, ethnic identity signiﬁcantly predicted
positive aﬁ‘ect and well-being much more than negative affect such as depression.

In terms of the relationship of ethnic identity and psychological adjustment to
academic involvement, it was found that both ethnic identity and psychological adjustment
signiﬁcantly predicted GPA, but they failed to predict average class absence. Multiple
regression analyses showed that the entire ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales)
accounted for 10 % of the explained variance in GPA, and that the whole psychological
adjustment variables (the MAACL-R6 scales) explained a signiﬁcant 6 % of the variance

in GPA. On a univariate level, Other-Group Orientation and Well-Being had a signiﬁcantly

98

positive relationship to GPA. It is surprising to ﬁnd that Other-Group Orientation had a
signiﬁcantly‘pOsitive relationship to GPA. The Other-Group Orientation scale of the
Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) assesses how much a respondent is open to
other ethnic groups. A possible explanation for the positive relationship found between
levels of acceptance of other ethnic groups and GPA is that data for this study were
obtained from Aﬁican American 9th graders in a urban high school where students are
predominantly Aﬁican Americans, but a majority of teachers are Caucasians. Therefore,
African American students’ acceptance of other ethnic groups such as Whites may play an
important role in establishing an academically productive relationship with their White
teachers and thus, increasing their academic involvement.

The ﬁnding of a signiﬁcantly positive relationship between well-being and GPA
also deserves attention. However, it is important to notice that a positive relationship
between well-being and GPA didn’t necessarily warrant a negative relationship between
negative affect and GPA. Although negative affect had a negative regression coefficient
with GPA, it was not statistically signiﬁcant ([32 -.03, p = .066). A possible explanation is
that well-being and negative affect differently inﬂuenced GPA because of the
independence of positive and negative affect. Studies of mood have generally found two
independent factors: positive affect and negative affect (Watson & Clark, 1984). Positive
affect has been found to be as predictive, or even more predictive, of subsequent behavior
as is negative aﬂ’ect, and positive aﬁ’ect is deﬁned as more than the absence of negative
aﬂ’ect (Zuckerman, 1980). Additional evidence on the independence of positive and
negative affect was also found in the intercorrelations among the psychological adjustment

variables (the MAACL-R6 scales). It was found that Positive Affect and Well-Being were

99

not signiﬁcantly correlated with Negative Affect including Anxiety, Depression, and
Hostility in either positive or negative directions.

There is an increasing interest in the positive affects associated with approach
rather than avoidance behavior, and mental health rather than psychopathology. For
example, Taylor and Brown (1988) have suggested that high self-esteem, optimism, and
resulting positive mood are all related to enhanced higher motivation, greater persistence
in the face of obstacles, more effective task performance and eventually, greater likelihood
of success. Consistent with the above, it was found in this study that well-being rather
than negative affect was a signiﬁcant predictor of GPA.

In terms of the combined effects of ethnic identity and psychological adjustment on
GPA, it was found that psychological adjustment mediated the relationship between ethnic
identity and GPA. Supporting evidence is that the direct eﬁ’ects of ethnic identity on GPA
were substantially eliminated when the mediator of psychological adjustment was entered
into regression analysis. The original hypothesis was that coping strategies would mediate
the relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement. However, the results
of this study showed that psychological adjustment, but not coping strategies mediated the
relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement. One possible reason why
coping strategies couldn’t mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and academic
involvement was that ,unlike ethnic identity and psychological adjustment, coping
strategies were found to be an insigniﬁcant predictor of the academic involvement
variables such as GPA and average absence. This ﬁnding is contrary to Andelt’s (1994)
study in which coping strategies used by students accounted for 28 % of the explained

variance in GPA, and thus, signiﬁcantly predicted students’ academic involvement.

100

Given that ethnic identity was a signiﬁcant predictor of positive affect and
consequential well-being rather than negative aﬁ’ect, and that positive affect and well-
being had a stronger inﬂuence on GPA than negative affect, it can be suggested that
positive affect and well-being played an important role in mediating the relationship
between ethnic identity and GPA. Stated diﬁ‘erently, the beneﬁcial effects of a secure
ethnic identity on GPA were signiﬁcantly mediated by mental health variables such as
positive aﬁ’ect and well-being.

