The Relationship between Racial Identity and Acculturative Stress among African American Students in Counselor Training Programs.

Given the consistently increasing number of diverse racial/ethnic individuals within the United States population, counselor trainees are more and more likely to be faced with individuals in need of their expertise (Sue & Sue, 2008; Richeson & Nussbaum, 2004). We tend to seek out, respond to things that are familiar and similar to ourselves (Baron & Bryne, 2000). People of color tend to favor therapists who are both culturally sensitive and understand their worldview (Coleman et al., 1995; Nagayama Hall & Maramba, 2001). Hence, training a more diverse group of therapists is critical. Sue (1993) and Smith (1985) emphasized that continued under representation of minority groups in professional counselor training programs feeds into established perceptions that mental health services are only for middle-class White Americans and ill-equipped to meet their needs. To the extent that universities are successful in training and graduating counselors from an array of racial and ethnic backgrounds, this could aid in reducing the reluctance of people of color to seek counseling services. More specifically, the visibility of a diverse group of counselors may reduce the stigma of mental health services and aid in reducing cultural mistrust (Corrigan, 2004). The highest concentration of African American doctoral students (93 students total 25 males and 68 females) reside in the Southern region of the United States (Johnson, Bradley, Knight, & Bradshaw, 2007). At the time of their study, a total of 825 students were currently enrolled in Council for the accredited counseling and related educational programs. One hundred forty-eight (17.9%) were African American; 44 (5.3%) of which were men and 104 (12.6%) were women. In this study we examined a mediator of acculturative stress among African American students in CACREP-accredited programs counselor education training programs. The primary purpose of our study was to examine the relationship between racial identity and acculturative stress among African American graduate students in counselor education training programs. Based on the results of prior research (Thompson, Anderson & Bakerman, 2000), we hypothesized that there would be a positive relationship between racial identity and acculturative stress. Racial identity has been shown to influence one's self-esteem, quality of life, emotional well-being, and feelings toward education (Cokley, 2007; Sue & Sue, 2008). Furthermore, prior studies have suggested that race-related stress, commonly referred to acculturative stress, does impact racial identity, sense of self, and the management of stress (Cokley, 2005; Inman, 2006; Pierre & Mahalik, 2005; Rhee, Chang, & Rhee, 2003; Takeuchit et al., 2007). Scholars have discovered a consistent correlation between racial identity and acculturative stress among various races and ethnicities. (Aponte & Wohl, 2000; Carter & Reynolds, 2011; Inman, 2006; Inman, & Ettigi, 2011; Mejia & McCarthy, 2010; Thompson, Anderson & Bakerman, 2000; Torres, Driscoll, & Voell, 2012; Tummala-Narra, Alegria, & Chen, 2012). However, researchers have given little attention to exploring the relationship between these two paradigms among African American graduate students in CACREP accredited counseling programs. Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) is considered the hallmark of training standards for counselor education programs in the United States. Examining their affects within this population could inform and contribute to the design of a renewed programmatic approach capable of bolstering student recruitment and, more importantly, retention. The level of importance that African Americans place on their racial/cultural group can have profound implications in terms of their coping strategies and general emotional well-being (Bettencourt, Charlton, Eubanks, Kernahan, & Fuller, 1999). …