The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) has become one of the most influential behavior change models. The ability of the TTM to perform well in different cultural environments constitutes one test of the validity of the model. A comprehensive search of the literature on TTM research conducted outside of the US retrieved 51 studies published between 1990 and 2002, representing 14 countries on 4 continents and carried out in 11 different languages. The review revealed that the studies varied greatly in type, the constructs included as representing TTM, and in the behaviors studied. Most studies (32) used cross-sectional designs and psychometric analyses to examine the applicability of TTM constructs to new populations. Twelve publications reported using TTM based interventions, but typically did not provide many details on their content. The studies varied greatly in the methodological rigor of design and level of adaptation efforts. The most widely used construct was the stages of change, to which sometimes the model has been incorrectly equated. The processes of change were used least frequently with only 6 studies reporting them. The most popular behavior studied was smoking, followed by diet, exercise and alcohol. New areas of application (e.g. active commuting) were also suggested. These results provide preliminary evidence that the TTM can be applicable across cultural boundaries and can serve as a useful framework for the development of cross-cultural interventions. At the same time, more research is needed to adapt and apply the model within new cultures and languages. Such efforts would enhance public health research and intervention development across international boundaries.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of multiple minority stress and resilience among interviewees at a retreat for Black lesbians. Participants were a predominantly middle-class, highly educated sample of Black women (N = 19) between the ages of 26 and 68. The multicultural model of stress (Slavin, Rainer, McCreary, & Gowda, 1991) and the transactional model of resilience (Kumpfer, 1999) were theoretical frameworks for the study. Most of the participants discussed racism as a mundane and significant stressor, and contextualized their experiences of sexism and heterosexism through the prism of racism. Study findings provide empirical support for the “triple jeopardy” experience of Black lesbians (Greene, 1995), as well as the six predictors of resilience in Kumpfer’s (1999) transactional model of resilience.

African American men in heterosexual relationships are virtually invisible in the theoretical and empirical psychological HIV/AIDS literature. I posit that two theoretical frameworks -- masculinity ideologies (MI) and sociocultural context -- are important for comprehending Black men’s condom use. Qualitative methods, though relatively rare in U.S. psychology, are critical to understanding the context of lived experience, particularly with under-researched populations and topics. This study involved semi-structured interviews with lower-middle income African American men (N = 13) between the ages of 24 and 50 in emotionally and sexually intimate heterosexual relationships. Data were analyzed via three techniques derived from Grounded Theory Analysis. Analyses revealed that most (n = 9) articulated traditional MI (e.g., sexual permissiveness) that have implications for HIV risk, but 11 also expressed unconventional MI (e.g., being as or more emotionally invested than their female partners) that also have implications for reducing risk in Black heterosexual relationships.

This qualitative study explored the association between African American women’s interpersonal relationship and sexual scripts and condom use with primary partners. Participants were 14 lower to middle-income women between the ages of 22 and 39 involved in emotionally and sexually intimate heterosexual relationships. Relationship types included those that were: stable, emotionally committed; casual, primarily sexual; and unstable, emotionally imbalanced and/or conflict-ridden. Respondents completed a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire about their relationships, sexual, and condom use behaviors. Data analyses identified three interpersonal relationship scripts (i.e., men control relationships, women sustain relationships, infidelity is normative) and two interpersonal sexual scripts (i.e., men control sexual activity; women want to use condoms, but men control condom use) that may indirectly or directly decrease African American women’s condom use with primary partners, and in turn increase their HIV risk. We discuss these interpersonal scripts within the context of sociocultural factors relevant to African American women, heterosexual relationships and communities.

This study tested a conceptual model of women's HIV/AIDS protective behaviors using gender roles, relationship power strategies, and precautionary sexual self-efficacy as predictors in a predominantly Black and Latina community sample of heterosexual women (N = 125). Results revealed no support for the full model, but partial confirmation for several components of the model. For example, gender roles and use of direct power strategies were significant predictors of women’s sexual self-efficacy. Most of the participants were married or had primary partners and were unconcerned about contracting HIV. The findings indicate that if women perceive that they are at little or no risk, their gender roles, power strategies, and precautionary sexual self-efficacy will be inconsequential to their HIV/AIDS risk reduction practices.

