Janet E Helms
Biographic Data
| ID | 77817 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Janet E Helms |
| GIVEN NAMES | Janet E |
| FAMILY NAME | Helms |
| SIGNATURE | HELMS J E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Boston College |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9445-6401 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 65 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 807 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 65 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Racism-conscious reflexivity in qualitative research
Counseling Psychology Marches Toward Racial Justice as Society Embraces “Neutrality”
In the inaugural speech for the Society of Counseling Psychology’s Janet E. Helms Racial Justice Award, the author thanked the multiple parties responsible for establishing the award in recognition of her efforts toward promoting racial justice and for providing impetus for future generations to carry forth the mission of racial justice in the various domains that define counseling psychology. In addition, she contended that the march toward raci…
Becoming an Advocate
Counseling programs across the country are increasingly incorporating social justice advocacy training into their curricula. However, much remains to be learned about the developmental processes by which students develop advocacy skills and apply those skills after they graduate. To address these questions and drive further innovation in the field of advocacy training, we conducted an evaluation of the Community Advocacy Project, a yearlong micro…
Let's Talk About Race
The authors evaluate Dialogues on Race, an interracial group intervention in which undergraduate student facilitators led conversations about race with their peers. The evaluation process is described, including developing collaborative relationships, identifying program goals, selecting measures, and analyzing and presenting results. The authors discuss lessons learned about evaluating an interracial dialogue intervention that did not originally…
The Challenge of Making Whiteness Visible
In a series of four articles, the authors described the experiences of White researchers, teachers, and practitioners in addressing multicultural issues, which sometimes included racism. Yet, the authors focused very little attention on the benefits of their internalized Whiteness as impediments to fulfilling their scholarly and professional goals. Moreover, the authors did not use any theoretical formulation to guide their examination of White m…
Celebrating 25 Years of the Janet E. Helms Mentoring Award
As part of celebrating 25 years of the Janet E. Helms Mentoring Award for Mentoring and Scholarship in Professional Psychology at the annual Winter Roundtable on Cultural Psychology and Education, the first and the 25th recipients were interviewed, including Janet E. Helms, for whom the award was named, and Lillian Comas-Díaz, the 2015 recipient. Both women have been highly influential scholars, teachers, and mentors in the field of psychology, p…
Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Black American Men
Discrimination is related to depression and poor self-esteem among Black men. Poorer self-esteem is also associated with depression. However, there is limited research identifying how self-esteem may mediate the associations between discrimination and depressive symptoms for disparate ethnic groups of Black men. The purpose of this study was to examine ethnic groups as a moderator of the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relationship betwee…
An examination of the evidence in culturally adapted evidence-based or empirically supported interventions
Measurement yields perhaps the most critical evidence influencing whether culturally adapted evidence- based practice (EBP) and empirically supported treatments (EST) are deemed more effective for African Americans, Latino/a Americans, Asian/Pacific Islander Americans, Native Americans, and related immigrant groups than standard treatments, as well as for determining the validity of results of surveys of health conditions in nondominant populatio…
Taking Action Against Racism in a Post-Racism Era
Racism and ethnoviolence as trauma
In trauma theory, research, and practice, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a syndrome of psychobiological reactions to events perceived as cataclysmic or life threatening, often has been the ...
Social and Psychological Perspectives on Ethnic and Racial Identity
Overview and Introduction
This special issue includes seven articles concerning strategies for overcoming barriers in standardized testing as it pertains to African Americans. Most of the articles focus on the effects of testing in educational settings or on related educational experiences of test takers. Three of the articles focus on alternatives to standardized testing for students with special or exceptional needs (gifted college students or students with learning dis…
Effects of discrimination on Chinese, Pilipino, and Vietnamese Americans' mental and physical health
Racism and ethnoviolence as trauma
In trauma theory, research, and practice, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a syndrome of psychobiological reactions to events perceived as cataclysmic or life threatening, often has been the focus of mental health interventions and research. Yet virtually missing from contemporary trauma literature is consideration of racism and ethnoviolence as catalysts for PTSD and related symptoms.The stress inducing effects of obviously life threatenin…
Using the People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Scale among Asian American college students
In this study, an exploratory factor analysis of the People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Scale (PRIAS; Helms, 1995b) among a sample of Asian American college students (N = 225) was conducted. The factorial structure that emerged revealed mixed results in terms of consistency with the People of Color (POC) theory (Helms, 1995a). The measure's construct validity for Asian Americans may be improved through further scale development and revision…
Implications for social policy of variability in racial groups