Coping Strategies as e Meditqu of the Relationship between Ethnic Identity a_nh

 

chhological Adjustment

One of the major hypotheses in this study was that coping strategies would
mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment. There has
been established a conceptual link among ethnic identity, cOping strategies, and
psychological adjustment (e.g., Phinney, 1989; Carter, 1991; Neville et al., 1997). The
results of this study also supported a close link among those variables. For example, as
mentioned earlier, there was a reciprocal relationship between ethnic identity and coping
strategies. What is meant by “reciprocal” is that ethnic identity and coping strategies
signiﬁcantly predicted each other. The ﬁndings on the relationship between ethnic identity
and psychological adjustment were also discussed in the previous section. In terms of the
relationship between coping strategies and psychological adjustment, it was found through
regression analyses that the entire coping strategy variables (the CISS scales) signiﬁcantly
accounted for 10 % of the explained variance in Anxiety, 16 % of the variance in
Depression, 12 % of the variance in Hostility, 16 % of the variance in Negative Affect, 5

% of the variance in Positive Affect, and 6 % of the variance in Well-Being.

101

Based on these results, it can be suggested that coping strategies were a powerful
predictor of negative affect rather than positive affect. More speciﬁcally, avoidance-or
emotion-oriented coping signiﬁcantly predicted negative aﬁ’ect much more than task-
oriented coping predicted positive affect or well-being. This ﬁnding is the exact opposite
of the case in which ethnic identity was a signiﬁcant predictor of positive aﬂ’ect and well-
being rather than negative affect. Taylor and Brown (1988) proposed a conceptual link
among effective problem-focused COping strategies, positive mood, and psychological
adjustment. However, the results of this study didn’t seem to support it. In regression
analyses, it was found that task-oriented cOping didn’t have a signiﬁcantly positive
relationship to either positive affect or well-being. Instead, a signiﬁcantly positive
relationship was found between ineffective avoidance- and emotion-oriented coping and
negative affect.

In terms of the combined effects of ethnic identity and coping strategies on
psychological adjustment, it was found that coping strategies didn’t mediate the
relationship between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment. Supporting evidence is
that the direct effects of ethnic identity on psychological adjustment were not substantially
eliminated when the hypothetical mediator of coping strategies was entered into regression
analysis. Therefore, the hypothesis that coping strategies would mediate the relationship
between ethnic identity and psychological adjustment was not supported in this study.
That is, ethnic identity directly affected the psychological adjustment variables including
well-being, positive affect, and negative affect (e. g., depression) without the mediating

effect of coping strategies.

102

Ethnie Identigi es s Medhaior of the Rel_ationship between Coping Strategies and Positive

 

Psychological Adjustment

The results of this study showed that ethnic identity played a role as a mediator.
This ﬁnding was as important as it was unexpected. More speciﬁcally, it was found that
ethnic identity mediated the relationship between coping strategies and the mental health
variables such as positive aﬂ‘ect and well-being. However, ethnic identity didn’t mediate
the relationship between coping strategies and negative aﬁ’ect such as depression. The
different mediating effects of ethnic identity were demonstrated depending on positive and
negative aﬂ’ect, which may be due to the independence of positive and negative affect
(Watson & Clark, 1984). First of all, the most important reason why ethnic identity could
mediate the relationship between coping strategies and mental health was that ethnic
identity was such a powerﬁrl predictor of positive aﬂ’ect and consequential well-being
rather than negative affect and psychopathology. As compared to coping strategies, ethnic
identity was a much more powerﬁrl predictor of mental health, and therefore, had a
signiﬁcantly stronger relationship to positive affect and well-being. Because of this strong
relationship between ethnic identity and mental health, there was plenty of room for ethnic A
identity to mediate and explain most of the relationship between coping strategies and the ‘

mental health variables such as positive affect and well-being. Therefore, it can be

 

suggested that the beneﬁcial effects of effective coping strategies on mental health were
signiﬁcantly mediated by a secure and positive ethnic identity.

The exact opposite was true for the case where ethnic identity couldn’t mediate the
relationship between coping strategies and negative affect such as depression. As

mentioned earlier, coping strategies were found to be a strong predictor of negative affect

103

rather than positive affect. As compared to ethnic identity, coping strategies were a much
more powerful predictor of negative aﬂ’ect and therefore, had a signiﬁcantly stronger
relationship to depression. Because of this close relationship between coping strategies
and negative affect, there seemed to be no room for ethnic identity to intervene and
mediate the relationship between coping strategies and depression. Unlike the case of the
positive mental health variables, coping strategies directly aﬂ‘ected negative aﬂ’ect
including anxiety, depression, and hostility without the mediating effects of ethnic identity.
Therefore, it can be suggested that the direct effects of ineffective coping strategies such
as avoidance-and emotion-oriented coping on negative affect were not mediated by an
insecure ethnic identity.
Sex-Related Differences in GPA. Coping Strategies, and NegaLive Affect