Kitano's (1997) model of multicultural course change has proven invaluable to the transformation of my undergraduate social psychology course from one that merely "adds and stirs" multicultural issues or populations (i.e., a course that is "inclusive"), to one that uses multiculturalism as a foundation to challenge social psychology's traditional assumptions about individuals and social behavior. Moreover, I use multiculturalism as means to reconceptualize social psychology in light of the new knowledge that we gain when we use wider lenses and varying angles to view the cultural context of humans and their social behaviors. Using Kitano's model as a conceptual framework, I will present in this chapter strategies and examples for making the undergraduate social psychology course multicultural, not only in terms of content, but in terms of learning approaches, assessment procedures, and classroom dynamics.

Men of color is a euphemism for men who are “not of exclusively White ancestry” (Holder, 1995, p. 71). This essay focuses on the social construction of race and ethnicity and argues that euphemisms such as men of color and people of color, far from being politically neutral, are rooted in historical racist ideologies of difference. The essay also discusses the problems with terms such as race; examines a variety of social, economic, and political disparities that men of color experience; explores the vast within group heterogeneity of men included under the men of color rubric; and focuses on the role of racial prejudice and discrimination as a unifying force for men of color.

Risk behaviors are voluntary behaviors that increase one’s chance for injury, illness, or death. Although people typically accept some forms of risk and to varying degrees, risk behaviors are distinguishable from behaviors that yield unwanted consequences in the sense that risk behaviors represent behaviors that are regular or established rather than exploratory (Duberstein, Lindberg, Boggess, Porter, & Williams 2000). Men, particularly adolescent and young adult men, are disproportionately more likely than girls and women to engage in risk behaviors. This essays reviews risk statistics for adolescent boys and men, reviews the gender role socialization approach to masculinity and risk taking, and contextualizes risk taking through the prism of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

The aim of this chapter is to enhance awareness about psychosocial issues that emerge among culturally diverse lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals as they engage in the process of claiming a sexual minority identity. In particular, we consider the variety of sociocultural variables that shape the manner in which these individuals negotiate important domains of experience. Although mental health professionals who treat sexual and ethnic minorities may have separately considered each dimension of identity, in this chapter we focused on the ways in which multiple identities interact and exert combined effects. We hope that the chapter will serve as an introduction to some key issues worthy of exploration in the therapeutic process and to the variety of culture-specific means that gay, lesbian, or bisexual identity may carry.

This study tested a conceptual model of psychosocial competence among a predominantly middle class sample (N = 95) of Black lesbians between the ages of 18 and 68. Defining psychosocial competence as individuals’ ability to interact and function effectively with their environments, Anderson, Eaddy and Williams (1990) theorized a model of psychosocial competence specific to African Americans. Pursuant to this model, we examined whether an interaction of factors internal (i.e., self esteem) and external (i.e., social support; availability of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) resources; and lesbian and Black group identification) predicted psychosocial competence. Results from hierarchical regression analyses confirmed that an interaction of these internal and external factors was a significant predictor of psychosocial competence in this sample.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has wreaked a disparate impact on women of color who are poor and live in certain urban centers. The statistics are grim indeed. Black and Latino women account for 58% and 20% respectively of AIDS cases among women, even though they each constitute just 13% of the U.S. female population. Historically, psychological theories applied to HIV risk have focused on individual-level predictors with little or no consideration of the impact of sociocultural context and social inequality on risk behaviors. The disproportionate incidence and prevalence of HIV/AIDS among poor women of color however, sounds a clarion call for psychologists to transcend our individualistic focus towards one that incorporates the influence of exogenous factors such as oppression on women’s mental and physical health.

The goals of this presentation were to: (1) highlight challenges and strategies for infusing race and culture into traditional psychology courses; (2) provide strategies for addressing psychological barriers to the multicultural message and messenger; (3) focus on the personal struggles of teaching multicultural courses; and (4) provide some survival strategies for professors who teach multicultural courses in psychology.

