Racial identity development and psychological coping of African American males at a predominantly white university (original) (raw)

For years, researchers have tried to determine what characteristics enable African Americans to achieve in a society which has, and continues, to be hostile to their survival (Kambon & Bowen-Reid, 2010; Utsey & Payne, 2000). Stevenson (2002) stated that African American men face many socio-cultural and academic challenges, along with other negative dilemmas that generate stressful experiences and identity conflicts. These dilemmas include denigrations to their manhood (e.g., physical beatings, castration, police brutality, lynching, educational tracking, and high rates of imprisonment). Unfortunately, Stevenson (2002) noted that the outcomes of these denigrations have been the creation of stressors that have often prevented African American men from living up to their full potential as men and human beings. These stressors, in turn, may lead to psychological pressures that negatively affect relationships that African American men have with African American women, children, other African American men, and the African American community. Veroff, Douvan and Kulka, (1981) offer an alternative picture of African American men. The picture these researchers paint depicts a description of African American men as human