Sex-related group diﬂ’erences were analyzed through multivariate analyses of
variance (MAN OVA). As a result, it was found that there were signiﬁcant sex-related
diﬂ‘erences in academic involvement, coping strategies, and psychological adjustment
among Aﬁican American high school students. However, there were no gender differences
in ethnic identity. In terms of academic involvement, Aﬁican American female high school
students had signiﬁcantly higher GPA than males in this study. However, females and
males didn’t differ in average absence. There is no theoretical background for gender
differences in GPA among Aﬁican American high school students. Therefore, this ﬁnding
may be speciﬁc to the high school where the data for this study were obtained.

Regarding coping strategies, female students indicated signiﬁcantly more use of
avoidance- and emotion-oriented coping than males. But, there were no gender differences

in the use of task-oriented coping. Concerning psychological adjustment, female students,

104

when compared with males, reported signiﬁcantly higher levels of negative aﬁ‘ect. In
contrast, there were no gender differences in positive affect and well-being. It is
interesting to see that although female students, when compared with males, showed
higher levels of negative affect, females and males didn’t diﬂ’er in positive aﬂ’ect and well-
being. This result that signiﬁcant gender differences were found only in negative aﬁ’ect, but
not in positive aﬁ‘ect and well-being can also evidence the independence of positive and
negative affect.

The above-mentioned ﬁndings of this study build on a considerable body of
empirical evidence that has suggested gender differences in depression and coping
strategies. First, there is accumulating evidence on gender differences in adolescents’
depressive symptoms. It has been suggested that depressive disorders and mood are
greater for girls than for boys during adolescence. (e. g., Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987; Petersen
et al., 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994). Second, there is also considerable support
for the hypothesis that the greater depression of women may be due partly to their
diﬂ‘erent coping strategies. Gender diﬂ‘erences in coping strategies have been addressed in
the coping literature. The socialization theory has guided the gender-related research on
coping. Speciﬁcally, it is suggested that women are socialized to express emotion, to
employ emotion-oriented coping, and to seek the emotional support of others (Pearlin &
Schooler, 1978; Rosario et al., 1988).

In this regard, several studies have indicated that women seem to be inclined to use
more emotion-oriented coping and less problem-oriented coping than men (F olkrnan &
Lazarus, 1980; Stone & Neals, 1984; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978; Brems & Johnson, 1989).

As already discussed, in terms of the effectiveness of COping strategies, problem-focused,

 

105

or task-oriented coping has been related to positive psychological outcomes (Lazarus &
Folkman, 1984; Compas et al., 1988; Bowman & Stern, 1995), whereas avoidance-
oriented coping has been generally associated with negative affect and aversive mood
states (Bowman & Stern, 1995). Regarding emotion-oriented coping, some studies have
found that emotion-oriented coping is less adaptive than problem-oriented coping (e.g.,
Latack, 1986), whereas others have suggested for a functional role for certain types of
emotion-oriented coping that include affective efforts to inﬂuence the appraisal of the
stressfulness of a problem (e.g., Parkes, 1990; Strentz & Auerbach, 1988). However,
there is a consensus that escape-avoidance types of emotion-oriented coping have been
strongly associated with negative psychological outcomes (Collins et al, 1983; Aldwin &
Revenson, 1987; Bowman & Stern, 1995).

Taken together, it can be assumed that adolescent females, when compared with
males, experience higher levels of depression, and that the stronger relationship between
adolescent females and aversive mood states is largely mediated by females’ more use of
ineffective coping strategies such as avoidance—or emotion-oriented cOping. This
theoretical assumption was empirically supported in this study. More speciﬁcally, it was
found that females scored signiﬁcantly higher than males on the Negative Affect scale (the
composite score of the MAACL-R6), and that this effect of sex (student gender) on
negative affect was largely mediated by coping strategies. The direct effects of sex on
negative affect were substantially eliminated when the mediator of coping strategies was
ﬁrst entered into regression analysis. Therefore, it can be suggested that female students’
higher levels of negative aﬂ’ect, when compared with males, were mediated by their

signiﬁcantly more use of avoidance-and emotion-oriented coping, whereas male students’

