Date of Conferral

3-4-2025

Degree

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)

School

Psychology

Advisor

Medha Talpade

Abstract

African American adolescents experience racial discrimination incidents more frequently than their peers from other racial backgrounds. Racial socialization (RS) has been proven to be effective in assisting African American youth in coping with racial stressors. School counselors play a crucial role in supporting African American youth dealing with race-related stress (RRS). Research has focused on the use of RS among African American parents and children, yet there is a research gap regarding the use of RS among school counselors. Further research is necessary to explore how school counselors implement RS to help students cope with and respond to stressful discriminatory racial encounters (DREs) in school. This qualitative study aimed to identify RS methods school counselors use to tackle the RRS experienced by African American students. The study was guided by the racial encounter coping appraisal and socialization theory. Seven school counselors with 4–30 years of experience were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews to provide insight into their experiences and practices. Thematic analysis was used to explore and organize the data. The themes emerged included the manifestation of RRS, discriminatory racial encounters, empowerment and mitigation strategies, challenges addressing RRS, and recommendations for school counselors. The social change implications include culturally conscious school counselors to aid in the reduction of RRS of African American youth in school. Increased knowledge about school counselors’ use of RS can inform stakeholders to introduce training and interventions that will foster a more inclusive and culturally responsive educational community which will in turn deliver positive educational outcomes among African American youth.

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