Date of Award

8-1-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences

First Advisor

Howard Markman, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Scott Stanley

Third Advisor

Omar Gudino

Fourth Advisor

Sarah Watamura

Fifth Advisor

Arthur Jones

Keywords

African Americans, Racial ideology, Romantic relationships

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore how considering unique cultural factors and experiences may advance the fields knowledge on relationship dynamics among African American couples. In a sample of 172 self-identified African American adults who were in opposite sex relationships, the current study explored how individual’s own and perception of partner’s racial ideology are associated with romantic processes, if, when, and how African American couples talk about race within their relationship, and the association between “dyadic racial ideology” and relationship processes. Results indicated one’s own racial ideology, conceptualized by individual subscales and cluster profiles, and discrepancy between one’s own and perception of partner’s ideological scores played an important role in understanding relationship outcomes. Findings also suggest that one’s own and perception of partner’s Afrocentricity are associated with higher quality romantic relationships. Results revealed some unexpected associations between frequency talking about race, ratings of supportive communication for race specific conversations, and dyadic racial identity with psychological aggression. In sum, the findings from the current study contribute to the field’s understanding of African American relationships broadly as well as inform clinical interventions developed specifically for this population.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Aleja M. Parsons

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

129 p.

Discipline

Clinical psychology



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