106

lower levels of negative aﬂ’ect were mediated by their less use of avoidance-and emotion-
oriented coping than females.
Ethnic and Cultural Differences in Coping

Daly et al. (1995) pointed out Aﬁican Americans’ unique orientation to coping and
resolving problems through interpersonal processes, and emphasized the importance of
Aﬁican American community in developing eﬂ‘ective coping. Aﬁican Americans’
collective and interpersonal approach to coping was also reﬂected in this study’s results.
Factor analysis of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) suggested that
some items of the CISS did not measure what they were supposed to assess. For example,
the items such as “talk to someone whose advice I value” and “take some time oﬂ‘ and get
away from the situation” were originally designed to assess avoidance-oriented coping,
but the results of factor analysis showed that those items more represented task-oriented
coping of African American adolescents. Talking to somebody for advice and taking some
time oﬁ’ to get away from the situation may be regarded as avoidance behavior by a
Western culture that values individualism and rationality. However, this study’s results
revealed that those behaviors could be an effective task-oriented coping of Aﬁican
American adolescents. Moreover, the item of “tell myself that it will never happen again”
was originally intended to measure emotion-oriented coping, but it had the highest factor
loading on task-oriented coping factor. Therefore, telling oneself that a bad event will
never happen again could also be an effective coping behavior to African American
adolescents. This ﬁnding reﬂects ethnic and cultural differences in coping behavior
between Aﬁican Americans and Whites, and those diﬂ’erences have to be careﬁrlly taken

into account when Aﬁican Americans’ coping is assessed by the culturally blind measure

107

which was developed only using the White population. Considerable attention has to be
given to the increased possibility to pathologize African Americans when such a culturally
insensitive measure assesses Aﬁican Americans’ coping behavior.
Summm Ed Conclusions

The overall ﬁndings of this study demonstrated the close interrelationships among
ethnic identity, coping strategies, academic involvement, and psychological adjustment in
Aﬁican American high school students. Especially, the importance of ethnic identity in
understanding academic and psychological adjustment of Aﬁican American adolescents
was systematically highlighted by the following results: (1) ethnic identity was the
strongest predictor of the mental health variables such as positive aﬁ‘ect and well-being;
(2) ethnic identity indirectly affected academic involvement through its eﬂ'ect on
psychological adjustment; and (3) ethnic identity mediated the relationship between coping
strategies and mental health. Most of the ethnic identity research has separately studied the
relationship between ethnic identity and academic involvement (F ordharn & Ogbu, 1986;
Fordham, 1988; Swanson, 1994; Arroyo & Zigler, 1995), or the relationship between
ethnic identity and psychological adjustment (e. g., Phinney, 1989, 1992). However, few
studies have examined the comprehensive interrelationship among ethnic identity,
psychological adjustment, and academic involvement. In this regard, the results of this
study can contribute to creating a bigger ﬁamework to understand the total effects of
ethnic identity on academic and psychological adjustment among African American high
school students.

Furthermore, the results of this study supported the recent research eﬁ‘orts to

108

suggest a close link between ethnic identity and coping strategies by conceptualizing
ethnic identity in a broader notion of coping strategies (e.g., Neville et al., 1997). In this
study, a reciprocal relationship was found between ethnic identity and coping strategies,
especially between ethnic identity achievement and task-oriented coping. Therefore, it can
be suggested not only that persons with a secure ethnic identity are more likely to use
effective coping strategies, but also that individuals who use effective coping strategies are
more likely to achieve a secure ethnic identity. Another important ﬁnding was that the
effects of ethnic identity or coping strategies on psychological adjustment were differently
demonstrated on the basis of positive or negative affect. More speciﬁcally, coping
strategies, when compared to ethnic identity, were found to be the stronger predictor of
negative affect such as anxiety, depression, and hostility, whereas ethnic identity, when
compared to coping strategies, was the more powerful predictor of the mental health
variables such as positive aﬂ’ect and well-being. Supporting evidence is that coping
strategies directly affected negative affect without the mediating effect of ethnic identity,
whereas ethnic identity directly inﬂuenced positive affect and well-being without the
mediating eﬂ’ect of coping strategies. This ﬁnding that ethnic identity and coping strategies
differently predicted the positive and negative components of psychological adjustment
deserves ﬁrrther research attention.

