Experiences of Black Male Doctoral Students in Psychology: A Focus on Protective Factors

Abstract

Black male doctoral students in psychology face unique challenges that impact their learning environment and experience, especially with issues like race-related stress. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand their lived experience as well as the specific sociocultural factors that helped to foster their resiliency. It suggests a strengths-focused approach to understanding proactive measures that can positively impact Black male students’ success in doctoral psychology programs and their subsequent positive consequences for the profession. A phenomenological study was conducted, interviewing five Black men in clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was utilized to analyze the interview responses. The findings suggest a community of support (family, mentors, peers, faculty, and relationships at professional conferences) helps, to foster awareness (educational, self-awareness, and contextual awareness) which, in turn, leads to the students engaging in meaningful action (representation, giving back, and self-care), returning to serve as members who make up the community of support for others within their community.

Keywords

Black men clinical psychology doctoral program counseling psychology doctoral program phenomenology protective factors

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychological Association . (n.d.). APA-accredited programs. APA Accredidation. https://accreditation.apa.org/accredited-programs

Beasley

S. T.

Miller

I. S. K.

Cokley

K. O.

(2015). Exploring the impact of increasing the number of Black men in professional psychology. Journal of Black Studies, 46(7), 704–722. http://doi.org/10.1177/0021934715599424

Benjamin

L. T.

Jr. DeLeon

P. H.

Freedheim

D. K.

Vandenbos

G. R.

(2003). Psychology as a profession. In Freedheim

D. K.

(Ed.) Handbook of psychology: History of psychology, (Vol. 1, pp. 27–45). John Wiley & Sons Inc. http://doi.org/10.1002/0471264385.wei0102

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. http://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Braun

Clarke

(2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2020.1769238

Bronfenbrenner

(1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

Brown

(1954) Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

Callahan

J. L.

Smotherman

J. M.

Dziurzynski

K. E.

Love

P. K.

Kilmer

E. D.

Niemann

Y. F.

Ruggero

C. J.

(2018). Diversity in the professional psychology training-to-workforce pipeline: Results from doctoral psychology student population data. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 12(4), 273–285. http://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000203

David

E. J. R.

Okazaki

Giroux

(2014). A set of guiding principles to advance multicultural psychology and its major concepts. In Leong

F. T. L.

Comas-Diaz

Hall

G. C. N.

McLoyd

V. C.

Trimble

J. E.

(Eds.), American Psychological Association handbook of multicultural psychology (pp. 85–104). American Psychological Association. http://doi.org/10.1037/14189-005

10.

Elliott

J. L.

Reynolds

J. D.

Lee

(2021). And still I rise: Protective factors for Black counseling psychology doctoral students from predominantly White institutions. Qualitative Report, 26(7), 2206–2225. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4771

11.

Franklin

A. J.

(1999). Invisibility syndrome and racial identity development in psychotherapy and counseling African American men. The Counseling Psychologist, 27(6), 761–793. http://doi.org/10.1177/0011000099276002

12.

Franklin

A. J.

(2019). Dr. Joseph L. White: Translational scholar, career developer, and mentor. Journal of Black Psychology, 45(2), 67–88. http://doi.org/10.1177/0095798419835981

13.

Guthrie

R. V.

(2004). Even the rat was white: A historical view of psychology (2nd ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

14.

Hope

E. C.

Spencer

M. B.

(2017). Civic engagement as an adaptive coping response to conditions of inequality: An application of phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST). In Cabrera

N. J.

Leyendecker

(Eds.), Handbook on positive development of minority children and youth (pp. 421-435). Springer International Publishing. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43645-6_25

15.

Isacco

Hammer

J. H.

Shen-Miller

D. S.

(2016). Outnumbered, but meaningful: The experience of male doctoral students in professional psychology training programs. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 10(1), 45–53. http://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000107

16.

Johnson

R. M.

Strayhorn

T. L.

(2022). Examining race and racism in Black men doctoral student socialization: A critical race mixed methods analysis. Journal of diversity in higher education, 16(5), 539–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000420

17.

