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This article is an attempt to expand the descriptive characteristics of the Cross model by discussing a theory of psychological Nigrescence that hypothesizes the changes in racial identity that a Black person can experience at various points in the life-cycle process. In this discussion, I will attempt to describe how various stages of racial identity are manifest at three periods of life: late adolescence/early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. I will conclude with a discussion of the implications for counseling Blacks who display varying degrees of racial identity attitudes.

1 Although Cross (1978) conceptualized the internalization-commitment stage as a separate stage, he concedes that it is difficult to figure out where it fits in the general model, because ostensibly similar behavioral styles may accompany the immersion-emersion stage as well. In our own work, we have chosen not to operationalize the fifth stage because it seems to confound general styles (e.g., assertiveness or gregariousness) with racial identity in a way that we have been unable to separate. 431This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

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During the previous decade, the explosion of research articles in the nigrescence area has contributed significantly to the understanding of the relationship between racial identity attitudes and other psychological constructs. In some respects, research that attempts to further develop the theoretical constructs of the nigrescence models has yielded to those studies that attempt to apply the modeL Using the Cross model of psychological nigrescence, the present study sought to build on the work by Cross, Parham and Helms, especially Parham 's recent efforts to elaborate on those factors that might influence the development of a person's racial identity attitudes. Questions regarding specific factors that instigate a person's movement through the stages are explored, as well as questions about various identity resolution alternatives.