In addition, signiﬁcant sex differences in coping strategies and negative affect were
found in this study. As compared to males, Aﬁican American female 9th graders used
more emotion-and avoidance-oriented coping strategies, and showed higher levels of
negative affect. This ﬁnding is consistent with the previous gender-related research on

depression and coping strategies. In contrary, the results of this study also showed that

109

males and females didn’t differ in ethnic identity development, mental health (e.g., positive
aﬁ'ect and well-being), and the use of eﬁ’ective coping strategies (e. g., task-oriented
coping). Therefore, the possibility exists that male and female students share the same
level of psychological adjustment. More elaborated research attention should be paid to
the possibility that sex is really a signiﬁcant factor in explaining coping strategies and
consequential psychological adjustment of Aﬁican American high school students.

Finally, out of the ethnic identity variables (the MEIM scales), the Other-Group
Orientation scale was found be a powerful predictor of academic involvement and
psychological adjustment among Aﬁican American high school students. More
speciﬁcally, other-group orientation had a signiﬁcantly positive relationship to GPA,
positive affect, and well-being. As mentioned before, this result probably suggests that the
positive other-group orientation of Aﬁican American students may play an important role
in establishing an academically productive relationship with their White teachers and thus,
increasing their academic involvement. Moreover, the positive relationship found between
other-group orientation and mental health is a very meaningful result in light of the fact
that the sample of this study was derived from African American high school students
living in a racially homogeneous environment.
Implications of Findings

School counselors, teachers, and counselor educators are confused about how to
begin conceptualizing and responding to the psychological needs of Aﬁican American
urban high adolescents. In terms of educational reform, Afrocentric education
interventions have been strongly recommended, but they can not be successfully

implemented without understanding the wide range of psychological needs of Aﬁican

110

American students within a Black school and community in the urban environment. The
purpose of this study was to address this issue by examining the relationships among
ethnic identity, coping strategies, academic involvement, and psychological adjustment in
155 Aﬁican American high school freshmen.

The results of this study indicated that ethnic identity plays an important role in
promoting academic involvement, coping strategies, and psychological adjustment among
Aﬁican American urban adolescents. In terms of the relationship between ethnic identity
and academic involvement, it was shown that ethnic identity has an indirect inﬂuence on
GPA through its effect on psychological adjustment. Therefore, practical applications of
this ﬁnding can be implemented when Afrocentric education interventions are designed to
address the importance of positive ethnic identity in increasing psychological adjustment
and academic involvement among African American high school students.

In addition, a positive and reciprocal relationship was found between secure ethnic
identity and effective coping strategies. Furthermore, it was shown that ethnic identity and
coping strategies may play a diﬂ'erent role in enhancing psychological adjustment. More
speciﬁcally, the development of secure ethnic identity contributed to psychological
adjustment by increasing positive affect and well-being, whereas less use of ineffective
COping strategies contributed to psychological adjustment by decreasing negative affect.
With this in mind, educational programs and interventions for African American
adolescents will have a greater impact if they have a dual emphasis on facilitating ethnic
identity development and on enhancing the effectiveness of coping strategies.

Regarding sex-differences, the results of this study showed that Aﬁican American

female adolescents, when compared with males, tended to use more emotion-and

111

avoidance-oriented coping strategies and to exhibit higher levels of negative affect.
Furthermore, it was found that the frequent use of emotion-and avoidance-oriented coping
could exacerbate the perceived severity of life stress. In this sense, a decrease in the use of
such coping strategies would be associated with a decrease in the degree of negative
affect. Therefore, efforts to reduce the use of such less adaptive coping strategies may be
important especially for Aﬁican American female high school students. With this in mind,
education programs and interventions for African American female adolescents will be
likely to have a greater impact if they simultaneously focus on promoting the effectiveness
of coping strategies and on enhancing the positive cognitive appraisal of life events to
modify negative affect. In this context, school counselors, teachers, and counselor
educators have to consider not only sex-differences but also ethnic and cultural diﬂ‘erences
in coping. As mentioned before, a coping behavior which is considered as ineffective by
the Western culture can be eﬁ‘ective for Aﬁican Americans whose culture values
collectivity more than individuality. This study’s results also supported this point. For
example, talking to somebody for advice or taking sometime off to get away ﬁom the
situation can be an effective coping behavior for African American adolescents rather than
for the Whites.

