African American Female Students Research Articles

Superintendents as social justice advocates for African American female students in STEM

ABSTRACT Although the Obama-Biden administration recognized and the Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasize the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including medicine, for the nation’s continuing prosperity, the United States produces significantly fewer STEM graduates than other countries. To make up the difference, the United States relies on foreign STEM workers. For a variety of reasons, it would be better to produce STEM professionals domestically. One approach to narrow or eliminate the gap between the number of STEM workers the United States needs and the number of graduates in STEM fields is to attract and maintain more women of color in STEM careers. Fulfilling this vision requires superintendents who view getting more African-American female students interested in STEM as both an economic and social justice issue.

The Persistence of First-Generation African American Female Students at Private HBCUs

The purpose of this study was to understand the persistence or lack of persistence of first-generation, African American female students at an Historic Black College and University (HBCU). The study utilized Tinto’s (1975) student integration model for persistence as the foundation for the research questions. Those questions were: 1) How does pre-entry attributes influence the persistence of first-generation African American female students? 2) How does academic integration influence the persistence of first-generation African American female students? And 3) How does social integration impact the success of first-generation African American female students? Thirteen first-generation African American female students aged 18 to 21 years old, who were juniors or seniors at an HBCU, shared their experiences. Nine themes emerged from this research: socioeconomic factors, support systems, academic preparedness, faculty and staff engagement, academic and financial support, and campus resources and support services. This study found that understanding and addressing the socio-cultural dynamics of these students can contribute to the development of targeted interventions and support mechanisms for this population. In addition, socioeconomic factors, such as income level, parental education, and financial resources, often provide distinct hurdles in terms of academicpreparedness for college-level coursework. Active engagement by faculty and staff with these students improves their sense of belonging, promotes emotional wellbeing, and furthers academic success. Finally, academic and financial support can address the specific issues and barriers that these students commonly face.

Using Supplemental Instruction through the EMPOWER Program to Increase Diversity in STEM Fields

The underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields is of national concern. Despite recent increases, females continue to be underrepresented in math, physical science, and engineering related fields compared to their male counterparts. There is also evidence showing a troubling inequity trend in enrollment of most graduate and all post graduate degrees in STEM fields. These factors ultimately impact the workforce with women less likely than men with similar degrees to actually be employed in these fields, constituting 23% of the science and engineering labor force and only 10 % of employed physicists. Well-structured interventions are needed to support African American women in overcoming barriers to increase their representation in STEM. What is Needed to Make a Difference? Extracurricular instruction in the form of supplemental educational programming is needed to identify, engage and retain African American female students to ensure their level of post-secondary education STEM success and beyond. The R25 Summer Research Education Program is designed to support education activities that complement and or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs. Methods: The Engaging Multidisciplinary Professional Opportunities for Women in Environmental Research (EMPOWER) program was created to address the diversity in STEM. This summer research experience program was developed to educate high school science teachers in tandem with outstanding African American and Hispanic women from metro Atlanta high schools in the research approaches and competencies required for a deeper understanding of how to measure and assess environmental exposures, including air and water in the urban environment and link them to health effects. Results/Discussion: Students and teachers participated in a four-week summer program. The primary objectives of EMPOWER were two-fold including:1) Enhance teaching capacity within the sciences and assist in the development of public and environmental health curriculum along with in class activities intended to promote interest in STEM. 2) Provide African-American and LatinX women opportunities to engage in faculty lead research projects, obtain hands-on training in tandem with professional and soft skill development. EMPOWER’s major contribution will be to continue to enhance STEM education in high schools leading to higher quality post-secondary opportunities and greater workforce diversity. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG SENSE OF COMMUNITY, SCIENCE SELF-EFFICACY, AND SCIENCE IDENTITY FOR FEMALE MEYERHOFF SCHOLARS: IMPLICATIONS FOR PATHWAYS TO BROADENING THE WORKFORCE IN STEM

Women remain underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, even with the plethora of programs to increase diversity. Understanding the undergraduate experience for female students of color majoring in STEM is critical for determining effective strategies for retention and smooth career pathways. Using data from 96 (predominantly) African-American female and Latina students in the Meyerhoff Scholars Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, this study quantitatively examined the relationships among sense of community, science self-efficacy, and science identity. Mediation models were run on all female STEM majors in the dataset. There was a positive and significant indirect effect of sense of program community on science identity via science self-efficacy. The results of this study enhance our understanding of how female Meyerhoff students with a strong sense of program community thrive in STEM. It adds support to previous studies of the positive impact that student-focused programs that address multiple areas of students of color needs and challenges have on psychosocial variables important to student success. This study provides further insight into the critical work of retaining female undergraduate students of color in STEM programs and ensuring their success along the pathway to a STEM career.

