Factors Affecting the Level of African American Identification

Abstract

Two hundred and one African Americans, including 99 males and 102 females, were interviewed in an attempt to identify variables that impact on racial identification. All participants were eighteen years of age or older and resided within a large midwestern city. The data were collected utilizing two instruments. A structured interview protocol was developed that elicited life course data for individuals including geographical, educational, social, and family history. Information on political and social activities, as they related to Black empowerment movements, was collected, as well. The questionnaire was a 44-item instrument that assessed the level of sociocultural participation and the orientation of the subject on two parameters of racial identification: cultural identity and psychological identity. The results indicated that participation in African American political organizations and experiences with racism were important factors in determining identification on the psychological parameter. Sex, education, and the age at which racism was experienced were important factors in determining cultural identification.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aronson, D. R. (1976). Ethnicity as a cultural system. In H. Frances (Ed.), Ethnicity in the Americas. The Hague, Paris: Mouton Publishers.

Asante, M. K. (1980). Afrocentricity: The theory of social change. Buffalo, NY: Amulefi Publishing Company.

Baldwin, J. A. (1980). The psychology of oppression. In M. Asante & A. Vandi (Eds.), Contemporary black thought. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Brand, E. S. , Ruiz, R. A. , & Padillo, A. M. (1974). Ethnic identification and preference: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 81, 860-890.

Cross, W., Jr. (1971). Negro-to-black conversion experience: Toward a psychology of black liberation. Black World, 2019, 13-27.

Helms, J. E. (1990). The beginnings of a diagnostic model of racial identity in Black and white racial identity: Theory, research and practice. CT: Greenwood.

Hilliard, A. (February 1985). Parameters affecting the African American Racial Identification. Presented at the Black Psychology Seminar, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Howell, David C. (1987). Statistical methods for psychology, 2nd Edition. Boston: PWS-Kent Publishing Company.

Lipscomb, L. (1974). Parental influence in the development of black children's racial self-esteem. Dissertation, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

10.

McMillan, Michael (1988). The Doll Test studies-From cabbage patch to self-concept. The Journal of Black Psychology, 14, 69-72.

11.

Orara, K. (1986). Black identity scale. Dissertation Proposal, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.

12.

Sanders, Vetta (in press). A multi-faceted approach to the conceptualization of African American identification. Journal of Black Studies.

13.

Smith, W. D. (1974). The effects of racial milieu and parental racial attitudes and rearing practices on black children's racial identity, self-esteem, and consequent behaviors. Dissertation, Stanford University.

14.

Spencer, M. B. (1983). Children's cultural values and parental child rearing strategies. Developmental Review, 3, 351-370.

15.

U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census . (1980). Census of population and housing census tracts, standard metropolitan statistical area. (Sections 1 and 2, rev. July, 1983).

16.

White, J. L. , & Parham, T. (1990). The psychology of Blacks: An African American perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc.

17.

Williams, R. L. , (1976). Manual of directions for Williams Awareness Sentence Completion. St. Louis, MO: Robert L. Williams & Associates. Inc.