Finally, the results of this study revealed a positive relationship among Aﬁican
American students’ other-group orientation, academic involvement, and psychological
adjustment. More speciﬁcally, other-group orientation had a signiﬁcantly positive
relationship to GPA, positive affect, and well-being. If Aﬁican American individuals
operating in a racially homogeneous environment have high levels of acceptance of other

ethnic groups, it is very likely that those people have achieved the advanced levels of

112

psychological ﬂexibility and maturity. In this context, a positive relationship found
between other-group orientation and positive outcomes may imply that positive attitudes
toward one’s own ethnic group and those toward other ethnic groups are not mutually
exclusive, but rather complimentary. It also suggests that Afrocentric education
interventions should simultaneously deal with two important issues: (1) how much Aﬁican
American students feel satisﬁed with their ethnic group membership; and (2) how much
they acknowledge and accept other ethnic groups. Therefore, education programs and
interventions designed to facilitate ethnic identity development among Aﬁ'ican American
students will have a much greater impact if they simultaneously have a dual emphasis on
increasing the positive attitudes of African American students toward their own ethnic
group and on enhancing those of Aﬁican American students toward other ethnic groups.
Limitations of the Present Sgdy

The ﬁrst limitation of this study relates to the issue of internal validity. As with
most of social science research, this study was based on the self-reported questionnaires.
The sampling procedure employed in this study was not random, but rather convenient. E
The variables examined in this study were not systematically manipulated nor controlled. ’
Therefore, as with all nonexperimental correlational studies, the results of this study can’t i

make any arguments about the causal relationships among the proposed variables.

 

A second potentially limiting factor is related to the assessment procedure of the
proposed variables. Since all the data for this study were obtained from Aﬁican American
adolescent high school students, the nature of the proposed variables was developmentally
oriented and changing over time. This issue raises the methodological question of how the

proposed variables evolve over time and of how they can be best measured. The present

113

study employed a static measure to examine the proposed variables at a given point in
time, and therefore, is unable to address the developmental issues of the proposed
variables among the adolescent population. In order to more accurately address the
developmental processes of the proposed variables, a longitudinal approach is
recommended for the future research. A longitudinal approach can circumvent the skewed
representation of the developmentally-oriented constructs that may result from a static
one-time assessment of those constructs. In addition, a longitudinal approach may better
describe the evolving processes of those developmentally-oriented constructs.

Another limitation of this study concerns the issue of external validity. As already
mentioned, the sample of this study was derived ﬁom an extremely homogenous
population of Aﬁican American high school 9th graders in an urban, predominantly
Aﬁican American, and economically disadvantaged setting. Therefore, this raises the
question of how much the results of this study can be generalized to other Aﬁican
American adolescents living in a different racial and economic environment. In order to
increase the external validity and the generalizability of the results, the use of more
random and diverse sampling procedures must be considered for ﬁrture research.

A ﬁnal limitation of the study concerns the failure of this study to consider the
inﬂuence of the demographic factors (e.g., family socio-economic status) on the proposed
variables. The demographic factors involve parents’ educational level, occupations, marital
status, and family socio-economic status. Although students were asked to answer the
demographic questions in this study, many of them didn’t answer those questions. For
example, many students didn’t know about their parents’ educational level or their family

socio-economic status. The failure of this study to consider the potential inﬂuence of the

 

114

demographic variables is due to the lack of students’ responses to the self-reported
demographic questions. Therefore, a more accurate and objective assessment of the
demographic variables is needed to better understand or control for the potential inﬂuence
of those extraneous variables.
Rmmmengetions for Future Resea_rch

Recommendations for future research can be made on the basis of the strengths
and limitations of this study. Major strengths of this study lie in the appropriateness and
effectiveness of the measures used in this study. The measurement of ethnic or racial
identity development for the African American adolescent as well as adult population
usually brings diverse issues and problems. This holds true especially for the adolescent
population. For example, in her doctoral dissertation, Peeke (1996) found that there were
a lot of problems associated with using the measure of the Racial Identity Attitude Scale
(RIAS-B: Helms, 1990) on Aﬁican American high school students. For example, her data
gathered ﬁ'om the administration of the RIAS-B demonstrated that little variation existed
in students’ racial identity attitudes. More speciﬁcally, the vast majority of the high school
students sampled rated themselves as holding the highest level of racial identity. The lack
of the variance in the major construct of racial identity automatically leaded to the lack of
signiﬁcant results found in her study. The RIAS-B versions were originally developed
using Aﬁican American college and university students attending predominantly White
universities. Therefore, it can raise the question as to whether or not the RIAS-B is valid
with Aﬁican American adolescents, especially those living in a racially homogenous

environment.