Kim

Hargrove

D. T.

(2013). Deficient or resilient: A critical review of Black male academic success and persistence in higher education. The Journal of Negro Education, 82(3), 300–311. http://doi.org/10.7709/jnegroeducation.82.3.0300

18.

Kockelmans

J. J.

(Ed.) (1967). Phenomenology: The philosophy of Edmund Husserl and its interpretation. Doubleday.

19.

Lozada

F. T.

Jagers

R. J.

Smith

C. D.

Bañales

Hope

E. C.

(2017). Prosocial behaviors of Black adolescent boys: An application of a sociopolitical development theory. Journal of Black Psychology, 43(5), 493–516. http://doi.org/10.1177/0095798416652021

20.

Maton

K. I.

Wimms

H. E.

Grant

S. K.

Wittig

M. A.

Rogers

M. R.

Vasquez

M. J. T.

(2011). Experiences and perspectives of African American, Latina/o, Asian American, and European American psychology graduate students: A national study. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(1), 68–78. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0021668

21.

McGaskey

F. G.

Freeman

Jr. Guyton

Richmond

Guyton

C. W.

(2016). The social support networks of Black males in higher education administration doctoral program: An exploratory study. Western Journal of Black Studies, 40(2), 141–158.

22.

Morrow

S. L.

(2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 250–260. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.250

23.

Moustakas

C. E.

(1994). Phenomenological research methods. Sage Publications, Inc.

24.

National Center for Education Statistics . (2021a). Doctor’s degrees conferred to females by postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity and field of study: 2018-19 and 2019-20. [Data File]. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_324.35.asp

25.

National Center for Education Statistics . (2021b). Doctor’s degrees conferred to males by postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity and field of study: 2018-19 and 2019-20. [Data File]. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_324.30.asp

26.

Neville

H. A.

(2015). Social justice mentoring: Supporting the development of future leaders for struggle, resistance, and transformation. The Counseling Psychologist, 43(1), 157–169. http://doi.org/10.1177/0011000014564252

27.

Patton

M. Q.

(2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Sage Publishing, Inc.

28.

Patton

M. Q.

(2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (4th ed.). Sage Publishing, Inc.

29.

Plessy

Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896).

30.

Pope

R. J.

(2013). Reflections of a Black male counseling psychology doctoral student: Lessons learned from APA Division 45 commentary and the role of social justice for counseling psychologists. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 5(1), 103–115. http://doi.org/10.33043/JSACP.5.1.103-115

31.

Rondilla

J. L.

Guevarra

R. P.

Jr. Spickard

(2017). Introduction: About mixed race, not about whiteness. In Rondilla

J. L.

Guevarra

R. P.

Spickard

(Eds.), Red and Yellow, Black and Brown: Decentering Whiteness in mixed race studies (pp. 1–20). Rutgers University Press.

32.

Seidman

(2013). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education & the social sciences (4th ed.). Teachers College Press.

33.

Silverman

(1993). Interpreting qualitative data: Methods for analyzing talk, text, and interaction. Sage Publications, Inc.

34.

Smith

E. P.

Witherspoon

D. P.

Bhargava

Bermudez

J. M.

(2019). Cultural values and behavior among African American and European American children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(5), 1236–1249. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01367-y

35.

Solórzano

D. G.

Yosso

T. J.

(2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44. http://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103

36.

Spencer

B. M.

(2021). The psychological cost of experiencing racial discrimination in the ivory tower: The untold stories of Black men enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) doctoral programs. Sociological Forum, 36(3), 776–798. http://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12724

37.

Stone

Saucer

Bailey

Garba

Hurst

Jackson

S. M.

Krueger

Cokley

(2018). Learning while Black: A culturally informed model of the imposter phenomenon for Black graduate students. Journal of Black Psychology, 44(6), 491–531. http://doi.org/10.1177/0095798418786648

38.

Utsey

S. O.

Lanier

Williams

III Bolden

Lee

(2006). Moderator effects of cognitive ability and social support on the relation between race-related stress and quality of life in a community sample of Black Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12(2), 334–346. http://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.12.2.334

39.

Washington

(2010). Zulu traditional healing, Afrikan worldview and the practice of Ubuntu: Deep thought for African/Black psychology. Journal of Pan African Studies, 3(8), 24–39.