Disrupting an imposed racial identity or performing the model minority? The pursuit of postsecondary education by young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario,Canada

ABSTRACT

This article examines how young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario cope with the dominant racial identity at school in an effort to improve their academic performance and access postsecondary education (PSE). Critical race theory in education is employed to explain how the young men distance themselves from stereotypes about Black masculinity by regulating their own behaviour and differentiating themselves from their Caribbean immigrant peers. Sixty-seven young men who had immigrated to Southern Ontario from several African countries over the last 10 years were interviewed individually and in focus groups for the study. The findings suggest that the research participants adopted a model minority status within an educational system that clearly embodies racist and systemically oppressive frameworks.     

Cultural differences in maternal emotion control values and children's expressive flexibility

Expressive flexibility is the ability to express or suppress one's emotions to meet the demands of the situation. Recent work suggests that expressive flexibility is associated with better adjustment. However, few studies have focused on expressive flexibility in children. In addition, there is a dearth of research on possible correlates, such as culture, parental emotion socialization, and socioeconomic status, that may be associated with expressive flexibility competencies in children. The purpose of this study was to investigate cultural differences in children's expressive flexibility, maternal emotion control values (ECVs), and their relations to family socioeconomic status (SES) during middle childhood in a sample of European American (N = 31, M age = 9.61 years; 54.8% males), Korean American (N = 38, M age = 9.16 years; 55.3% males) and South Korean children (N = 77, M age = 9.74 years; 51.9% males). Mothers reported on demographics and their emotion control values. Children's expressive flexibility ability was assessed using a lab-based observational measure. Multivariate analyses of covariance controlling for SES, child age, and gender suggested significant cultural differences in expressive flexibility, with the U.S. children (both European and Korean Americans) scoring higher on expressive flexibility compared to their South Korean counterparts. Results also suggested significant cultural differences regarding maternal ECVs; Korean Americans were more similar to South Koreans, both scoring higher on ECVs than European Americans. Socioeconomic status, but not maternal ECVs, were associated with children's expressive flexibility, independent of child age, sex, and culture.     

Does Observed Conflict Recovery Play a Role in Adolescent Dating Aggression?

In a study of conflict recovery and adolescent dating aggression, 14- to 18-year-old couples (N = 209 dyads) participated in a 1-hr observational assessment. Negative behavior was observed during conflict-evoking “hot” tasks and in a “cooldown” task. Physical and psychological dating aggression were assessed via questionnaires. Negative behavior measured in the cooldown task was not associated with dating aggression after controlling for carryover effects of negativity from the hot to cooldown tasks. Moreover, cooldown negativity moderated the associations of hot task negativity and dating aggression. Actor and partner effects were disentangled via dyadic data analyses. Given the paucity of observational studies of dating aggression, our findings are an important contribution to the literature and in need of replication and extension.