The Persistence of African American Female Students in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT Community colleges have been an educational source for individuals to increase capital and social mobility. But the reality of these opportunities is not the same for all. First generation, low income, non-traditional minority students make up a large percentage of students enrolling in community colleges yet retention rates, primarily for African Americans remains relatively low. The purpose of this study was to determine what factors impact the persistence of African American female students attending community colleges. The study researchers tested study hypotheses using a 3-step hierarchical regression analysis. Demographic variables (race and age) were entered into the model first to control the confounding effect of these variables. Second, the researchers entered academic support, financial health, financial strain, and experiencing racism to examine change in variance explained by the model with main effects and the relative direct effect of each variable on college persistence. In the third step, study researchers entered two-way interactions between academic support and financial health, academic support and financial strain, and academic support and experiencing racism to examine indirect effects. African American female students who make the commitment to invest in furthering their education should have every opportunity available to them to persist and ultimately graduate. Reviewing and reforming current policies and practices may increase engagement, positively impact retention, and result in greater positive societal impacts.

Academic Success and Stories of Resiliency: African American Female Students Navigating the College Terrain

Many educators have become accustomed to using the deficit model of thinking to illustrate the challenges faced by African American students, frequently interpreting their academic struggles as personal failures and lack of resilience. In 2007, a public university in Southern California established the Learning Habits Project (LHP), a study designed to assess the ongoing efforts of university academic programs and to provide data on fostering student success through successful learning habits. This study documented the strategic approaches that foster academic success and resilience employed by 19 African American female college students. Viewed through the lens of Black Feminist Standpoint and Resiliency theories, the results of this study can be used to guide students and educators seeking to improve academic success and resiliency in higher education.

What Barriers Keep College-Aged Females from Using the Campus Recreation Center?

Attending college offers many opportunities for students to be involved in many different activities. One activity that may be neglected is physical activity. This applies to all groups of students, in particular College-Aged Females (CAF). The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect CAF students from using a college exercise and wellness facility. A sample of 269 CAF (243=Caucasian & 24 African American Female) students (AAF) were surveyed and then interviewed as a group to better learn what barriers may be keeping them from using the campus exercise and wellness facility. Generally, it was found the CAF did not use the college and wellness facility for cultural, educational and personal reasons. The results from this study can be used to better encourage and market strategies to the CAF population on college campuses.

Multi-Year Examination of School-Based Programs in Preventing Childhood Obesity: A Case of a State Policy in the U.S.

This study examined the association between the obesogenic factors and the risk of suffering from weight excess in school-based state programs regarding physical activity, physical education, nutrition standards, and nutrition education in preventing childhood obesity. Data were drawn from the 1999–2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in the State of Mississippi (N = 8862; grades 9–12). Logistic regression with year-fixed effects was performed to capture the influence of the legislation on teenage obesity, controlling for demographics and nutrition- and physical activity-related behaviors. The age-, sex-, and ethnicity-adjusted mean of the body mass index had reduced since 2007 (year 1999: 23.52; year 2001: 23.53; year 2003: 23.76; year 2007: 24.26; year 2009: 24.29; and year 2011: 23.91). The legislation was significantly associated with a decreased likelihood of being overweight (year 2007, odds ratio (OR) = 0.686; year 2009, OR = 0.739; and year 2011, OR = 0.760; all p < 0.01). Children who were more sedentary, more frequently fasted to lose weight, and were less physically active and likelier to be overweight (OR = 1.05, 1.37, and 0.97, respectively; all p < 0.05), as were African-American children (OR = 0.64; p < 0.05) and female students (OR = 1.59; p < 0.05). In conclusion, schools are among the most easily modifiable settings for preventing childhood obesity and reducing its prevalence, with the implementation of physical activity and nutritional policies.

