Faculty Sponsor: Andrea Negrete
Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Ezra Jenifer
I am a fastidious, entrepreneurial, and inquisitive biracial man. My experience at an interdisciplinary, liberal arts and open curriculum university like Wesleyan has allowed me to explore psychology with boldness, rigor, and practical idealism. Both my personal and academic experiences are an asset to my research interests. I can understand, interpret, communicate, and engage with people through the intersectionalities of the identities I inhabit and through my own personal experiences.
My research interests include investigating the relationship between race-related stress and perceived discrimination, as well as its long-term effects on the mental health of African Americans. Additionally, I seek to help athletes in sports psychology, as well as in psychosocial functioning and psychopathology. Specifically, I wish to help treat African American and minority populations to break the vicious cycle and false narrative that seeking professional psychological help is unnecessary.
Abstract: In the last decade, there has been an increase in African American & Black-identifying students attending higher education institutions (Bouchrika, 2022). However, when compared to Whites, Latinos, and Asian-American students, there are still disparities in academic performance and graduation rates. The question then becomes, what are the experiences of African American & Black-identifying students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) that may be contributing to disparities in indicators of academic achievement? A potential factor implicated in African American & Black-identifying students’ academic performance may be race-related stressors. This study will be African American & Black-identifying undergraduate students attending Wesleyan University. Ages will range from 18-22 years old, with class years ranging from freshman to senior year. This age group has been selected because they are characterized as emerging adults, marked by higher education, financial independence, and major life decisions (Syed & Mitchell, 2013). A purposive sampling method for the qualitative data will be implemented. More specifically, a sub-sample of about 20-25 undergraduate students who completed the quantitative survey will be invited to complete a follow-up semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews allow investigators to ask follow-up probing questions. The recorded qualitative interviews are expected to last 30-60 minutes to further measure the diverse aspects that they face daily, regarding race-related stress and self-reports of academic achievement.
Faculty Sponsor: Andrea Negrete
Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
RRSPJenifer_-PosterPresentation-