The Impostor Phenomenon (IP) is marked by an individual's persistent perception of incompetency despite contrary evidence. The presence of IP has been found to negatively affect many college students, but literature on IP among African American college students, specifically, is limited. Previous literature has emphasized a positive association between racial identity and self-esteem for African Americans, and an inverse association between selfesteem and IP among non-African American samples. However, few studies have examined these variables in African American undergraduate samples. Objectives: The current study examined the relationships between racial identity, self-esteem, and IP among African American undergraduate students. It was hypothesized that self-esteem would mediate the relationship between racial identity and IP. Method: The participants were 112 (74% female) self-identified African American undergraduate students who completed an online survey. Results: Mediation testing via bootstrapping revealed support for the hypothesis-self-esteem mediated the relationship between racial identity and IP. Conclusion: University initiatives should focus on creating inclusive environments that foster racial identity development and self-esteem for African Americans to reduce experiences of IP.

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In this study, we evaluated the status of and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination of healthcare workers in two major hospital systems (academic and private) in Southern California. Responses were collected via an anonymous and voluntary survey from a total of 2491 participants, including nurses, physicians, other allied health professionals, and administrators. Among the 2491 participants that had been offered the vaccine at the time of the study, 2103 (84%) were vaccinated. The bulk of the participants were middle-aged college-educated White (73%), non-Hispanic women (77%), and nursing was the most represented medical occupation (35%). Political affiliation, education level, and income were shown to be significant factors associated with vaccination status. Our data suggest that the current allocation of healthcare workers into dichotomous groups such as “anti-vaccine vs. pro-vaccine” may be inadequate in accurately tailoring vaccine uptake interventions. We found that healthcare workers that have yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccine likely belong to one of four categories: the misinformed, the undecided, the uninformed, or the unconcerned. This diversity in vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers highlights the importance of targeted intervention to increase vaccine confidence. Regardless of governmental vaccine mandates, addressing the root causes contributing to vaccine hesitancy continues to be of utmost importance.

The consequences of the early onset of substance use on later outcomes are a public health concern. In the present study, we examined neighborhood risk factors as a possible predictor of the onset of substance use in adolescents. In addition, we assessed the potential buffering effects of parental supervision on the relationship between neighborhood risk and the onset of substance use. The participants included 95, abstinent, African American 6th graders (mean age = 11.5 years) who enrolled in one site of a national, multi-site study of high-risk youth participating in a federally sponsored program. In the 6th and 8th grades, the participants completed self-report measures regarding substance use, perceived negative neighborhood activities and parental supervision. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that both exposure to negative neighborhood activities and low parental supervision increase the onset of substance use by the 8th grade among African American adolescents. However, the results suggested that parents can protect their adolescents from the impact of exposure to adverse neighborhood factors by providing appropriate supervision.