Date of Award

Winter 1-21-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Social Work

First Advisor

Katherine Tyson McCrea

Abstract

This dissertation explores how low-income Black youth and their caregivers experience, interpret, and respond to racial discrimination, with a focus on the development of youths’ dignity as a culturally grounded resilience process. Using a mixed-methods, community-based participatory research (CBPR) design, the study addresses three central aims: (1) to identify the forms of discrimination youth and caregivers encounter and their relationship to racial stress and resilience; (2) to define dignity from the perspectives of youth and caregivers; and (3) to identify caregiver-youth conversations that cultivate dignity and inform the development of the Dignity Development Curriculum (DDC). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, community forums, and validated quantitative instruments assessing racial identity, attachment, youth school connectedness, and resilience. The sample of 19 youth and 14 caregivers evidenced strong resilience and social connectedness: Quantitative results showed that they had strong resilience, racial identity, self-evaluation of parenting competence, attachment, and school connectedness. The thematic analysis revealed youth and caregivers experienced multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination—including structural, cultural, interpersonal, and internalized racism. The current measurement tools of racial stress inadequately capture the multi-systemic pervasiveness and psychological impacts of racism. Dignity emerged as a core construct, defined by participants as a sense of identity, moral clarity, and internal worth that counters the dehumanizing effects of racism. Racial socialization practices—such as strategic conversations, cultural traditions, and appearance management—played a vital role in developing resilience and affirming identity. The study expands theoretical models including RECAST, Resilience Theory, and Critical Race Theory by introducing dignity as a distinct, developmentally significant coping resource. In addition to contributing to theory, this study contributes a dignity-building curriculum (DDC) that can be applied by parents, school staff, and social service agencies serving youth of color. The resulting DDC offers a structured, culturally responsive intervention to support families in preparing youth to navigate racialized environments with clarity and confidence. The project is also innovative methodologically. According to participants, community forums functioned not only as data validation spaces but also as mechanisms for healing, empowerment, collective meaning-making, and inspiration for future advocacy. Implications for social work, psychology, and education include the need for culturally affirming interventions, clinician training on racial stress and effective interventions to mitigate it, and systemic reforms that address institutional racism. The dissertation affirms the importance of racial socialization, dignity-centered approaches, and participatory research methods in advancing equity and healing for Black youth and their communities.

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