115

In addition, Peeke (1996) reported that a number of students prematurely dropped
from her study in reaction to the anger and distress produced by the content of the items
on the RIAS-B. Therefore, the negative reactions produced by the administration of the
RIAS-B adversely affected the validity of using the RIAS-B with the adolescent
population. Because of the above-mentioned issues and concerns, this study used the
Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM: Phinney, 1992) to assess the ethnic identity
of Aﬁican American adolescent students attending a predominantly Black high school.
The MEIM was developed to assess ethnic identity attitudes among diverse ethnic
minority groups. Regarding the assessment concerns about using the MEIM, it was
shown in this study that the administration of the MEIM didn’t produce any anger nor
distress for Aﬁican American adolescent students. Regarding the resistance to the
assessment procedure, no student dropped prematurely from this study in negative
reaction to the MEIM.

Given the fact that the signiﬁcant results on ethnic identity and its relationship to
other variables were found in this study, it can be suggested that the use of the MEIM was
appropriate for 155 African American high school students sampled in this study.
Therefore, the MEIM rather than the RIAS-B is strongly recommended for the future
research assessing ethnic or racial identity development of African American adolescents,
especially those operating in a racially homogenous environment. All the measures used in
this study were carefully selected because of the very limited reading skills of Aﬁican
American 9th grade participants in this study. Especially, the careful consideration of
participants’ reading ability in selecting the instruments signiﬁcantly improved the validity

of this study. Furthermore, as this study’s results showed the ethnic and cultural

116

diﬂ‘erences in coping, careﬁrl attention should be paid to the increased possibility that
Aﬁican Americans may be pathologized when their coping behavior is assessed by the
culturally insensitive measures which were originally developed using the White
population. Therefore, selecting the measures appropriate for research participants’
demographics (e.g., age, sex, race, and reading ability) is strongly recommended because it
is the ﬁrst step to enhance the overall validity of the study.

The sample of this study was derived from a racially homogenous population of
African American high school 9th graders in an urban and economically disadvantaged
setting. For the future research, there is a need for using a diverse sample of Aﬁican
American high school and college students who attend both predominantly White and
predominantly Black academic institutions. In addition, there is also a need for using a
diverse sample in terms of socioeconomic status. As mentioned earlier, the sample of this
study was derived ﬁom Aﬁican American high school 9th graders living in an urban,
predominantly Aﬁican American, and economically disadvantaged environment.
Therefore, it is possible that the lack of this study in using a diverse sample can negatively
affect the generalizability of this study’s ﬁndings. In order to increase the external validity
and the generalizability of the study, the use of more random and diverse sampling
procedure should be considered for the future study.

In this study, the signiﬁcant inﬂuence of sex (student gender) on some of the
proposed variables was found among Aﬁican American high school 9th graders. However,
as already discussed, this study failed to consider the potential inﬂuence of the
demographic variables other than sex on the proposed variables. A more complete

understanding of the sample demographics may make it possible to examine the inﬂuence

117

of extraneous variables such as parents’ education, occupations, marital status, and family
socio-economic status. Part of the reason for the failure of this study to consider the
potential inﬂuence of the demographic variables is due to the lack of students’ responses
to the self-reported demographic questions. Therefore, a more objective assessment of the
demographic variables is needed for the future study. In this sense, it is recommended that
researchers should try to ﬁnd the information on subjects’ demographics from objective

and accurate sources other than self-reported questions.

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118

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APPENDICES

 

127

APPENDIX A

Pargntal/Guamian Qonsgnt Farm Fpr Stpdgnt Pam'cipagipn in Research Project

One of the major goals of Northwestern High School is to improve academic and
psychological adjustment of students. The purpose of this study is to collect data on
students’ personal attitudes and opinions of their experiences. Results will be used to
assist students in their efforts to academically and psychologically adjust in school. Results
will also assist school staﬁ’ in their counseling and instruction of students. Your consent
will help Northwestern High School derive the beneﬁts of this research project.

By giving permission for my child to participate in the study, I understand the
following:

1. I consent to have my child discuss his or her attitudes, beliefs and opinions.

2. The data collected may be used for articles and presentations to help educators.

3. The data collected will be conﬁdential, and in written presentations my child’s

identity will not be revealed.

4. My child may withdraw from this study at any time without penalty. L

I give my child permission to participate in this research project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Child’s name:

Signature of parent or guardian:

Date:

Hanik Jo, M.A. Robbie Steward, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator Project Supervisor

(517) 355-1034 (517) 355-8502

128

APPENDIX B

on ntFormfrP iiaininR rchPro'

The College of Education at Michigan State University and Northwestern High
School support the practice of protection for human subjects participating in research. The
following information is provided so that you may decide whether you wish to participate
in the present study.

