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Promoting sisterhood: The impact of a culturally focused program to address verbally aggressive behaviors in Black girls
Author(s) -
Aston Candice,
Graves Scott L.,
McGoey Kara,
Lovelace Temple,
Townsend Tiffany
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/pits.22089
Subject(s) - psychology , psychological intervention , empowerment , intervention (counseling) , curriculum , economic justice , juvenile delinquency , suicide prevention , poison control , school discipline , developmental psychology , discipline , social psychology , pedagogy , sociology , economics , medicine , neoclassical economics , environmental health , psychiatry , political science , law , social science
New estimates report that Black girls are facing an educational crisis with regard to disproportionate disciplinary practices and academics. To date, there has been very limited research with regard to school‐based interventions that have been designed to help Black girls explore both their cultural and gender identity. This is problematic because Black girls are constantly faced with the task of disproving negative characterizations (i.e., angry, loud, and aggressive) and advocating for equitable treatment from teachers and school administrators. These negative characteristics often translate to lower academic expectations, harsher punishments, and juvenile justice involvement. To address this problem, a single‐subject study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of implementing an 8‐week cultural‐empowerment program based on the Sisters of Nia curriculum. Results based on visual analysis, percentage of nonoverlapping data, and Tau‐U all show that the Sisters of Nia intervention led to a significant reduction in verbally aggressive behavior for all four participants. These findings serve as further support to incorporate culturally based interventions at the school level.