Racial Climate, Black Racial Identity, and Acculturative Stress have been found to be important variables among African Americans while in college. However, these variables have received no attention in the literature as it relates to African American graduate students in CACREP-Accredited counselor trainee programs. This study explored these variables among African Americans in CACREP-Accredited Counselor Education Programs. Four general research hypotheses were developed and tested in this study using a sample of 116 participants.
Three measurement instruments and a demographic questionnaire were utilized to obtain psychometric data and test hypotheses: the Counselor Education Climate Survey (CECS), the CRIS (Vandiver et al., 2000), the Acculturative Stress Scale (ACS; Williams-Flournoy & Anderson, 1996), and a demographic questionnaire (e.g., age, sex, race, undergraduate experience, and graduate level).
Out of the 17 Specific Hypotheses that were tested 13 were statistically significant and 4 were not. For General Hypothesis 1, all six of the subscales that measured Black racial identity except for multiculturalist inclusive were significantly correlated with acculturative stress. None of the Specific Hypotheses that measured relationship between Black racial identity and racial climate, for General Hypotheses 2, were statistically significant. General Hypothesis 3, which investigated the relationship between acculturative stress and racial climate contained four specific hypotheses that were all statistically significant. Lastly, General Hypothesis 4 investigated the relationship between Black racial identity, acculturative stress, and type of undergraduate institution on perceptions of racial climate. All four of the Specific Hypotheses used to test this research hypothesis were found to be statistically significant. Further implications of the results are discussed. Finally, limitations and recommendations for future research are explored.