The Relationship of Demographic and Background Factors to Racial Identity Attitudes

Abstract

During the previous decade, the explosion of research articles in the nigrescence area has contributed significantly to the understanding of the relationship between racial identity attitudes and other psychological constructs. In some respects, research that attempts to further develop the theoretical constructs of the nigrescence models has yielded to those studies that attempt to apply the modeL Using the Cross model of psychological nigrescence, the present study sought to build on the work by Cross, Parham and Helms, especially Parham 's recent efforts to elaborate on those factors that might influence the development of a person's racial identity attitudes. Questions regarding specific factors that instigate a person's movement through the stages are explored, as well as questions about various identity resolution alternatives.