Creating a Pipeline: Engineering Success of African American Female Students in STEM Using Student Support Services and Faculty Support at Community Colleges in Massachusetts

Two-year institutions became the place for many marginalized groups to develop or enhance skills, especially many subgroups not admitted to four-year institutions. African-Americans were allowed to attend schools during the twentieth century, but very few accepted them on their college campus. As the workforce demands changed, women headed to college and universities to receive education and gain skills sets, but not welcomed by their male counterparts. The open-access of community colleges allowed women to enroll in substantial numbers and becoming the lead gender to represent community colleges.

Analysis of preservice teachers’ lesson plans to determine the extent of transfer of argumentation

ABSTRACT Argumentation research often addresses the nature of argumentation as a complex set of procedures that can aid learning of complex scientific knowledge and practices. Thus, studies might look at transfer of knowledge and processes to specific science domains or to other types of procedural knowledge, such as teacher implementation in the elementary classroom or attention to argumentation procedures. This study explored the extent of transfer of the procedures and knowledge of argumentation to preservice teachers’ lesson plans. Participants were four African American female preservice graduate students enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The students engaged in argumentation exercises in science from segments of the IDEAS project [Osborne, J., Erduran, S., & Simon, S. (2004). Ideas, evidence and argument in science (IDEAS) project. University of London Press], then participated in a socioscientific crime scene investigation. Students’ capstone unit plans were analysed to explore the extent of transfer of argumentation knowledge and procedures to students’ lessons. Schema theory as an analytic framework shows the nature of psychological and architectural features consistent with students’ abstractions and attention to argumentation. The research has implications for understanding the importance of considering transfer of learning in relation to students’ prior knowledge, especially when it comes to understanding the connections that African American students make to science pedagogy and content.

Examining the Treatment of African American Female Students in Urban Schools

This research project examined whether African American female students are being targeted with unfair treatment, disciplinary actions, and cultural misunderstandings. We explored the social, cultural, and emotional factors associated with being from an African American background and how it impacts their feelings and thoughts about school. The study involved African American female students in grades 9-12 in an urban Early College high school and a Traditional high school. The results indicated that African American female students believed they were treated as older and sexually more mature than Caucasian female students. The suspension and disciplinary rates of the African American female students were abnormally higher than the Caucasian female students in the Traditional High School as compared to students in the Early College.

Coming to My Senses.

Coming to My Senses.

Differential perceptions of a hypothetical sexual assault survivor based on race and ethnicity: Exploring victim responsibility, trauma, and need for social support

Objective: Explore the ways in which a sample of college women interpret racially/ethnically coded vignettes to understand their perceptions of responsibility and trauma experienced by a hypothetical female sexual assault survivor and her need for social support. Participants: Convenience sample of college women (N = 51) attending a large, predominately white university in the Southeastern United States recruited between January and March 2013. Methods: Participants were randomly assigned one of three vignettes describing a hypothetical date rape scenario. Vignette scenarios were identical except for discrete statements coded to signify either an African American, Latina, or white female student. Participants responded to open-ended questions that gauged their interpretations of responsibility, trauma, and social support. Results: Qualitative analysis of open-ended responses revealed six overarching themes, including overt victim blaming/shaming, justification of the sexual assault, and perceived need for social support. Conclusions: Findings point to the significance of including race in discussions about and programs that address sexual assault on college campuses to ensure that all women who experience sexual violence receive the support that they need.

