The present institutional case study explores the antecedents and aftereffects of the Unite the Right rally at the University of Virginia (UVA), a white supremacist event that occurred on August 11th and 12th in 2017. Specifically, we considered how the “Summer of Hate” informed Black undergraduate students’ sense of belonging and safety at UVA, as well as their perceptions of institutional accountability before and after the rallies. We analyzed individual interview data from 27 Black students who were newly arriving or returning to campus in August 2017. We identified four themes: (a) disillusionment with UVA and reckoning with the university’s racial history, (b) racial battle fatigue from the rinse and repeat of racial exclusion, (c) feeling connected to the legacy of Black resistance at UVA, and (d) hesitant hope for institutional change. The findings elucidate how the historical and contemporary legacy of institutional whiteness at the university contributed to the rallies, as well as how Black students’ responses illustrate their commitment to protest institutional erasure and racialized inequities on campus. While Black students appreciated their personal and communal resistance to the displays of racialized hate, they believed the administration had the power to take a stronger position before the rallies occurred. We problematize how prioritizing free speech over the physical and psychological safety of Black students engages and (re)produces white hegemonic ideologies and practices.

This study used an explanatory sequential mixed-method design to explore the association between familial interdependence and familial mentoring relationship presence within black families. This study also examined how socioeconomic disadvantage may moderate the association between familial interdependence and familial mentoring presence. A sample of 216 black youth (59% girls; 41% boys) were surveyed, and a subsample of 25 participants were interviewed along with one of their parents, and one nonparental familial adult with whom the youth reported feeling emotionally close to learn more about the enactment of familial interdependence and the formation of familial mentoring relationships across social class. Logistic regression analyses revealed that greater valuing of familial interdependence was associated with a greater likelihood of having a familial mentoring relationship, but this association was present only among nonsocioeconomically disadvantaged youth. Data collected from participant interviews were analyzed to better understand this pattern of findings. These analyses provided some preliminary insights into why familial interdependence may predict familial mentor formation only among nonsocioeconomically disadvantaged youth. Implications of study findings for the promotion of familial mentoring relationships within black families are discussed.

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This mixed method study explored whether and how familial mentor support may have influenced the parent-adolescent relationship, and whether the impact of familial mentor support on the parent-adolescent relationship may have differed across adolescents’ developmental stage. Findings from analyses of survey data from 106 Black adolescents indicated that familial mentor support may be equally beneficial for youths’ connectedness to parents across developmental stage. Interview data from a subset of 12 adolescents, their primary caregivers, and familial mentors were analyzed to better understand how familial mentors supported the parent-adolescent bond and whether the nature of mentor support differed between early and middle adolescents. Qualitative findings indicated that mentors supported the parent-adolescent relationship by acting as sounding boards; coaching positive communication strategies; and promoting understanding between youth and their parents. Additionally, findings indicated that familial mentors may be attuned to developmental changes experienced by their adolescent relatives.

This randomized controlled trial examined the impact of The Connection Project, an experiential, relationship‐focused intervention designed to improve school belongingness and decrease symptoms of depression and loneliness among new college students. Participants were 438 first‐year and transfer students (232 treatment, 206 waitlist‐control) at a medium‐sized, 4years, predominantly White public university in the Southeastern United States. At postintervention, the treatment group reported significant relative increases in school belonging and significant relative reductions in levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms in comparison to waitlist‐controls. Program effects were stronger for students from marginalized racial or ethnic backgrounds, students from lower socioeconomic status households, and transfer students. Results are interpreted as suggesting the utility of experiential, peer‐support prevention programming to promote college students' well‐being, particularly college students who hold identities that are traditionally disadvantaged in this context.