This qualitative study explored the association between African American
women’s interpersonal relationship and sexual scripts and condom use with primary partners. Participants were 14 lower to middle-income women between the ages of 22 and 39 involved in emotionally and sexually intimate heterosexual relationships. Relationship types included those that were: stable, emotionally committed; casual, primarily sexual; and unstable, emotionally imbalanced and/or conflict-ridden. Respondents completed a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire about their relationships, sexual, and condom use behaviors. Data analyses identified three interpersonal relationship scripts (i.e., men control relationships, women sustain relationships, infidelity is normative) and two interpersonal sexual scripts (i.e., men control sexual activity; women want to use condoms, but men control condom use) that may indirectly or directly decrease African American women’s condom use with primary partners, and in turn increase their HIV risk. We discuss these interpersonal scripts within the context of sociocultural factors relevant to African American women, heterosexual relationships and communities.

Concerned that many researchers’ and LGB activists’ calls to come out are rooted in stances of White and middle and upper class power and privilege, we designed this mixed method (i.e., qualitative and quantitative) study to examine the meaning and experiences of coming out among a sample of African American lesbians attending an African American lesbian retreat in Southern California. Four research questions guided our analyses: (1) What does it mean to be out?; (2) How important is it to be out?; (3) To whom are African American lesbians out?; and (4) What is the relationship between degree of outness and self-esteem, psychosocial competence, and social support? The study included questionnaires completed by 95 lesbians and semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 19 women. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 68 (M = 38.03, SD = 9.33) with an annual income range of less than $5,000 to more than $100,000; 67% had college or graduate degrees. We present the findings from this study and discuss them within the context of whether coming out, as Connie Chan (2002) has provocatively questioned, is or should be the goal for LGBs of color given the myriad challenges they confront as a result of their membership in multiple historically oppressed communities. We also discuss, using our findings as support, alternative and culturally relevant visions of what it means to be Black, lesbian, out and in good mental health.

This presentation highlighted the institutionalization of multicultural perspectives in psychology with a focus on two documents: (1) American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice & Organizational Change for Psychologists (August 2002); and (2) provisions for multicultural issues in APA’s 2002 Ethics Code. The presentation also highlighted several important, albeit difficult dialogues in which psychologists interested in multicultural theory, research, and practice should engage.

This presentation integrated a personal and professional focus on my research with Black lesbians. The presentation reviewed findings from two studies conducted with Black lesbians on issues relevant to multiple minority, stress and resilience. The presentation also provided suggestions for others interested in conducting research with lesbian and bisexual women of color.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of multiple minority stress and resilience among interviewees at a retreat for Black lesbians. Participants were a predominantly middle-class, highly educated sample of Black women (N = 19) between the ages of 26 and 68. The multicultural model of stress (Slavin, Rainer, McCreary, & Gowda, 1991) and the transactional model of resilience (Kumpfer, 1999) were theoretical frameworks for the study. Most of the participants discussed racism as a mundane and significant stressor, and contextualized their experiences of sexism and heterosexism through the prism of racism. Study findings provide empirical support for the “triple jeopardy” experience of Black lesbians (Greene, 1995), as well as the six predictors of resilience in Kumpfer’s (1999) transactional model of resilience.

Teaching courses on race and culture is not for the faint-hearted. Yet, we who teach these courses and share membership in the historically marginalized groups about which we teach, often feel like we are embarking on suicide missions. In addition to attacking our message about the importance of bringing issues such as race, gender, and sexual orientation to the forefront of academic inquiry; students often feel empowered, by virtue of their race or and other privilege to attack the messenger’s authority, competence, and stake in teaching about race and culture as well. Using our experiences as instructors and members of multiply marginalized groups as a foundation, our presentation will highlight: (1) the infusion of race, gender and sexual orientation into psychology courses; (2) the challenges that multiply marginalized instructors confront doing so; and (3) survival strategies for attacks on the message and messenger.

