The current study used a Solomon four-group, experimental design to investigate the influence racist hate speech has on college students' anxiety, affective state, and attentional functioning. This study also examined if racist hate speech has differential impacts between students of color (i.e. targets of racist hate speech) and White students (i.e., non-targets of racist hate speech). Participants included 591 undergraduate students predominantly from Arizona (n = 553, 93.57%). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups (i.e., pretest experimental, pretest control, posttest only experimental, and posttest only control). Participants assigned to the experimental condition read a vignette containing a classroom incident of racist hate speech, while participants assigned to the control condition read a vignette containing a classroom incident of speech remarking on a university’s football team. Repeated measures, within-between interaction analyses of variance as well as Spearman's bivariate correlations were conducted. Findings revealed that exposure to racist hate speech in a classroom setting can raise state anxiety for students of color and White students. Unexpectedly, exposure to racist hate speech reduced positive affect among White students, and previous experiences witnessing racist hate speech was associated with greater anxiety and attentional difficulty for White students; however, students of color did not experience changes in affective outcomes following exposure to racist hate speech, and previous experiences with racist hate speech were not associated with affective or attentional outcomes for students of color. The present study and future research on this topic can help to inform university policies and campus initiatives to support students impacted by racist discourse and create a more inclusive learning environment for all students.

Although the topic of hate group radicalization processes has received significant attention in recent years, less research has been dedicated to hate group exit processes. This gap is concerning because the number of hate groups and violent hate crimes in the United States has increased dramatically over the last decade (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2020). Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine former white supremacists, this study explores how and why former ex-white supremacists leave their hate groups, and why some choose to then speak out against their former racist ideologies. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a methodological framework, I identified eleven themes related to the process of leaving one’s hate group and becoming an anti-hate activist. These themes are organized into three categories consistent with the research questions: (a) participants’ exit experiences (e.g., exit-precipitating interactions with members of marginalized communities), (b) participants’ post-exit experiences (e.g., navigating personal danger and threats to safety), and (c) participants’ experiences of becoming anti-hate activists (e.g., developing an activist identity). These findings may be used to guide the development of clinical interventions for supporting hate group members confronting pre- and post-exit consequences.

Women in the military work in a hypermasculine environment and may have experiences with gender microaggressions that contribute poorly to their mental health. In this quantitative study, the author assessed active duty U.S. military women’s (N = 683) reports of experiences with eight types of gender microaggressions (traditional gender roles, sexual objectification, second class citizen, sexist language, explicit threat to physical safety, implicit threat to physical safety, invalidation of sexism, and environmental; Capodilupo et al., 2010). Participants reported around a little or rarely having experiences with such microaggressions. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that Navy and junior enlisted women reported significantly higher frequencies of gender microaggressions compared to other groups. Using hierarchical regression analysis, controlling for general levels of stress, branch, rank, and sexual orientation, the author also examined whether the eight gender microaggressions explained scores on a measure of depression. Results suggested that only second class citizen explained a significant proportion of variance in depression. Therefore, the author examined whether coping style moderated the association between the gender microaggression subscales and depression as proposed. Results indicated problem focused engagement and emotion focused disengagement both moderated the link between second class citizen and depression. Findings from the current study have the potential to inform military programs, specifically around bringing awareness to subtle forms of sexism and ways to engage in coping. Limitation and directions for future research also are discussed.

This study examined relations between White parents’ color-blind and implicit racial attitudes and their children’s racial bias as well as moderation by diversity in children’s friends and caregivers, parental warmth, child age, and child sex. The sample included 190 White/Non-Hispanic children (46% female) between the ages of 5 and 9 years (M = 7.11 years, SD = .94) and their mothers (N = 184) and fathers (N = 154). Data used were parents’ reports of color-blind racial attitudes (Color-blind Racial Attitudes Scale; CoBRAS), parental warmth, and racial/ethnic diversity of children’s friendships and caregivers, direct assessment of primary parent implicit racial attitudes (Implicit Association Test; IAT), and direct assessment of children’s racial attitudes. Results supported hypothesized relations between parent racial attitudes and some child racial bias variables, especially under certain conditions. Specifically, both mothers’ and fathers’ color-blind racial attitudes were positively related to children’s social inclusion preference for White children over Black children and parents’ implicit White preference positively predicted child social inclusion racial bias, but only for younger children. Fathers’ color-blind racial attitudes positively predicted children’s social inclusion racial bias only when children’s pre-K caregivers were mostly White and were inversely related to children’s implicit White preference when children’s caregivers were more racially heterogeneous. Finally, parental warmth moderated relations such that, when mothers’ warmth was low, mother color-blind attitudes were negatively related to children’s racial bias in social distance preference and fathers’ color-blind attitudes positively predicted children’s social inclusion bias only when father warmth was low or average.

Increasing counselor trainees’ self-efficacy for multicultural counseling competence (MCC) is an essential part of their professional development to serve racially and ethnically diverse clients effectively. The present study examined the impact of multicultural training and the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention, compared to a control condition, on counselor trainees’ self-reported ethnocultural empathy and MCC. Data obtained from a sample of masters (n = 63) and doctoral (n = 23) counselor trainees were analyzed through a series of linear multiple hierarchical regression analyses. Consistent with previous research, results revealed that multicultural training significantly predicted scores of self-reported multicultural counseling knowledge and empathic feeling. The mindfulness intervention significantly predicted self-reported multicultural counseling knowledge. There was a significant interaction between condition (i.e., mindfulness intervention or control) and previous multicultural training when examining ethnocultural empathy’s empathic feeling and expression subscale. Specifically, trainees with lower levels of multicultural training who received the mindfulness intervention scored higher on empathic feeling compared to those in the control condition, while at higher levels of multicultural training there were no differences across condition. Implications for future research and counselor training are discussed.

Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000), the current study examines environmental and person-cognitive variables as predictors of academic performance among a sample of 194 Mexican American undergraduate students. Specifically, this study used multiple regression analysis to test the associations between college self-efficacy (course self-efficacy and social self-efficacy), proximal contextual influences (campus climate and cultural fit), and gender on the academic performance (self reported grade point average, GPA). Results indicated that course self-efficacy was a significant predictor of academic performance for Mexican American undergraduate students. In addition, social self-efficacy, positive perceptions of the campus climate, and cultural fit were associated with high self-efficacy. This study contributes to our knowledge of college student development in general, and academic attainment among Mexican Americans specifically. Practice and research recommendations are discussed.

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a testable integrative social cognitive model of critical consciousness (Freire, 1973) that explains the relationship between critical consciousness and intent to persist in college among underserved students, such as undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers. Three constructs based on theory (i.e., critical reflection, critical action, and political efficacy) as well as a new one (i.e., political outcome expectations) were conceptualized and tested through a framework inspired by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994; Lent & Brown, 2013). A total of 638 college students participated in this study and reflected a spectrum of disadvantage and educational attainment, which included 120 DREAMers, 124 Latina/o students, 117 non-Latina/o minorities, and 277 non-Latina/o Whites. Goodness of fit tests showed support for the adequacy of using the new model with this diverse sample of students. Tests of structural invariance indicated that 10 relational paths in the model were invariant across student cultural groups, while 7 paths were differentiated. Most of the differences involved DREAMers and non-Latina/o White students. For DREAMers, critical action was positively related to intent to persist, while that relationship was negative for non-Latina/o Whites with legal status. Findings provide support to the structure of critical consciousness across cultural groups, highlight the key role that students’ supporters (i.e., important people in their life) play in their sociopolitical engagement and intent to persist, and suggest that political outcome expectations are related to higher persistence intention across all students.