A lot of work has been done to describe the stressors associated with the experience of people in minority racial and ethnic groups in the United States. There are specific experiences in the world that impact psychological distress more directly than a person’s race or ethnicity, as a general identity marker. These impacts include: attachment experiences, stigma and negative attitudes toward mental health diagnosis and treatment, and experience or lack of experience with psychological help seeking. Participants responded to questions regarding their attachment relationships, their attitudes about and intentions toward mental health support seeking, their level of psychological distress, and their personal demographic information. Results show that race and ethnicity did not predict psychological distress, nor did it account for a significant proportion of the variance in psychological distress. However, attachment styles and other-focused mental health stigma were significantly correlated with psychological distress. The study highlights the importance of attachment relationships in producing a positive sense of self and others, which impacts our ability to navigate stressors.

Celtics fans during the 2022 NBA Finals were criticized for anti-Black remarks. This created a difficult position for Black Celtics fans: Their fellow fans were shouting obscenities that were directly derogatory towards them, despite them all rooting for the same outcome. These fans were both Black and belonged to a group that the public had deemed racist. This potentially makes being a part of that group more difficult. Possessing multiple simultaneous group identities (i.e., belonging to multiple groups) is something that most people experience, but this situation raises an interesting question: What happens when other members of a group act in ways that the individual cannot support? Previous research suggests that the group could attempt to restore a good public image (Frings & Abrams, 2010) or return to normal group behaviors (Pradhan et al., 2022) (e.g., Celtics fans forgoing racist remarks). However, these studies do not address the possibility of other group memberships being available, which may provide an individual with additional options, such as turning to their other groups. With this literature review, I hope to integrate multiple areas of research in social psychology that speak to aspects of this question and point to avenues for future empirical investigation.

Latinx children of immigrants face constant pressure to adjust their behavior to conform to the expectations of the foreign, dominant culture on one hand and their home culture on the other. A crucial part of Latinx young adults’ adaptation involves language; it can be a tool for acceptance or a barrier to belonging. Another key influence is the relationship between parents and children. Research on other ethnic groups has found that a lack of autonomy support from parents prevents their children from exploring their own identities throughout integration into the new culture and truly honoring their home culture. An acculturation gap also separates children from their parents because of the ways they each adapted to the new culture. Using semi-structured interviews, we propose to discover how parental influence and language have shaped their sense of belonging both in the United States and within their traditional cultures. Participants will be 20 Latinx multilingual young adults. We will use qualitative and quantitative analyses to identify common themes among interview responses. Coding will be used to identify commonalities based on demographic characteristics. Because we predict that cultural knowledge and autonomy support in parents will facilitate multilingual Latinx young adults’ identity development, we will come across different levels of strict traditionalism for every participant’s family experience. This study will help discover the reasons why immigrant parents and their children encounter cultural conflicts, and it could also help the Latinx community understand the acculturation gap and how we can prevent a cycle of intergenerational trauma.

The current psychological interventions used in America were developed using research predominantly conducted on the mind and behavior of people of European descent. Consequently, European notions of being are embedded in the theories and practices of psychology, meaning that traditional psychological interventions are often inadequate for addressing the mental health problems typically faced by Black communities. Furthermore, research studies have shown that African American students studying at predominately white institutions are more likely to experience significant mental health issues than those who are studying at historically Black colleges and universities. Despite this fact, African American students at UCLA are underutilizing the mental health services offered by Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). Building on Afrocentric approaches to psychology, I will investigate the impact of African-centered psychological services on the mental health and academic well-being of UCLA’s Black students. My project will emphasize the key differences between the African-centered worldview and the Eurocentric worldview, relative to theories and practices in psychology. It will also highlight the protective nature of the African-centered worldview for African Americans studying at predominantly white institutions. I anticipate that the implementation of psychological services rooted in the African worldview would help increase the number of Black Bruins who seek services through CAPS and improve their academic well-being. This research project will not only decolonize mental health by widening the scope of psychological interventions available to Black students at UCLA but will raise awareness of Eurocentric hegemony in psychology.