Although the psychological literature is replete with studies on social identity, few studies have focused on the multidimensionality of identity among people with multiple marginalized identities. For example, studies exist of minority status stress among predominantly White samples of gay, lesbian or bisexuals or among racial minorities, but not people who are members of multiply marginalized groups. Moreover, minority status studies often focus predominantly on the “deficits” of this status (e.g., stressors, prejudice and discrimination) to the exclusion of the positive aspects (e.g., resilience) of this status. The presentation: (1) highlights the experiences of Black/African American lesbians who simultaneously face sexism, heterosexism, racism and classism; (2) focuses on multiply marginalized stress, as well as the strategies (e.g., coping strategies, social support, etc.) that Black lesbians use to foster resilience; (3) is based on findings from a quantitative (n= 95)/qualitative study (n=19) with a sample of Black/African American lesbians. Participants in the qualitative sample, the focus of this presentation, ranged in age from 26 to 68 (M=44); and (4) focuses on the study’s findings relevant to multiple minority stress and resilience, and discuss implications for African American lesbians’ physical and mental health.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of multiple minority stress and resilience among interviewees at a retreat for Black lesbians. Participants were a predominantly middle-class, highly educated sample of Black women (N = 19) between the ages of 26 and 68. The multicultural model of stress (Slavin, Rainer, McCreary, & Gowda, 1991) and the transactional model of resilience (Kumpfer, 1999) were theoretical frameworks for the study. Most of the participants discussed racism as a mundane and significant stressor, and contextualized their experiences of sexism and heterosexism through the prism of racism. Study findings provide empirical support for the “triple jeopardy” experience of Black lesbians (Greene, 1995), as well as the six predictors of resilience in Kumpfer’s (1999) transactional model of resilience.

This qualitative study explored the experiences of multiple minority stress and resilience among interviewees at a retreat for Black lesbians. Participants were a predominantly middle-class, highly educated sample of Black women (N = 19) between the ages of 26 and 68. The multicultural model of stress (Slavin, Rainer, McCreary, & Gowda, 1991) and the transactional model of resilience (Kumpfer, 1999) were theoretical frameworks for the study. Most of the participants discussed racism as a mundane and significant stressor, and contextualized their experiences of sexism and heterosexism through the prism of racism. Study findings provide empirical support for the “triple jeopardy” experience of Black lesbians (Greene, 1995), as well as the six predictors of resilience in Kumpfer’s (1999) transactional model of resilience.

To be African American, women, and lesbian [or bisexual], Greene (1993) has asserted, is to be in a state of “triple jeopardy.” While the psychosocial challenges of membership in a multiply marginalized group cannot be understated, few studies have explored the possibility that women who simultaneously face sexism, racism and heterosexism develop psychological resiliency in response to their multiply marginalized status. Although several African American lesbian feminists have documented the experiences of African American lesbians and bisexual women, psychology as a discipline has virtually ignored the psychosocial experiences of Black women who partner with women. This presentation will focus on a quantitative and qualitative study of social support, psychological resiliency and self-esteem among a sample of African American lesbian and bisexual women in Los Angeles, California. The presentation will highlight the study’s findings relevant to: (1) the relationship between psychosocial competence and African American lesbian and bisexual women’s access to social support; (2) the people to whom African bisexual women and lesbians are out; (3) the relationship between “outness” and social support; (4) participants’ perceptions about the predominantly European American gay, lesbian and bisexual community, and their own ethnic communities in terms of social support; and (5) the relationship between social support and self-esteem. Finally, I will discuss some of the methodological issues and challenges involved in conducting research with hidden and underrepresented populations and provide suggestions for future research with Black lesbian and bisexual women.

This presentation presents a vision of what a truly multicultural department of psychology would look like. This vision includes a list of 15 items that combines interpersonal, professional, structural endeavors. These include, but are not limited to: a commitment to multiculturalism that is explicitly stated in its departmental mission statement and disseminated in all important materials; having a positive vision of multiculturalism; and creating an atmosphere of safety and trust for all staff, faculty and students.

Pursuant to Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston’s notion that she, as a Black person, was “not tragically colored,” this presentation reviews the literature on triple jeopardy for Black lesbian and bisexual women and reconceptualizes this focus towards a positive psychology vision of psychosocial competence and resilience. Presents preliminary findings from a qualitative study with 19 Black lesbians between the ages of between the ages of 26 and 68.

