Lifting as we climb: The influence of racial and cultural experiences on the community investment of Black strivers.

摘要

Studies investigating Black individuals' sense of affinity toward, perceptions of, and relationships with their local communities tend to focus on either heightened risks or the services available to them. Both are important in assessing resources and interventions. However, the social cohesion and community "giving back" behaviors of Blacks have not been sufficiently explored. This dissertation investigates the current community investment orientation of 242 Black students (ages 18-30), as well as their intended investment orientation. This dissertation is comprised of two studies. Study 1 focuses on measurement and will ascertain the reliability and factor analytic structure of the new Community Investment Questionnaire (CIQ). Study 2 examines the extent to which community context (neighborhood racial composition and violence exposure) and racial/cultural experiences (racial socialization, racism and religiosity) impacts community investment.;Exploratory factor analysis revealed the CIQ to be a 20-item measure with two-factors (Behavioral and Psychological Investment) and strong reliability. Additionally, a reliable 7-item measure of discord and ambivalence towards other Blacks called the Black Racial Dissonance Inventory (BRDI) was also found to be reliable. Using measures of Optimal Identity Development (Higgins et al., 1996; Myers, 1988; Myers & Jones, 1991) and community engagement, convergent validity of both the CIQ and the BRDI was established. Using K-means cluster analysis, CIQ profiles were found to have significant interaction effects on age, community contexts, and racism.;Results indicated that high Black neighborhood composition fully mediates the relationship between Neighborhood Violence and the BRDI. This connotes that living in a neighborhood that is both predominantly Black and violent creates a distinctive and divisive relationship with the Black community rather than living in a neighborhood that is predominantly Black or violent.;Multiple regressions revealed that racial socialization messages interact to optimally produce specific community investment variables. For instance, high Psychological Investment is best predicted by high internalization of R/E Affirm and R/E Competence along with the low internalization of R/E Stereotyping. Thus, strong Psychological Investment is not only construed by believing positive characteristics of Blacks and endorsement of racial negotiation strategies, but one must also disbelieve stereotypes and inflexible views of Blacks.