Infertility, as defined by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, is “the result of a disease of the male or female reproductive tract which prevents the conception of a child or the ability to carry a pregnancy to delivery,” Despite impacting 1 in 8 couples in America, infertility is still a topic that is approached from the female perspective (Resolve.org, 2018 ). This perspective is incomplete as infertility is due in part to male and female factor infertility and male partners or spouses of infertile people may identify as infertile. This research project looks at infertility from a male perspective. In order to capture male experiences with infertility, an online survey was created. The survey addresses the effects of infertility on men’s identity, mental health, and asks about their help-seeking behavior. It is hoped that this survey will provide data that will reveal the unique mental health needs of men who identify with infertility and greater understanding into how they receive emotional support for their infertility. Ultimately, the purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding as to how men experience infertility, what emotions result from their diagnosis, and to identify gaps in emotional support for infertile men.

The rise of a racially diverse student population within higher education has been a topic of discussion when it came to the importance of a students’ sense of belonging. Sense of belonging is defined as an individual’s psychological connection to their community and can influence a student's well being and academic success (Hussain and Jones, 2021). Although many universities––like DePaul University and Colorado State University––have created several programs to cater to students with different intersecting identities, more can be done to better understand and advocate for students’ sense of belonging. This is especially important within predominantly white institutions (PWI) (Hurtado and Ruiz, 2015). This poster will be presenting a literature review on the sense of belonging of students of color within higher education. It will also present preliminary data analyses from a current project by the Access and Attainment Research Lab in DePaul University. Some of the variables that were explored included race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and age.

Background: Recent research has demonstrated that frequent experiences of racism increase internalized shame. However, limited research covers how African Americans cope with experiencing shame. The Compass of Shame suggests individuals engage in 4 maladaptive shame coping mechanisms: attack self, attack others, withdrawal, and avoidance. These shame coping mechanisms may differ by sex. The purpose of this study is to determine whether racism predicts maladaptive shame coping. This study also sought to determine whether the relationship between racism and shame coping is moderated by sex. Methods: A total of 203 African American undergraduate students completed the Schedule of Racist Events and the Compass of Shame Scale to measure racism and shame coping, respectively. Linear regression models were used to determine whether entire life racism and past year racism predicted shame coping styles, controlling for self-esteem. Interaction terms (e.g., entire life racism X female sex) were developed to examine whether sex moderated the relationship between racism and shame coping styles. Results: Increased frequency of past year racism predicted higher reports of avoidance and withdrawal. Increased frequency of racism over the lifetime predicted higher scores of avoidance, withdrawal, and attack self. Sex only moderated the relationship between entire life and past year racism with withdrawal shame coping. Conclusion: These findings suggest experiences of racism are related to maladaptive shame coping, warranting further research on ways to adaptively cope with racism related shame. Future research should examine gender and sexual identity as it relates to racism, internalized shame, and shame coping among African Americans.

Children’s understanding of race and ethnicity grows rapidly during childhood and adolescence (Quintana, 2008; Tatum, 2017). Black children are navigating their ethnic-racial identity development while experiencing discrimination across contexts. Most Black children will experience a discriminatory racial event by age 12 (Brown, 2017), with instances of racism rising to an average of 5 times per day among Black adolescents (English et al., 2020). The purpose of the current study was to explore how Black children describe their ethnic-racial identity and experiences of racial discrimination. Participants included eight children attending an independent K-8 school in St. Paul, Minnesota whose parents identified them as Black (n = 4) and Biracial (Black and White; n = 4). Semi-structured interviews included questions asking about ethnic-racial identity and racial discrimination. An example question was: “Sometimes kids get treated differently than other kids because of their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Have you ever noticed this?” Results indicated that all children identified as Black/African American. Some referenced their ethnic background (“I’m Black, from Ethiopia”) and others described being Biracial (e.g., Scandinavian and Jamaican). Responses are being coded according to Strauss and Corbin’s (1998) procedure for open-ended coding. Additional analyses will be conducted to explore variation in Black versus Biracial children’s responses. The current study contributes to racial identity research by exploring how Black and Biracial children learn about race and experience racism early in life.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed safety concerns to the forefront of all industries. In essence, many organizations were forced to reconsider how they approached the safety, health, and well-being of their employees. Moreover, in the U.S., there is evidence of growing ethnic and racial diversity in the workplace, as well as decreased employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment levels over the last two years. The confluence of these factors has created unique opportunities and challenges for managers. Thus, it is beneficial for safety managers to know how their approach to safety impacts their employees’ job attitudes. Additionally, while safety literature acknowledges disparities in workplace risk across racial groups, it has not addressed how the interaction between race and safety may impact employee job attitudes. Therefore, this research evaluates how an organization’s safety orientation, and how the interaction between safety orientation and race, influence overall job attitudes. This research is grounded in organizational support theory and is conducted using a self-report survey to assess respondents’ perceptions of their organization’s safety orientation and their own job attitudes, namely job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Moderation analysis will be used to evaluate the relationships of interest. The current research will further validate the safety orientation concept by investigating its impacts on non-safety related outcomes.