Presents the findings of a quantitative study with a sample of predominantly Black low-income women living with HIV/AIDS (N = 85) in Washington, DC. The goal of the study was to investigate whether combination antiretroviral drugs and protease inhibitors were as accessible to low-income women as claimed in numerous media reports at the time. The study confirmed that despite federal guidelines recommending the use of combination therapies, most of the 85 women reported taking single antiretroviral drugs. They also reported numerous barriers to HIV/AIDS medications such as physicians who were perceived as racist and reluctant to prescribe combination medications. The presentation discusses the study’s finding that the majority of participants lacked access to the expensive medications within the context of larger structural and institutional inequalities based on ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status in the U.S.

This study tested a conceptual model of women's HIV/AIDS protective behaviors using gender roles, relationship power strategies, and precautionary sexual self-efficacy as predictors in a predominantly Black and Latina community sample of heterosexual women (N = 125). Results revealed no support for the full model, but partial confirmation for several components of the model. For example, gender roles and use of direct power strategies were significant predictors of women’s sexual self-efficacy. Most of the participants were married or had primary partners and were unconcerned about contracting HIV. The findings indicate that if women perceive that they are at little or no risk, their gender roles, power strategies, and precautionary sexual self-efficacy will be inconsequential to their HIV/AIDS risk reduction practices.

This study tested a conceptual model of active coping among a predominantly middle class sample (N = 92) of Black lesbians between the ages of 18 and 68 attending a Black lesbian retreat. Tyler’s (1978) active coping dimension of psychosocial competence, and Anderson, Eaddy and Williams’ (1990) psychosocial competence model for Black Americans emphasizing the role of individual and environmental factors, provided the theoretical framework for our study. We developed a theoretical model to examine whether internal (i.e., self esteem, race and lesbian identification) and external (i.e., social support, perceived available LGBT resources) factors predicted active coping. Results from a hierarchical set regression analysis confirmed that the model of internal and external factors was a statistically significant predictor of active coping.

In the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, risk behaviors denote behaviors that can transmit the HIV virus. For men in the U.S., unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) and injection drug use (IDU) are the primary risk behaviors through which HIV is spread. Another sexual behavior, unprotected heterosexual sex, poses a more minimal risk for men (5%) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). The virus is also transmitted to men via other means (i.e., transfusion of blood or other bodily fluids, treatment for hemophilia or coagulation disorders, or occupational exposure). Unlike these other exposure categories however, risk behaviors refer to individual actions that may increase HIV risk. This essay explores the social context of sexual risk for men of color, discusses men who have sex with men and explores sexual risk behaviors such as “barebacking.”

Scripts are culturally shared social norms that guide relationship and sexual behavior (Simon & Gagnon, 1986). This presentation will focus on the findings of qualitative study that explored the association between African American women’s interpersonal relationship and sexual scripts and condom use with primary partners. Participants were 14 lower to middle-income women between the ages of 22 and 39 in Washington, DC involved in emotionally and sexually intimate heterosexual relationships. Relationship types included those that were: stable, emotionally committed; casual, primarily sexual; and unstable, emotionally imbalanced and/or conflict-ridden. Respondents completed a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire about their relationships, sexual, and condom use behaviors. The study investigated three research questions: (1) What scripts do African American women interviewees articulate?; (2) What sociocultural and contextual factors may be relevant to these scripts?; and (3) How might these scripts be associated with condom use? Interview data were analyzed via three techniques derived from grounded theory: coding, memo writing, and the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Analyses identified three interpersonal relationship scripts (i.e., men control relationships, women sustain relationships, infidelity is normative) and two interpersonal sexual scripts (i.e., men control sexual activity; women want to use condoms, but men control condom use) that may indirectly or directly decrease African American women’s condom use with primary partners, and in turn increase their HIV risk. Consistent with other calls to bring sociocultural context and social inequality to the forefront of theories of HIV risk, the study demonstrates that African American women’s condom use and HIV risk cannot be isolated from the sociocultural contexts in which they live. As such, the study “flips the script” on traditional psychological approaches to HIV risk behavior by demonstrating the importance of context – both intimate relationships and poverty and discrimination – for understanding condom use in communities of color.