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Developing an observational coding system on racial issues for black-white couples
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Scott, Alycia C.. Developing an observational coding system on racial issues for black-white couples. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3HD7TDV

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TitleDeveloping an observational coding system on racial issues for black-white couples
NameScott, Alycia C. (author); Kelly, Shalonda (chair); Fagley, Nancy S. (internal member); Rutgers University; Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
Date Created2013
Other Date2013-01 (degree)
SubjectClinical Psychology, Coding theory, Interracial marriage, Stress (Psychology), African Americans--Marriage, Whites--United States, Man-woman relationships
Extentvii, 129 p. : ill.
DescriptionInterracial marriages are increasing steadily in the United States, and Black-White interracial couples have a unique experience as compared with other interracial pairings. Black-White couples experience more stressors (discrimination, lack of support from friends and family) and also may exhibit more protective factors (partner acceptance, strong coping skills) in their relationships, both of which impact the quality of the romantic relationship (Foeman & Nance, 2002). Due to the biases that exist in self-report measures on couple satisfaction and relationship quality (Paulhus, 1989, 1990), this study sought to develop a reliable observational coding system to objectively measure how Black-White couples discuss and cope together with issues surrounding race and racial difference. Successive Cohort Design (Epstein et al., 2007) was utilized due to the hypothesis that this design would allow for the coding system to be improved mid-study, ultimately resulting in a more relevant and reliable coding system. Participating couples (n=9) were divided into three cohorts. After three codebook iterations, one code out of 21 (Social Support-Positive) was consistently reliable across all cohorts, and six other codes (Discrimination, Social Support-Negative, Coping-Passive, Increased Racial Awareness, Stress, Partner Positivity) achieved slightly low-to-good reliability in two of three cohorts. Code frequency data corroborate previous research identifying salient themes for Black-White interracial couples. Lack of social support was common, as was higher frequency of negative racial identity. The couples studied also employed passive coping strategies three times more often than active strategies, consistent with previous findings (Foeman and Nance, 2002). Due to several limitations of the current study (small n, inadequate training time, overlap of coders across cohorts), it is recommended that the final codebook of this study be applied to a larger sample with newly trained coders to assess sufficiently the reliability of the overall coding system. Future research that assesses how codes derived from this coding system correlate with relationship satisfaction measures can further inform couples’ treatment.
NotePsy.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Alycia C. Scott
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3HD7TDV
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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