This study is concerned with the identiﬁcation and collection of students’
personal attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of their experiences. Results will be used
to assist freshmen in their efforts to academically and psychologically adjust in
high school. Results will also assist school staff in their counseling and instruction
of students.

Your participation is voluntary. Even if you agree to participate, you are free to
withdraw at any time. You are welcome to ask questions about the study. All the results
will be kept strictly conﬁdential and will be destroyed upon completion of the study. Your
name will NO_T be associated with any research ﬁndings. The instruments will take about
40 minutes to complete. Michigan State University, Northwestern High School and myself
greatly appreciate your cooperation. Thank you.

 

 

Signature of participant Date

 

Print name here

Principle Investigator: Project Supervisor:
Hanik Jo, M.A. Robbie Steward, Ph.D.
Counseling Doctoral Student Associate Professor,

Michigan State University Michigan State University

 

129

APPENDIX C

Dampggaphig Infprmation

Your Name: (please print)

Sex (check one): Male Female

 

Your mother’s educational level (elementary school, middle school, high school, some

college, graduate school, etc):

 

Your father’s educational level (elementary school, middle school, high school, some

college, graduate school, etc):

 

Your family’s socioeconomic status (check one): Lower Working Class
Working Class Lower Middle Class Middle Class

Upper Middle Class Upper Class

130

APPENDIX D

Multigoup Ethnic Idgntigy Measure

Every person is born into an ethnic group, or sometimes two groups. But, people diﬁ‘er on
how important their ethnicity is to them, how they feel about it, and how much their
behavior is affected by it. These questions are about your ethnicity or your ethnic group
and how you feel about it or react to it.

Use the numbers given below to indicate how much you agree or disagree with each
statement.
4: Strongly 3: Somewhat 2: Somewhat l: Strongly
agree agree disagree disagree

p—l

. I have spent time trying to ﬁnd out more about my own ethnic group, such as its
history, traditions, and customs. 4 3 2 l

2. I am active in organizations or social groups that include mostly members of my own
ethnic group. 4 3 2 1

3. I have a clear sense of my ethnic background and
what it means to me. 4 3 2 1

4. I like meeting and getting to know people ﬁ'om ethnic groups
other than my own. 4 3 2 1

5. I think a lot about how my life will be affected by my ethnic

group memberships. 4 3 2 1

I am happy that I am a member of the group I belong to. 4 3 2 1

7. I sometimes feel it would be better if different ethnic groups

didn’t try to mix together. 4 3 2 l

.0‘

Sample items ﬁom the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure by J. S. Phinney. Copyright
1992 by J. S. Phinney. Published in The multiple ethnic identity measure: A new scale for
use with diverse groups. Joumg of Adolesceat Research. 7, 156-176.

131

APPENDIX E

Coping Invgntogy for §tmgfpl Simagipng - Adolescent

Schedule my time better.

Focus on the problem and see howl can solve it.
Think about the good times I’ve had.

Try to be with other people.

Blame myself for putting things off.

Do what I think is best.

Become preoccupied with aches and pains.

Blame myself for having gotten into this situation.

PP°N99¥PNF

Window shop.
10. Outline my priorities.
11. Try to go to sleep.

Sample items from the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations by Endler and Parker.
Copyright 1990 by Endler and Parker. Published in Coping Inventory for Stressful
Situations (CISS): Manual. Toronto, Ontario: Multi-Health Systems Inc.

 

 

132

APPENDIX F

Multiple Affect Adjective Check List

Please check every word that describes ho_w_ yog feel now, today. Work rapidly.

1 . Active

2. Adventurous
3. Affectionate
4. Afraid

5. Alone

6. Angry

7. Annoyed

21. __ Friendly

22. __ Frightened
23. __ Furious

24. __ Glad

25. __ Good

26. __ Good-natured
27. __Happy

41. __ Peaceful
42. __ Pleased
43. __ Polite
44. __ Rejected
45. __ Sad

46. __ Satisﬁed
47. __ Secure

Sample items from the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-R6 by Lubin et al.
Copyright 1995 by Lubin et al. Published in A grade 6 reading level key for the Multiple
Affect Adjective Check List-Revised. Perceptual and Motor Skills, ﬂ, 883-889.

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