Institute on Race and Ethnicity- Category A (Research)

Osei-Mensah Aborampah, UW-Milwaukee
Alberta Gloria and Theresa Segura-Hererra, UW-Madison
Jorge Gonzalez, Belle Rose Ragins, and Romilia Singh, UW-Milwaukee
Paul Priester, Janice Jones (doctoral student), and Pat Jindrich (doctoral student), UW-Milwaukee
Robert Weis, UW-Stevens Point

Osei-Mensah Aborampah, Department of Africology, UW-Milwaukee - "Ghanian Social Organization and Problems of HIV/AIDS Interventions/Prevention: A Proposal for Instructional Improvement."
This research will study the cultural practices and behaviors that contribute to the spread of HIV/Aids in the Techiman Traditional area of Ghana. Specifically, Dr. Aborampah will look at the social organizational and behavioral practices that tend to present problems for HIV/AID intervention and prevention. Three specific objectives will guide the study. First, it seeks to understand the cultural norms and traditions that facilitate the spread of the HIV virus. The second objective is to understand the range of mechanisms for the transmission of the virus and ascertain which modes of transmission are more prevalent in a given area. Lastly, the data and information from this study will be folded into a larger extra-mural proposal stemming from a symposium on HIV/AIDS held in June by the Department of Africology, UW-Milwaukee. The data will be incorporated into three courses focused on societies and cultures of the peoples of African descent: (i) Survey of African Societies and Cultures; (ii) Sex, Marriage and Healthcare in the Afroworld; and (iii) Extended Families in Black Societies.

Alberta Gloria and Theresa Segura-Hererra (doctoral student), Department of Counseling Psychology, UW-Madison - "Building Bridges of Access to Higher Education: Encouraging the Transfer of Latino and Latina Community College Students to UW-Madison."
This project is a twelve-week professional development course for Latino/a students attending UW-Baraboo. Students will learn how to conduct research and gain professional development skills in preparation for transferring from their two-year school to UW-Madison. Students will learn to conduct literature reviews, develop research questions, and operationalize their research within the context of educational issues for Latino/a college students. Pre- and post-testing will assess self beliefs (e.g., efficacy), social support (e.g., mentors), and university comfort (e.g., cultural congruity) regarding their educational progression. The course focus is to increase confidence about their academic skills and abilities and likelihood of college transfer. Pre- and post-test data and course activities will be prepared for publication.

Jorge Gonzalez, Belle Rose Ragins, and Romilia Singh, School of Business Administration, UW-Milwaukee - "Stopping the Revolving Door: The Role of Organizational and Community Diversity Climate in the Retention of Employees of Color."
Although organizations now recognize that valuing diversity is critical from both an ethical and competitive standpoint (people of color are 27% of the workforce and will comprise over half of the workforce by 2050), they are faced with a turnover rate for women and employees of color that is twice the rate of their white male counterparts. When management looks at employee turnover and retention, it is often assumed that the same decision processes exists for majority and minority employees. The purpose of this study is twofold: (i) to understand the relative impact of organizational and community diversity climate factors on employees' decisions to stay or leave their organizations, and (ii) to break new ground by incorporating the impact of employee diversity into models of employee retention. A national sample of mid-career professionals of color will be undertaken, with white employees as a comparison group. Results of the study will help organizations develop cultures that are accepting of diversity, inform management scholars on the impact of employee diversity on retention, and guide organizations in the development of more effective diversity initiatives.

Paul Priester, Janice Jones (doctoral student), and Pat Jindrich (doctoral student), Department of Educational Psychology, UW-Milwaukee - "Empirical Analysis of Role Induction Techniques to Decrease Psychotherapy Termination Rates Among Latino/a Mental Health Clients."
Latino/a mental health clients prematurely terminate counseling at an alarming rate. Research suggests that the very process of counseling may be culturally antagonistic. One aspect of this cultural antagonism is the ambiguous nature of the counseling process. Individuals unfamiliar with the process may find it bewildering, alien, hostile and of questionable pragmatic utility. Role Induction (RI) is a technique in which the counseling process is demystified through direct education about the counseling process. This study will explore whether RI can be used to decrease termination rates with Latino/a counseling clients. Mental health recipients will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which they will observe an RI video or a control group at an inner-city Latino/a mental health clinic. These clients will then be tracked to determine whether they continue in counseling at a higher rate than the control group. Two inner-city Milwaukee mental health clinics that serve the Latino/a community will participate in the study where a total of 100 participants will be recruited. The project will be carried out in collaboration with the Department of Counseling Psychology at Loyola University, Chicago. Upon completion of this study, Dr. Priester will propose to expand the focus to include other non-majority groups (Native American, Hmong, Somali, inner city African-American individuals, and Middle Eastern Muslims).

Robert Weis, Department of Psychology, UW-Stevens Point - "Parenting Cognitions, Parenting Behavior, and Child Outcomes in a National Sample of Low-Income African-American Adolescent Mothers."
Recent research suggests that the relationship between parenting cognition and childrens' developmental outcomes may vary as a function of ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Specifically, low-income African-American mothers tend to value high levels of warmth in parent-child interactions, similar to the levels by their middle-class, white counterparts. However, the parenting cognitions of these African-American mothers are also characterized by equally high levels of psychological distress stemming from a combination of economic hardship, missed educational opportunities, severe parenting stress, and discrimination that is largely absent in middle-class white samples. This longitudinal study will examine the relationship between parenting cognitions, parenting behavior, and child outcomes in a national sample of 234 low-income, adolescent African-American mothers and their preschool-age children. Dr. Weis will test a mediation model for this relationship in which mothers' thoughts, values, and socialization goals influence their behaviors toward their children which, in turn, influence their children's subsequent social-emotional competence and behavior problems. A significant relationship between parenting cognitions, behavior and child outcomes, Dr. Weis posits, would suggest that community intervention designed to help disadvantaged families should target mother's psychological functioning in addition to providing tangible and financial support.