Citation

Todd NR, Spanierman LB, Poteat VP. J. Couns. Psychol. 2014; 61(1): 177-178.

Affiliation

Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, Boston College.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/a0034782

PMID

24447062

Abstract

Reports an error in "Longitudinal examination of the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites across the college experience" by Nathan R. Todd, Lisa B. Spanierman and V. Paul Poteat (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 2011[Oct], Vol 58[4], 508-521). The article contained errors regarding the Diversity Courses variable, for which the corrections are presented in the erratum along with revised Tables 1 and 4. The authors re-ran all analyses and found no changes in direction or significance of the findings for diversity courses or any other variable. However, some parameter estimates changed (see revised Table 4 in the erratum). Additionally, the authors revised the interpretation for the within-person finding (significant only for the White guilt variable). Instead of considering how many courses a student had taken each year relative to their overall average across college, the revised interpretation considers the overall number of diversity courses reported at a time point relative to their overall average across college. Thus, as students reported having taken more diversity courses (relative to their overall average across college), they also reported elevated levels of White guilt. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-18197-001.) This longitudinal investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites, which refer to the consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. We examined how White students' affective costs of racism (i.e., White empathy, guilt, and fear) changed across the college experience and how gender, colorblind racial ideology, and diversity experiences were associated with those costs. Findings indicated that White empathy, guilt, and fear each had a distinct trajectory of change across the college experience. Moreover, patterns of change for each cost were moderated by colorblind racial attitude scores at college entrance. We also found that participation in college diversity experiences (e.g., diversity courses) was associated with the costs; moreover, different types of diversity experiences were linked to particular costs. These findings provide insight into the affective experiences of White students across college and thus may be useful to counseling psychologists and educators who design and implement programs and policies to enhance diversity education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en