Social policy and federal and state legislation require the use of single cut scores when tests of cognitive ability, knowledge, or skills (CAKS) are used to make high-stakes assessment decisions, such as whether students or employees may be promoted. Rationales offered for the requirement are that cut scores provide objective standards and are fairer than using subjective criteria, such as racial group membership. It is argued that failure to co…
Why Is There Still No Study of Cultural Equivalence in Standardized Cognitive Ability Tests
To investigate how the culturalist perspective on investigating racial group differences in standardized cognitive ability tests has advanced, a content analysis of 28 studies citing J. E. Helms (1992) identified 7 general themes. Overall, researchers cited J. E. Helms (1992) as support for their own hypotheses but did not directly test the culturalist perspective.Para investigar cómo ha avanzado la perspectiva culturalista sobre la investigación…
A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Strengths of Black Youths
The strengths of Black youths lie in their abilities to resist the barriers that they encounter in the various environments in which they exist. Yet the media and social science literature have defined the youths in terms of the pathology of their environments rather than focusing on the assets that Black youths use in such environments. Thus, terms such as inner city , urban , and at-risk are used as proxies for the youths' personality attribute…
Some better practices for measuring racial and ethnic identity constructs
Racial and ethnic identity (REI) measures are in danger of becoming conceptually meaningless because of evaluators' insistence that they conform to measurement models intended to assess unidimensional constructs, rather than the multidimensional constructs necessary to capture the complexity of internalized racial or cultural socialization. Some aspects of the intersection of REI theoretical constructs with research design and psychometric practi…
Treating Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficients as Data in Counseling Research
Scientific associations and measurement experts in psychology and education have voiced various standards and best-practice recommendations concerning reliability data over the years. Yet in the counseling psychology literature, there is virtually no single-source compilation and articulation of good practices for reporting, analyzing, and interpreting reliability to guide applied researchers intending to use scales rather than develop them. Ther…
Fairness is not validity or cultural bias in racial-group assessment
When test scores that differ by racial groups are used for assessment purposes, resulting decisions regarding members of the lower scoring group are potentially unfair. Fairness is defined as the removal from test scores of systematic variance attributable to experiences of racial or cultural socialization, and it is differentiated from test-score validity and cultural bias. Two fairness models for identifying, quantifying, and removing from test…
The meaning of race in psychology and how to change it
The primary purpose of this article was to offer a methodological critique in support of arguments that racial categories should be replaced as explanatory constructs in psychological research and theory. To accomplish this goal, the authors (a) summarized arguments for why racial categories should be replaced; (b) used principles of the scientific method to show that racial categories lack conceptual meaning; (c) identified common errors in rese…
Training Counseling Psychologists as Social Justice Agents
Despite recent calls for counseling psychology to embrace social justice-oriented work, there has been little discussion about what such work actually looks like. The first part of this article derives a set of principles from feminist and multicultural counseling theories that counseling psychologists should consider as they engage in social justice work. These include (a) ongoing self-examination,(b) sharing power, (c) giving voice, (d) facilit…
The 2003 Leona Tyler Award Address
The effects of race, defined as individual-difference variables, on Black test takers'performance on tests of cognitive ability, knowledge, and skills have not been investigated in the traditional scholarly testing literature. Moreover, the scholarly testing community has been unwilling to consider this alternative conceptualization of race as a viable explanation for differences in test scores among racial groups. I argue that racial individuald…
Why is there no study of cultural equivalence in standardized cognitive ability testing
Training Counseling Psychologists as Social Justice Agents
Despite recent calls for counseling psychology to embrace social justice-oriented work, there has been little discussion about what such work actually looks like. The first part of this article derives a set of principles from feminist and multicultural counseling theories that counseling psychologists should consider as they engage in social justice work. These include (a) ongoing self-examination,(b) sharing power, (c) giving voice, (d) facilit…
Toward a Theoretical Explanation of the Effects of Race on Counseling A Black and White Model
The meaning of race in psychology and how to change it
The primary purpose of this article was to offer a methodological critique in support of arguments that racial categories should be replaced as explanatory constructs in psychological research and theory. To accomplish this goal, the authors (a) summarized arguments for why racial categories should be replaced; (b) used principles of the scientific method to show that racial categories lack conceptual meaning; (c) identified common errors in rese…
Some better practices for measuring racial and ethnic identity constructs
Racial and ethnic identity (REI) measures are in danger of becoming conceptually meaningless because of evaluators' insistence that they conform to measurement models intended to assess unidimensional constructs, rather than the multidimensional constructs necessary to capture the complexity of internalized racial or cultural socialization. Some aspects of the intersection of REI theoretical constructs with research design and psychometric practi…
Racial identity and reflected appraisals as influences on Asian Americans' racial adjustment
