Contributions of African-centered (Africentric) psychology: A call for inclusion in APA-accredited graduate psychology program curriculum.

Over the past few years, there has been increased visibility of, and attention paid to, enduring issues such as racial discrimination toward Black Americans. Black psychologists have been called upon to explain various race-related mental health issues to the public, as well as their colleagues and students. Discussions about how to heal from persistent, intergenerational, oppressive attacks on the African psyche are important, but the theories and treatments in which most practitioners are trained and considered "best practices" are Eurocentric in nature. African-centered (or Africentric) psychology is a well-established school of thought, predating the philosophies often discussed in Western/American psychology's History and Systems curriculum, that provides an authentic understanding of the psychology of people of African descent from an African perspective. In this article, we present the historical contention about the lack of inclusion of an African perspective in conceptualizing and addressing the psychological needs of people of African descent, provide an overview of African-centered psychology including its underlying worldview and philosophy, development, and key contributors, and advocate for the inclusion of Africentric psychology in APA-accredited psychology graduate programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

"They stand in the middle now": Pathways to meeting psychological needs by adolescents who are refugees from sub-Saharan Africa.

OBJECTIVES: This study explored the psychological needs of refugee youth from sub-Saharan Africa resettled in a large city in Southwest United States. We utilized the framework of Basic Psychological Needs Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) which proposes that competence, relatedness, and autonomy are universal psychological needs. We examined the challenges to meeting these needs and resolutions to these challenges. Integral to understanding these needs was to place them in the context of a bicultural model of adaptation. Of particular interest was discovering how these young people negotiate and reconcile home and host cultural demands while meeting needs. METHOD: From July 2019 to August 2020, semistructured individual interviews (N = 44) were completed with youth, parents, and cultural experts. Data were analyzed using a hybrid inductive and deductive approach and thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Active engagement, assertion, and self-advocacy were delineated as important pathways to achieve competence. Relatedness needs were served by inclusive ties, and frequently included other "outsiders." Autonomy came from self-sufficiency, agency, and "voice." Altruism was common, extending beyond ethnic community, and promoted competence, relatedness, and empowerment. Conflicts between family and host culture were managed by accepting parental authority. Parents contributed to integrating home and host cultures by flexibly interpreting traditional rules. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings illustrate the strengths of these youth who manage tremendous challenges to meeting their psychological needs. We highlight how in the process of cultural adaptation they retain ties to their home culture. They choose diversity in their relationships and find agency and purpose by supporting others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Impostor feelings as a moderator and mediator of the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health among racial/ethnic minority college students.

This study investigated whether impostor feelings would both moderate and mediate the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health in a sample of diverse ethnic minority college students (106 African Americans, 102 Asian Americans, 108 Latino/a Americans) at an urban public university. African American students reported higher perceived discrimination than Asian American and Latino/a American students, while no racial/ethnic group differences were reported for impostor feelings. Analyses revealed that among African American students, high levels of impostor feelings moderated the perceived discrimination and depression relationship and mediated the perceived discrimination and anxiety relationship. Among Asian American students, impostor feelings mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and both depression and anxiety. Among Latino/a American students low levels of impostor feelings moderated the relationship between perceived discrimination and both depression and anxiety, and partially mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and anxiety. Multigroup path analyses revealed a significantly stronger impact of impostor feelings on depression among African American students and a stronger impact of perceived discrimination on impostor feelings among African American and Latino/a American students. Clinical implications and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record