Black Male College Students Research Articles

An initial exploration of what ‘mental health’ means to young black men

Background A limited number of studies have examined the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of young Black men, particularly with regard to their mental health. This study used focus groups to explore the complexities of the Black male experience and capture young Black men's understanding of and comfort with discussing their mental health. Methods Forty-six Black male college students in a southern US state were recruited for this study. Participants were asked a series of mental health-related questions to determine their understanding of and comfort with discussing their mental health. Questions included: (1) What is mental health? and (2) How comfortable do you feel talking about your mental health? A taxonomy was created to organize results based on participant responses. Results Emerging themes included stigma in the Black community, the origin of stoic behaviors, and cultural stereotypes of Black Americans and mental health. During the discussions, participants articulated mental health in a way that they believed was suitable for the ‘formal’ focus group setting – that is, using mental health terminology familiar to that of health professionals. The men agreed that while they used ‘formal’ mental health terminology in the focus group setting, they were accustomed to using culturally-rich jargon, or slang to discuss their mental health in more informal settings. Participants also stated that they were comfortable discussing their mental health, however, their frequent use of slang may be undetectable and perhaps uncomfortable for health professionals. Conclusions Increasing our knowledge about the mental health of young Black men will help develop effective programs aimed at improving their health and overall quality of life. Findings from this study should be considered by health professionals during (1) the dialogue about culturally-appropriate, gender-specific health promotion programs tailored to Black men and (2) the design, implementation, and evaluation of these programs.

Black Male College Students’ Attitudes Toward Seeking Psychological Help

This study examined the relationships between age, socioeconomic status (SES), cultural mistrust, African self-consciousness, and attitude about seeking psychological help in 131 Black male undergraduate and graduate students as measured by the Hollingshead Social Status Index, Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI), African Self-Consciousness scale (ASC), and Attitude Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scale (ATSPPH). Pearson r correlations indicated small magnitude, statistically significant correlations between age and ATSPPH (.19) and SES and ATSPPH (−.22) and nonsignificant correlations between ASC and ATSPPH (−.10) and CMI and ATSPPH (−.14). Simultaneous multiple regression analysis with age, SES, CMI, and ASC as predictor variables and ATSPPH as criterion identified age and SES as the significant unique predictors ( R = .32, R² = .10). Findings indicated older, lower SES, Black, male students with lower CMI tended to have more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help.

African American Men on College Campuses: Their Needs and Their Perceptions

AbstractThis chapter provides a cursory look at the current status of black male college students as well as a review of a national survey that reveals some of their attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of the campus environment. The perceptions are compared to those of African American women students.

Sex, race, and experiences of aggression

Most previous research on sex differences in experienced aggression has confounded the sex of the aggressor and of the target by considering married or dating couples. In the present study, black and white male and female college students were asked about specific acts of aggression which they had received from or directed toward a male or female. As predicted, males were likely to have both received and exhibited more forms of aggressive behavior, although females were somewhat more likely to have been honked at, to have been forced by a male to have sex, and to have slapped someone. Few racial differences were found, but it appeared that blacks might have been relatively more likely to exhibit physical aggression and whites to exhibit nonphysical aggression. Some differences were found in specific behaviors directed toward and received from males and females, but in general subjects said that they received more aggressive behaviors than they directed toward others. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Initial Drinking Experiences Among Black and White Male and Female Student Drinkers

Survey studies have revealed significant gender and racial differences in alcohol use patterns. One variable which may be related to some of these differences is initial drinking experiences. In this study, such experiences were assessed among 96 Black and White male and female college students. Consistent with past research, differences in initial drinking experiences were associated with gender. Predominant was the finding that men drank more during their initial drinking experience than did women. Further, males tended to report a shorter latency before the second drinking occurrence than did females, and females were more likely to first drink with family while males more often first drank with friends. No racial differences were found. Differences in later drinking patterns, especially those correlated with race, may depend more on subsequent rather than initial drinking experience.

Contraceptive Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors of Black Adolescent Males Attending a Predominately Black University

A survey of 107 Black male college students attending Howard University Washington D.C. on knowledge attitudes and practices regarding contraception revealed early age of 1st sexual intercourse incomplete contraceptive education and a variable degree of male responsibility. The survey was conducted in freshmen and sophomore general health classes using 51 multiple choice and open-ended questions. The subjects mean age was 18.3 and age at 1st intercourse 12.0 (mean 11.3 for freshmen 12.2 for sophomores and 13.3 for students classified by grade). Contraceptives currently being used were condom by 41.1% withdrawal by 19.6% pill by 17.8% rhythm by 2.8% douche by 1.9% and IUD by 0.9%. 11.9% used no method. When asked to rate 6 methods for effectiveness 37% chose pills as most effective 24% chose condoms 8.4% chose diaphragms and 4.7% chose rhythm. 62% overall believed that contraception is a shared responsibility with percentages rising with age. In open-ended questions many students expressed the feeling that their attitudes affected their practice more than any contraception education. Some said they were using because they were too young to be a father others that the woman insisted. Among the reasons cited for why they were using were: It did enter my mind; It should be spontaneous; not enough time; it reduces sexual pleasure; and lack of knowledge. The study suggested that early physical maturation had surpassed the young mens education and sense of responsibility.

Density of lean body mass is greater in blacks than in whites.

Previous studies have reported that Blacks have 10-20% more bone mineral than Whites of the same height. Theoretically, this should mean that the lean body mass of Blacks is denser than that of Whites, such that formulas for calculating lean body mass from density in Whites will overestimate the lean body mass (and thus underestimate fatness) in Blacks. To determine if the lean body mass of Blacks is indeed denser than that of Whites, we measured density, total body water, and anthropometric dimensions in 19 white and 15 black male college students. The black and white cohorts were nearly identical in height, weight, and total body water. Among the Whites there was no significant difference between the observed density and that predicted from anthropometry, nor were there any significant differences between the dimensions of body composition calculated from total body water and from observed density. Among the Blacks, however, the observed density was significantly greater than that predicted from anthropometry, and the lean body mass calculated from observed density was significantly greater than that calculated from total body water. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the lean body mass of the Blacks is denser than that of the Whites. Separate formulas should therefore be used for converting density to body composition. Based on our data, the correct formula for Blacks is: %fat = 100 X [(4.374/density) - 3.928]. This formula indicates a lean body density of 1.113 g/cm3 in Blacks compared with 1.100 in Whites.

EFFECTS OF SEX RATIOS ON OCCUPATIONAL PRESTIGE AND DESIRABILITY AMONG BLACK AND WHITE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This study attempted to replicate Touhey's (1974a. 1974b) research on the effect of increased proportion of women incumbents on the prestige and desirability of six high status occupations. The subjects. 200 black and white male and female college students rated these occupations under instruct ions that they were either low and stable or high and increasing in proportion of women. Proportion of women did not affect the prestige ratings of the occupations for any of the subject groups. Proportion of women affected occupational desirability for men and women and for blacks and whites. In each instances, the effect was to increase desirability for one group and to decrease it for the other.

The relationship between the motive to avoid success and vocational choice

This study examined, for 221 black and white male and female college students, the relationship between the Motive to Avoid Success (M −s) and: (a) sex and race; (b) congruency, consistency, and differentiation of occupational choice; and (c) occupational aspirations. M −s was assessed by a recent scoring system for verbal TAT cues and occupational choice patterns were analyzed by the Self-Directed Search. The results showed a significant sex difference on M −s. High M −s, in white females predicted well defined, sex-role stereotyped, and low occupational aspirations, but for white males it predicted high aspirations. No significant results were found for black males, and M −s in black females seemed to be related to economic well-being.