J. E. Helms's (1990) racial identity psychodiagnostic model was used to examine the contribution of racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals to the development of healthy racial adjustment of Asian American university students (N = 188). Racial adjustment was operationally defined as collective self-esteem and awareness of anti-Asian racism. Multiple regression analyses suggested that racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals were …
Treating Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficients as Data in Counseling Research
Scientific associations and measurement experts in psychology and education have voiced various standards and best-practice recommendations concerning reliability data over the years. Yet in the counseling psychology literature, there is virtually no single-source compilation and articulation of good practices for reporting, analyzing, and interpreting reliability to guide applied researchers intending to use scales rather than develop them. Ther…
Considering Some Methodological Issues in Racial Identity Counseling Research
In this article, it is argued that Nigrescence or Black racial identity theory often interacts with counseling psychology research designs in ways that may lead readers to underestimate the worth of such research as well as misunderstand its meaning. Particular methodological dilemmas resulting from the interactions among theoretical formulations, environmental influences, and research participants' racial identity characteristics are addressed. …
The Challenge of Making Whiteness Visible
In a series of four articles, the authors described the experiences of White researchers, teachers, and practitioners in addressing multicultural issues, which sometimes included racism. Yet, the authors focused very little attention on the benefits of their internalized Whiteness as impediments to fulfilling their scholarly and professional goals. Moreover, the authors did not use any theoretical formulation to guide their examination of White m…
The Relationship Between Racism and Racial Identity for White Americans
This investigation examined how racial identity profiles, using J. E. Helms's (1996) profile scoring procedure, were related to racist attitudes. One finding showed that participants with an undifferentiated or flat profile scored significantly higher in racist attitudes than participants with other racial identity profiles. Implications for counseling practice and research are discussed.Esta investigación examina cómo los perfiles de identidad r…
A Pragmatic View of Social Justice
Vera and Speight's (2003 [this issue]) use of the current Multicultural Competencies (Sue et al., 1998) to criticize all multicultural cultural social justice interventions may be unfair. The author offers some perspectives on shifting the focus of counseling psychology to marginalized groups but advises that minority status and economic realities may impede the shift
Research in Counseling Psychology
This report presents a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the Research Group at the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology. The report is organized into five topics, as were discussed during the conference. These topics are (a) definition and image, (b) methodological diversity in counseling research, (c) multi- and cross-cultural issues, (d) the connection of research to practice, and (e) research training. Fifteen ge…
Becoming an Advocate
Counseling programs across the country are increasingly incorporating social justice advocacy training into their curricula. However, much remains to be learned about the developmental processes by which students develop advocacy skills and apply those skills after they graduate. To address these questions and drive further innovation in the field of advocacy training, we conducted an evaluation of the Community Advocacy Project, a yearlong micro…
The Relationship of Black Value-Orientations to Racial Identity Attitudes
The authors investigated content and structure of cultural values for Black Americans. Differences in sex, racial identity, and an Afro-Euro-American mixture of cultural values were found
Implications of Behrens (1997) for the validity of the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale
"I also Said, "White Racial Identity Influences White Researchers
Another Meta-Analysis of the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale's Cronbach Alphas
This article provides a meta-analysis of 38 studies of J. E. Helms and R. T. Carter's (1990) White Racial Identity Attitude Scale. Systematic measurement errors are implicated as influences on the measure's reliability and validity
A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Strengths of Black Youths
The strengths of Black youths lie in their abilities to resist the barriers that they encounter in the various environments in which they exist. Yet the media and social science literature have defined the youths in terms of the pathology of their environments rather than focusing on the assets that Black youths use in such environments. Thus, terms such as inner city , urban , and at-risk are used as proxies for the youths' personality attribute…
Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Black American Men
Discrimination is related to depression and poor self-esteem among Black men. Poorer self-esteem is also associated with depression. However, there is limited research identifying how self-esteem may mediate the associations between discrimination and depressive symptoms for disparate ethnic groups of Black men. The purpose of this study was to examine ethnic groups as a moderator of the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relationship betwee…
Fairness is not validity or cultural bias in racial-group assessment
When test scores that differ by racial groups are used for assessment purposes, resulting decisions regarding members of the lower scoring group are potentially unfair. Fairness is defined as the removal from test scores of systematic variance attributable to experiences of racial or cultural socialization, and it is differentiated from test-score validity and cultural bias. Two fairness models for identifying, quantifying, and removing from test…
The Counseling Process as Defined by Relationship Types
