Degree Discipline

Race Talk: Barriers to Having Constructive Discourse on Race in America among People of Color (open access)

Race Talk: Barriers to Having Constructive Discourse on Race in America among People of Color

Gordon Allport formalized a theory about intergroup contact, positing that contact between dissimilar groups could be effective in reducing intergroup prejudice. Over half a century later, research suggests that engaging in race talk —conversations about race and racism— can offer benefits such as increased racial literacy and critical consciousness, less intimidation when it comes to addressing race, less fear of differences, and a greater appreciation for people of all cultures and communities. However, race can be a difficult topic to discuss. It typically incites strong emotions, often challenges an individual's lived reality, and triggers anxiety and discomfort for conversational participants. While these barriers to race talk have been well-studied with White participants, little empirical work has been conducted with people of color as a focus. The present study utilized a qualitative, focus-group based methodology with grounded theory analyses to gather information on people of color's barriers to race talk. Results suggest that varied interpersonal contexts — such as when talking to White individuals, other people of color from different racial groups, and their own race— elicit differing levels of comfort and subsequent changes to engagement in race talk. Furthermore, intersecting identities such as gender, sexual orientation, and skin tone further …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Moore, Everrett D
System: The UNT Digital Library

Adult Attachment, Perceived Social Support, and Problematic Video Gaming Behavior

With the growing popularity in video games, there has been increased concerns over the prolonged exposure to the entertainment medium. Problematic gaming is defined as a pattern of gaming behavior that causes significant impairment in personal, social, other important areas of functioning, often characterized by preoccupation and loss of interest in other areas. This study examined how problematic gaming behaviors may be influenced by insecure adult attachment and perceived social support from differing sources. It was hypothesized that avoidant attachment would have a significant direct and indirect effect (via perceived social support) on problematic gaming. In addition, perceived social support from online friends and from offline friends were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between attachment and problematic gaming, Participants were recruited from both SONA (n = 151) and Amazon's Mturk (n = 264) to complete an online research questionnaire that measured variables of interest. Results indicated that the direct and indirect effects of attachment avoidance on problematic gaming were supported in both subsamples but the moderator effects were not. Further exploratory analysis found that anxious attachment demonstrated a similar pattern as avoidant attachment, but with a significant moderator effect of perceived social support from online friends (enhance) on the attachment …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Gu, Peter
System: The UNT Digital Library