Black women's participation in postsecondary education appears to have improved drastically because they are outpacing many other minority cultural groups (i.e., Black men, Hispanic men and women, Asian men and women, etc.) in terms of college enrollment and completion rates. However, when compared to White men and women, it is obvious that there are a variety of factors that continue to perpetuate Black women's underrepresentation and attrition in higher education. This article examines some of the psychosocial issues that diminish the psychological and physical health of young Black college women and impede their success in college. Black feminist thought provides a theoretical framework that elucidates the interconnectedness of race and gender issues faced by today's Black college women. Implications for Student Affairs practice are discussed and recommendations for further research are offered.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander-FloydN. G., & SimienE. M. (2006). Revisiting “what's in a name?”Frontiers, 27(1), 67–89.
2.
AllenW. R. (1992). The color of success: African-American college student outcomes at predominantly White and historically Black public colleges and universities. Harvard Educational Review, 61(1), 26–43.
Bardone-ConeA. M., & BoydC. A. (2007). Psychometric properties of eating disorders instruments in Black and White young women: Internal consistency, temporal stability, and validity. Psychological Assessment, 19(3), 356–362.
5.
BelleD., & DoucetJ. (2003). Poverty, inequality, and discrimination as sources of depression among U.S. women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27, 101–113.
6.
BonnerF. B., & ThomasV. G. (2001, Summer). Introduction and overview: New and continuing challenges and opportunities for Black women in the academy. In BonnerF. B. & ThomasV. G. (Eds.), Black women in the academy: Challenges and opportunities [Special issue]. Journal of Negro Education, 70(3), 121–123.
ChangE. C.WatkinsA. F., & BanksK. H. (2004). How adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism relate to positive and negative psychological functioning: Testing a stress-mediation model in Black and White female college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(1), 93–102.
10.
Chronicle of Higher Education. (2008). Almanac issues 2008–09. 55(1).
11.
CollinsP. H. (2004). Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender, and the new racism. New York: Routledge.
12.
ConstantineM. G., & GreerT. M. (2003, Winter). Personal, academic, and career counseling of African American women in college settings. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 41–51). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
13.
ConstantineM. G., & WattS. K. (2002). Cultural congruity, womanist identity attitudes, and life satisfaction among African American college women attending historically Black and predominantly White institutions. Journal of College Student Development, 43(2), 184–194.
14.
CoomesM. D., & DeBardR. (Eds.). (2004). Serving the millennial generation. New Directions for Student Services, 106. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
15.
EmersonR. A. (2002). “Where my girls at?”: Negotiating Black womanhood in music videos. Gender & Society, 16(1), 115–135.
16.
EricksonF. (2002). Culture and human development. Human Development, 45(4), 299–306.
17.
FergusonY. O.QuinnS. C.EngE., & SandelowskiM. (2006). The gender ratio imbalance and its relationship to risk of HIV/AIDS among African American women at historically Black colleges and universities. AIDS Care, 18(4), 323–331.
18.
FernandezF.MalcarneV. L.WilfeyD. E., & McQuaidJ. (2006). Factor structure of the bulimia test-revised in college women from four ethnic groups. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Psychology, 12(3), 403–419.
19.
FrankoD. L.BeckerA. E.ThomasJ. J., & HerzogD. B. (2007). Cross-ethnic differences in eating disorder symptoms and related distress. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40(2), 156–164.
20.
FrankoD. L.Striegel-MooreR. H.ThompsonD.SchreiberG. B., & DanielsS. R. (2005). Does adolescent depression predict obesity in Black and White young adult women?Psychological Medicine, 35(10), 1505–1513.
21.
ForemanF. (2003). Intimate risk: Sexual risk behavior among African American college women. Journal of Black Studies, 33(5), 637–653.
22.
FoubertJ. D., & GraingerL. U. (2006). Effects of involvement in clubs and organizations on the psychosocial development of first-year and senior college students. NASPA Journal, 43(1), 166–182.
23.
GordonM. (2004). Diversification of the faculty. In HaleF. W. (Ed.), What makes racial diversity work in higher education: Academic leaders present successful policies and strategies (1st ed., pp. 183–198). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Howard-HamiltonM. F. (2003, Winter). Theoretical frameworks for African American women. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 19–28). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
26.
HoweN., & StraussW. (2007). Millennials go to college (2nd ed.). Great Falls, VA: LifeCourse Associates.
27.
HughesR. L., & Howard-HamiltonM. F. (2003, Winter). Insights: Emphasizing issues that affect African American women. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 95–104). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
28.
JamesD. C. S., & BondsJ. R. (2006, Spring). Obesity status and body satisfaction: Are there differences between African American college females at Black and White universities?Health Educator, 38(1), 7–14.
29.
JohnsonA. B. (2006). Performance anxiety among African-American college students: Racial bias as a factor in social phobia. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 20(4), 31–38.
30.
JonesM. (2005). Taking a look at reproductive health. Ebony, 60(12), 160–163.
31.
LevittD. H. (2004, Fall). Drive for thinness and fear of fat among college women: Implications for practice and assessment. Journal of College Counseling, 7(2), 109–117.
32.
LoveK. M. (2008). Parental attachments and psychological distress among African American college students. Journal of College Student Development, 49(1), 31–40.
33.