Helms (1984) presented a model to explain the influence of Black and White racial identity development on counseling interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine her hypothesis that specific combinations of racial identity attitudes contribute to qualitatively different counseling process and outcome or relationship types
Warts and All
In their comments regarding Goodman, Liang, Helms, Latta, Sparks, and Weintraub’s article “Training Counseling Psychologists as Social Justice Agents: Feminist and Multicultural Principles in Action,” Kiselica, Palmer, Thompson and Shermis, and Watts offered a number of useful suggestions for elaborating on social justice theory, practice, and training. Their reactions and feedback challenged Goodmanet al. to revisit and clarify their thinking ab…
The Relationship Between Racial Identity Attitudes and Social Class
A long-standing debate in the personality literature concerns the question of whether socioeconomic characteristics or adaptations to Black culture best explain the personality development of Black Americans. On one side of the debate, according to Steele and Davis,' are the proponents of the social class or culture of poverty theory. They believe that social class status is the most crucial variable for explaining Black personality characteristi…
Black Women
Taking Action Against Racism in a Post-Racism Era
First Annual Diversity Challenge
The authors discuss the highlights of the 1st annual Diversity Challenge held October 11-12, 2001, at Boston College, Boston, MA. The Challenge's general focus was preparing educators to cope with the resistances encountered when they teach about race and ethnic culture. This introduction (a) provides an overview of the proceedings, (b) summarizes themes of presentations and articles selected, and (c) offers recommendations for subsequent events.…
Training international students from developing nations as psychologists
Training international students from developing nations as psychologists
Black Women
The influence of Black students' racial identity attitudes on preferences for counselor's race.
Toward a Theoretical Explanation of the Effects of Race on Counseling A Black and White Model
Relation of racial identity attitudes to self-actualization and affective states of Black students.
The Relationship of Black Value-Orientations to Racial Identity Attitudes
The authors investigated content and structure of cultural values for Black Americans. Differences in sex, racial identity, and an Afro-Euro-American mixture of cultural values were found
Research in Counseling Psychology
This report presents a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the Research Group at the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology. The report is organized into five topics, as were discussed during the conference. These topics are (a) definition and image, (b) methodological diversity in counseling research, (c) multi- and cross-cultural issues, (d) the connection of research to practice, and (e) research training. Fifteen ge…
The Relationship Between Racial Identity Attitudes and Social Class
A long-standing debate in the personality literature concerns the question of whether socioeconomic characteristics or adaptations to Black culture best explain the personality development of Black Americans. On one side of the debate, according to Steele and Davis,' are the proponents of the social class or culture of poverty theory. They believe that social class status is the most crucial variable for explaining Black personality characteristi…
At Long Last-Paradigms for Cultural Psychology Research
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of Incoming Executive Committee Meeting Atlanta, Georgia August 15, 1988
Eurocentricism Strikes in Strange Ways and in Unusual Places
Considering Some Methodological Issues in Racial Identity Counseling Research
In this article, it is argued that Nigrescence or Black racial identity theory often interacts with counseling psychology research designs in ways that may lead readers to underestimate the worth of such research as well as misunderstand its meaning. Particular methodological dilemmas resulting from the interactions among theoretical formulations, environmental influences, and research participants' racial identity characteristics are addressed. …
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of Outgoing Executive Committee Meeting Atlanta, Georgia August 12, 1988
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of Annual Business Meeting Atlanta, Georgia August 14, 1988
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of Midwinter Executive Committee Meeting February 3-4, 1988
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology
Black and White Racial Identity
Do “Womanist” Identity Attitudes Influence College Women's Self‐Esteem and Perceptions of Environmental Bias?
Helms (1990) proposed a four‐stage model of womanist identity in which she hypothesized that development of healthy identity in women involves movement from external standards of gender identity to internal standards. Attitudes derived from her model were used to predict undergraduate women's self‐esteem and perceptions of sex bias in the campus environment. Female undergraduates (N = 659), freshmen through seniors, were surveyed in classes at a …
Why is there no study of cultural equivalence in standardized cognitive ability testing
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of the Outgoing Executive Board Friday, August 10, 1990 Boston, MA
APA Division 17 Division of Counseling Psychology Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting and Awards Presentation Sunday, August 12, 1990 (3
The Counseling Process as Defined by Relationship Types
Helms (1984) presented a model to explain the influence of Black and White racial identity development on counseling interactions. The purpose of this study was to examine her hypothesis that specific combinations of racial identity attitudes contribute to qualitatively different counseling process and outcome or relationship types
Psychology (63 works) · Sociology (34 works) · Social Psychology (33 works) · Social Psychology (30 works) · Clinical Psychology (18 works) · Gender Studies (18 works) · Counseling Practices and Supervision (17 works) · Counseling psychology (16 works) · Ethnic group (16 works) · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research (16 works)