Innovative theory and methods for the next generation of diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences

A new special issueopens in new window of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology presents research on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Guest editors José M. Causadias, Riana Elyse Anderson, Ehri Ryu, Jenn-Yun Tein, and Su Yeong Kim share their key takeaways.

What is the special issue about?

This special issue of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology consists of 11 innovative articles that collectively further theory and methods in diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences. This is a field that started to get more attention after the publication of Plaut’s 2010 article “Diversity Science: Why and How Difference Makes a Difference.”

What is the significance of the issue?

The issue highlights the need for us as psychologists to improve our theories and methods so that we may better understand diversity and promote equity and inclusion. Our understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences is constantly changing. The increase in racial uprisings (e.g., protests in response to the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd) and health disparities attributable to race during the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated that it has never been more critical to understand why and how these occur and what can be done to prevent them. This issue brings together 11 articles advancing innovative theories and methods that can help take diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences to the next level. Each article sparks a novel discussion within this field so that its practitioners may better understand how to protect those who are the most vulnerable.

Tell us about a few key takeaways.

• López et al. (2023)opens in new window state that bilinguals exist in different networks, cultural contexts, and individual and societal settings, all of which may lead to differential cognitive and linguistic outcomes that will be lost if left unexamined. Therefore they propose a change of paradigm that recognize these interactional contexts regarding the study of bilingual people. This innovative study integrated insights from intersectionality, raciolinguistics, and ecological frameworks to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion in research on bilingual experiences.
• Anderson et al. (2023)opens in new window held discussions with members of the Deaf community to better understand their perspectives on research. Four themes emerged from the discussions: Deaf people are not included in investigations with the general public, hearing people and researchers are generally mistrusted, the Deaf community is often not informed of research findings, and researchers who benefit from data given by Deaf participants frequently make no effort to return to the community and offer anything useful once a study is concluded.
• Lui et al. (2023)opens in new window propose using virtual reality to advance the understanding of the health consequences of experiences of racism and racial discrimination for People of Color and Indigenous People. In the study, Liu et al. synthesized evidence on racism and health to show that virtual reality could enable ecologically valid experiments of real-time individual responses to racism and racial discrimination. 

What are some practical implications of the articles featured in the issue?

The articles featured in this issue can help expand diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences. The theories and ideas shared in this special issue are valuable for understanding racially charged incidents and what can be done to promote a diverse, equitable, and inclusive world.

This article is in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area.

Causadias, J. M., Anderson, R. E., Ryu, E., Tein, J.-Y., & Kim, S. Y. (2023). Innovative theory and methods for the next generation of diversity, equity, and inclusion sciences: Introduction to the special issue. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000543opens in new window

Anderson, M. L., Riker, T., & Wilkins, A. M. (2023). Application of the truth and reconciliation model to meaningfully engage Deaf sign language users in the research process. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(1), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000445opens in new window

Lui, P. P., Stringer, E., & Jouriles, E. N. (2023). Advancing knowledge on the health consequences of discrimination: The potential of virtual reality. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(1), 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000460opens in new window

López, B. G., Luque, A., & Piña-Watson, B. (2023). Context, intersectionality, and resilience: Moving toward a more holistic study of bilingualism in cognitive science. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(1), 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000472opens in new window

Plaut, V. C. (2010). Diversity science: Why and how difference makes a difference. Psychological Inquiry, 21(2), 77–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/10478401003676501opens in new window

José M. Causadias, PhD, is an associate professor of family and human development at Arizona State University. His work focuses on culture, mental health, and Latinxs.

Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD, is a clinical and community psychologist and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Riana was born in, raised for, and returned to Detroit. She has been trained in clinical and community psychology at the University of Virginia, Yale University’s School of Medicine, and the University of Pennsylvania. Riana studies how racial discrimination impacts the mental health of Black adolescents and their families.

Ehri Ryu, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences at Boston College. She received her PhD from Arizona State University. Her research interests in quantitative methodology focuses on multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling as general frameworks that can be applied to a wide range of applications that involve multilevel multivariate data.

Jenn-Yun Tein, PhD, is a research professor at the Arizona State University REACH Institute within the Department of Psychology. She received her PhD in quantitative psychology from The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on program evaluations and various statistical and methodological applications and issues, including measurement, longitudinal modeling, mixture model analysis, multilevel analysis, and survival analysis. She is specifically interested in research and application of mediation and moderation models in prevention research to investigate how an intervention achieves the effects and on which groups or under what conditions the intervention has effects.

Su Yeong Kim, PhD, is a professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin and is the editor of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. She is also a fellow of APA, American Psychological Society, and the Asian American Psychological Association. Kim’s studies examine how culturally relevant developmental and cognitive processes, as well as physiological and social stressors, influence parent-child relationships and adjustment transitions and outcomes in minority adolescents and young adults. Kim’s research examines the intersection of family and cultural contexts in the development of children of immigrants in the United States, with a focus on children of Chinese and Mexican origin.