Research & Studies

A new study led by scholars at Rice University in Houston, Texas, found that when middle and high school teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pursue continuing professional development, their students benefit. The effect was particularly evident for Black girls.

The new Lumina-Gallup Student Study finds that 22 percent of African American college students provide care to children, friends, seniors, or other relatives. One out of every five African American college students also has a full-time job. Both of these are about double the rate for bachelor's degree students as a whole.

A study led by Darrell Hudson, an associate professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis, finds that there is a significant association between everyday discrimination and depressive symptoms among college-educated African American young adults. More than 15 percent of the sample reported that they had been diagnosed with depression by a health care provider at some point in their lives.

The study found that one of every 10 Black patients at emergency rooms believed that their race impacted the quality of care that they received. Black patients reported that race most heavily affected the quality of care, respect, and communication.

A new study by Jayanti Owens, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, found that teachers tend to blame Black boys more than White boys for identical misbehaviors and are more likely to send them to the principal’s office.

Overall, 40 percent of American adults have ever had immediate family incarcerated, 34 percent have ever had extended family incarcerated, and more than half of adults have ever had any family incarcerated. For Blacks, 60 percent of adults have experienced an immediate family member’s incarceration, 53 percent have experienced extended family incarceration, and 74 percent have experienced either of those events.

Roughly one-quarter of teachers reported not knowing whether they were subject to restrictions on how they can address topics related to race or gender, and only 30 percent of teachers in states with restrictions reported them as being in place.

In 1980, Black doctoral earners received about 40 percent of the doctorates they would have received if the percentage of doctorates equaled the Black percentage of the population. There has been significant improvement in the share of doctorates awarded to Black people, now at about four-fifths of what racial parity would call for. But more wok needs to be done.

In a response to an edict from Gobernor ROn DeSantis, the 12 state-operated universities in Florida have reported that $34.5 million in their combined budgets are related to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Nearly $21 million of this total is from state funds with the remainder coming from the federal government, nonprofits, or private sources.

More than six-in-ten Black adults (63 percent) say voting is an extremely or very effective strategy for Black progress. However, only 42 percent of African Americans say protesting is a potent strategy for Black progress. A majority of African Americans say that supporting Black businesses can help achieve racial equality.

The 118th Congress is the most diverse in American history. But, a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies finds that despite greater diversity of the members of the House and Senate, this diversity is not reflected in high-level staff positions. Of the top staff hired by new members so far, 4.4 percent are Black.

A brief filed with the Supreme Court estimates that Black enrollments would likely decline between 50 percent and 70 percent. The percentage of Black student applicants who were offered admission would be about half the rate for White applicants. Most strikingly, the percentage of Black students matriculating at these liberal arts institutions as a whole would drop from 7 percent to 2 percent.

A brief filed with the Supreme Court estimates that Black enrollments would likely decline between 50 percent and 70 percent. The percentage of Black student applicants who were offered admission would be about half the rate for White applicants. Most strikingly, the percentage of Black students matriculating at these liberal arts institutions as a whole would drop from 7 percent to 2 percent.

In 2020, there were 140,918 U.S. Black- or African American-owned businesses across all sectors of the economy. They had annual sales of $141.1 billion and employed 1.3 million people. Thus, Black-owned businesses accounted for only 2.4 percent of all firms in the nation with paid employees. They employed just 1 percent of all employees.

A new study by researchers at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and the University of Pennsylvania. finds that in some urban zip codes with large populations of young African Americans, the death rate from firearms was higher than for U.S. troops serving as ground troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.