Associate Professor Researches Racial and Ethnic Disparities, and How Children and Students Can Be Prepared to Thrive Against Adversities
Associate Professor Researches Racial and Ethnic Disparities, and How Children and Students Can Be Prepared to Thrive Against Adversities
Ciara Smalls Glover, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgia State, is examining factors that mitigate the adverse effects of discrimination against persons from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds, including consequences for their emotional, academic and physical health.
“I was originally studying stress and coping, and from that I learned about the weight of a persistent stressor for communities of color—and that’s racial and ethnic discrimination.”
One of the factors that literature has found to be especially protective is racial and ethnic identity, Dr. Glover said. These are the beliefs and attitudes about an individual’s group membership. She said that these beliefs and attitudes evolve over time, with family playing a critical role.
“Identity doesn’t just happen. It develops. And one of the salient influences in that development is family,” Dr. Glover explained. “The role of the family has been central to my work and looking at the varied messages that families send to prepare their child for independence. Families from under-represented groups often don’t get permission to be portrayed in multi-faceted ways.”