A Critical Race Inquiry of African American Female Law Students’ Educational Experiences at a Racially Diverse Law School

A Critical Race Inquiry of African American Female Law Students’ Educational Experiences at a Racially Diverse Law School

Cultural Identity, Africultural Coping Strategies, and Depression as Predictors of Suicidal Ideations and Attempts Among African American Female College Students

Suicide prevention is a growing health concern in America for many minority groups. Although experts agree suicide is associated with cultural practices and beliefs, there is limited evidence on how African American women cultural values and practices influence their low rates of suicide. This study explores cultural identity, Africultural coping strategies, and depression as predictors of suicidal ideations and attempts among African American female college students. It was hypothesized that suicidal ideations and attempts are negatively related to cultural identity and Africultural coping styles, but positively related to depression. One hundred and thirty-seven African American female students were administered a battery of measures assessing cultural identity, coping strategies, and suicidal ideations and attempts. Results revealed that Africultural coping strategies and depression emerged as significant predictors of suicidal ideation and attempts. Results are discussed in terms of African American culture as a buffer to possible suicidal behavior in African American women.

“For Real Love”: How Black Girls Benefit from a Politicized Ethic of Care

This article examines the concept of a politicized ethic of care, a teaching philosophy that is commonly rooted in the pedagogies of exemplary Black female teachers. Data from a larger study of a girls' empowerment program at a public high school are used to argue in favor of this pedagogical tradition, which has been proven to facilitate the development of positive social identities and schooling behaviors among African American female students. The author challenges Western and gender-neutral approaches to caring for urban Black girls through an inductive analysis of curricula, in-class video footage, student artifacts, and interviews with former participants. Implications for teacher education research are presented.

Barriers that Affect African-American Female College Students from Using the Campus Exercise and Wellness Facility

One group that is affected by the lack of being physically active is the African-American Female (AAF) population. For this study 107 AAF were surveyed to find out the barriers to using the campus exercise and wellness facility. Briefly, it was found that the AAF students were not physically active because of prior experiences in physical activity settings, and that the students were not motivated to be physically active. Also those AAF females did not feel comfortable exercising in the presences of men. This knowledge can give those supervising campus exercise and wellness facilities knowledge of the barriers of keeping AAF from being physically active.

Intersectionality of Ethnicity/Race and Gender in the Phenomenology of African American College Students’ Presenting Problems: a Profile Analysis Using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling

Multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS) was used to uncover the phenomenology or implicit cognitions underlying presenting problems for which African American male and female students reported seeking college counseling services, in comparison to their European American counterparts. Normative, idiographic, and idiothetic approaches to the measurement of explicit versus implicit dimensions of students’ reports of eight psychological issues (seven disorders and medication use) for which they sought counseling in two timeframes (historical and current) were conducted by ethnicity/race and gender. It was hypothesized that idiographic and idiothetic approaches, which involved profile analyses using nonmetric MDS, would be more likely to reveal intersectionality between ethnicity/race and gender than the normative approach. Results supported the hypothesis of the greater sensitivity of the two individual difference models. Nonmetric MDS analyses revealed significant differences across profiles, with African American males underutilizing mental health services but displaying significant psychological distress; and African American females receiving significantly more pharmacotherapy for depression. Implications for college mental health services for African Americans are discussed.

The Process of Becoming: Identity Development of African American Female Science and Mathematics Preservice Teachers

ABSTRACTA group of 3 African American female preservice science and science teaching students majoring in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) participated in a qualitative research study to share their experiences in STEM, reasons for their choice of major, obstacles and challenges, instances of racism or sexism, and their identity development. The students participated in semistructured, face-to-face interviews. The results showed that the females were not discouraged by their underrepresentation; were confident in their abilities; and expressed wide variation in their identity development related to race, gender, and field of study. Future studies should seek deeper insights into how STEM college student identities are developed and solidified in the predominantly White and male STEM culture.

Writing in solidarity: the lived experience of African American adolescent girls writing poetry

ABSTRACTThis article offers an expansion of the poetry writing and research featured in “Culturally Responsive Poetry” published in the Journal of Poetry Therapy in 2011. In this article, a follow up to the coeducational poetry pilot is provided through the experiences of African American adolescent girl poets. “Writing in Solidarity: The Lived Experience of African American Adolescent Girls Writing Poetry” is the outcome of an in-depth phenomenological research study exploring the lived experience of eight African American female high school students participating in an after school poetry group. The process of writing in solidarity is one of call and response that evokes a sense of understanding and concern for one’s self, poetry group members and community. Through this writing process, a sense of sisterhood is forged for the adolescent girls and the power of individual and collective naming (to call forth one’s own identity or identities) uncovered.