MarbleyA. F.HullW.PolydoreC. L.BonnerF. A., & BurleyH. (2007). African American millennial college students: Owning the technological middle passage. National Association of Student Affairs Professional Journal, 10(1), 7–19.
AndersonMosley J. M. (2001). Their perceptions of how others perceive them: Black women administrators internalize others' perceptions of them as leaders. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Miami, University, Oxford, Ohio.
36.
MyersL. W. (2002). A broken silence: Voices of African American women in the academy. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
37.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Table 8: Percentage of persons age 25 and over and 25 to 29, by race/ethnicity, years of school completed, and sex: Selected years, 1910 through 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
38.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2005). Table 264: Bachelor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by racial/ethnic group and sex of student: Selected years, 1976–77 to 2001–02. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.
39.
NicholsJ. C., & TanksleyC. B. (2004, October). Revelations of African-American women with terminal degrees: Overcoming obstacles to success. The Negro Educational Review, 55(4), 175–185.
40.
NielsonL. (2000). Black undergraduate and White undergraduate eating disorders and related attitudes. College Student Journal, 34(3), 353–369.
41.
OrangeC. M., & MwilambweL. (2007). An academic steeplechase for African American millennials: Staying, the course through the hill, humps, and hurdles of higher learning. National Association of Student Affairs Professional Journal, 10(1), 49–62.
42.
PascarellaE. T., & TerenziniP. T. (1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
43.
PattonL. D., & HarperS. R. (2003, Winter). Mentoring relationships among African American women in graduate and professional schools. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 67–78). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
44.
PopeR. L. (2000). The relationship between psychosocial development and racial identity of college students of color. Journal of College Student Development, 41(3), 302–312.
45.
RichS. S., & ThomasC. R. (2008, May/June). Body mass index, disordered eating behavior, and acquisition of health behavior: Examining ethnicity and weight-related issues in a college population. Journal of American College Health, 56(6), 623–628.
46.
RobertsA.CashT. F.FeingoldA., & JohnsonB. T. (2006). Are Black-White differences in females' body dissatisfaction decreasing? A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(6), 1121–1131.
47.
RosalesA. M., & PersonD. R. (2003, Winter). Programming needs and student services for African American women. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 53–66). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
48.
RosenthalB. S., & ShreinerA. C. (2000). Prevalence of psychological symptoms among undergraduate students in an ethnically diverse urban public college. Journal of American College Health, 49(1), 12–18.
49.
SchwitzerA. M.GriffinO. T.KancisJ. R., & ThomasC. R. (1999). Social adjustment experiences of African American college students. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 189–197.
50.
Sealey-RuizY. (2007). Wrapping the curriculum around their lives: Using a culturally relevant curriculum with African American adult women. Adult Education Quarterly, 58(1), 44–60.
51.
ShawH.RamirezL.TrostA.RandallP., & SticeE. (2004). Body image and eating disturbances across ethnic groups: More similarities than differences. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18(1), 12–18.
52.
SimsG. A. (2008). Irrelation as a social construct for African American college women on a predominantly White campus. College Student Journal, 42(2), 691–702.
53.
SimienE. M. (2006). Black feminist voices in politics. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
54.
SimpsonB. (2001, July). “Can't You Lighten Up a Bit?” Black women administrators in the academy. Paper presented at the Annual National Conference of the National Association of African American Studies and the National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Houston, TX, February 21–26, 2000, pp. 1–25.
55.
SmedleyA. (2007). Race in North America: Origin and evolution of a worldview. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
56.
Striegel-MooreR. H.WilfleyD. E.PikeK. M.DohmF. A., & FairburnC. G. (2000). Recurrent binge eating in Black American women. Archives of Family Medicine, 9(1), 83–87.
57.
TalleyrandR. M. (2006). Potential stressors contributing to eating disorder symptoms in African American women: Implications for mental health counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 28(4), 338–352.
58.
The Ominous Gender Gap in African American Higher Education. (1999). Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 23, 6–9.
59.
ThomasG. D., & HollensheadC. (2001, Summer). Resisting from the margins: The coping strategies of Black women and other women of color faculty members at a research university. In BonnerF. B. & ThomasV. G. (Eds.), Black women in the academy: Challenges and opportunities [Special issue]. Journal of Negro Education, 70(3), 166–175.
60.
TintoV. (1986). Theories of college student departure revisited. In SmartJ. C. (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 359–384). New York: Agathon Press.
61.
WatersK., & ConawayC. B. (Eds.). (2007). Black women's intellectual traditions: Speaking their minds. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Press.
62.
WattS. K. (2003, Winter). Come to the river: Using spirituality to cope, resist, and develop identity. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 29–40). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
63.
WhiteE. F. (2001). Dark continent of our bodies: Black feminism and the politics of respectability. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
WilliamsC. B. (2005). Counseling African American women: Multiple identities-multiple constraints. Journal of Counseling and Development, 83, 278–283.
66.
WoodsR. L. (2001). Invisible women: The experiences of Black female doctoral students at the University of Michigan. In MabokelaR. O. & GreenA. L. (Eds.), Sisters of the academy: Emergent Black women scholars in higher education (pp. 105–115). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
67.
ZamaniE. M. (2003, Winter). African American women in higher education. In Howard-HamiltonM. F. (Ed.), New directions for student services. Meeting the needs of African American women (Vol. 104, pp. 5–18). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
