‘Mother May I?’

Examining the Effect of Courtesy Stigma on Academic Performance

Introduction • The public’s perception (overwhelmingly pejorative)

toward African American students is in a state of continuity, heavily affixed with the language of a certain pathology, deficiency and crisis (Dixon-Roman, 2012).

• These sanctions can impose a certain stigma on African-American students.

• For instance, the African-American male has a propensity to academically underperform than their white counterparts in education. (Larson, 2010)

•This research is theory based and is an exploratory study which negates a hypothesis from this research

Abstract• Dominant ideology often imposes negative

stigmas onto Black single mother heads of household. These stigmas question the parental skills, abuse of social services, intelligence, and lifestyle choices of these women. These stigmas are potentially harmful to their children since they are easily transferrable to them through a process of courtesy stigmatization

Literature Review• Teacher Expectancy Effect• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy• Stigma & The Single Mother

Teacher Expectancy Effect• Prior studies have reported that subtle variances in a

teacher’s pedagogy can impair a student’s academic performance

• These studies illicit certain racial undertones and implications considering the dominant ideology.

• “…teachers form expectations about their students’ minds and students come to understand…what is in their teachers’ minds about their ability, reality is formed for both…” (McFall, 2004)

• Teacher effect- stigma is imposed upon the student

• Self-fulfilling prophecy- stigma is internalized by student

• Courtesy stigma is stigma by association– An individual’s mere association with a

stigmatized person stigmatizes that person as well

Statement of Purpose

• This African-American child coming from a female-headed, single parent household represents a unique social group because he or she is stigmatized from the negative effects of race and gender (Harper, 2012).

• There is the sense of urgency for society to categorically define divergent social groups (Stets and Burke, 2009).

• Without this process it would be difficult for some to gauge how they are expected to interact with out-group members.

• As a result, out-group members risk becoming arbitrarily or narrowly defined (White, 2009).

Stereotypes About African-American Students

• Brezina & Winder Study (2003)• Their study systematically aggregated a holistic survey from

almost 2,000 adults, with a focal point of 1,500 European American respondents, the outcome revealed that the European American are more inclined to stereotype the African-American as lazy versus hardworking, (Brezina and Winder, 2003)

• Variance in expectation could impair the performance of an individual.

Stigma & The Single Mother• The stereotype of the single mother

“intersects class, race, gender, sexuality, ability…”

• ‘Racialized’ image of a single mother dependent upon assistance.

• Pew Research Poll (2007)• Fixated on centralizing the idea of the

‘broken home’ to only belong to the African American single mother household.

Stigma and the Single Mother ctn’d

Race

Marital

Status

Gender

Dominant discourses concernin

g the dynamic

of the family

overshadow much of

the research

examining the single

mother household

.

She is effectively an anomaly, because she represents an entity of marginalization on the basis of her social identity

DataTable 1. Descriptive statistics for variables used in the analysis of a student's academic performance coming from a single female headed household.

Variables Mean Standard Deviation Minimum Maximum Percentage Frequency

Dependent VariableChild Overall Grade 2.79 2.092 -1 6 N/A N/AChild Overall Ratings on School Work -0.17 1.464 -1 5 N/A N/A

Reported Child Behavior Problems in School 1.77 0.555 -1 2 N/A N/A

Reported Problems in Schoolwork 1.72 0.576 -1 2 N/A N/A

Poor Academic Performance 6.1157 3.70385 -4 15 N/A N/A

Educational Attainment of Mother 6.2 3.281 -1 13 N/A N/A

Explanatory VariablesParents in Household 1.39 0.736 1 4 N/A N/A

Control VariablesSex of Child 1.48 0.5 1 2 N/A N/AChild is White N/A N/A 1 2 77.8 9087Child is Black or African-American N/A N/A 1 2 15.6 1820

Total Household Income 9.4 4.056 1 14 N/A N/ANotes: Data for this study comes from the United States Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics’ National Household Education Survey (2005)

The Child's Academic Outcome is a sum of 4 indicator variables: 1) Child's Overall Grade across all subjects 2) Child's Overall Ratings on School Work 3) Reported Child Behavioral Problems in School 4) Reported Problems with Schoolwork

The control variables were: the 1) the sex of the child 2) if the child is African-American or Black 3) If the child is White 4) total household income

Methodology ctn’d • Chronbach Alpha was used to test the reliability of the newly

created dependent variable. A Chronbach Alpha value of .6 was reported suggesting a good reliability for “Poor Academic Performance.”

• Linear Regression was employed to examine the relationship between Household Type, Poor Academic Performance, controlling for the race of the child, the sex of the child and household income.

ResultsTable 1. Linear Regression analysis of a student's academic performance coming from a single female headed household.

Main Explanatory Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

 Mother*Child's Race (BLK) 0.007Mother*Child's Race (WHITE) 0.014

ControlsMother*Child's Race (BLK) 0.06 -0.006Mother*Child's Race (WHITE) 0.013 -0.001

Father*Child's Race (BLK) 0.017*** 0.014Father*Child's Race (WHITE) -0.013 -0.021***

Dual Head Household*Child's Race (BLK)

-0.025***

Dual Head Household*Child's Race (WHITE)

-0.043***

R-square 0 0.001 0.002

Adjusted R-square 0 0 0.002

***p<.005; **p<.05

Data for this study comes from the National Household Education Survey . (2005)

Discussion • The idea that household type determines

educational trajectory is a grievous error. • Statistical significance in Models II and III.

(Single Father Variable)• Limitations in research

–No variable for mother’s race–Interaction Effect Implemented–Had to presume mothers race with Child’s

Conclusion• What the data can’t find is that the

family is changing. • However divided we are in literature

and in reality; one can never fully grasp the understanding of single African-American mothers through our mere “pedestrian comparisons, stereotypes, arrogance and condescension” (Toldson, 2013).

• Nor can we undermine an individual’s capability on the basis of where they come from.

Thank You!

An Examination of Courtesy Stigma on Academic

PerformanceJohn Arthur Jackson, III

School of Liberal ArtsDepartment of Sociology

Dr. Janice Allen-Kelsey, Acting DeanDr. Earl Mowatt, Advisor