Argues that attempts to assess racial identity via single variables trivialize the construct. Suggests that problems with the manner in which the Racial Identity Attitude Scale was used in the Pomales, Claiborn, and LaFromboise (1985) study contributed to possible problems in scale reliability and interpretation. (Author/ABB)

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…

To determine whether racial identity attitudes could be predicted from socioeconomic variables, 174 Black college students were asked to respond to items on the Racial Identity Attitude Scale and to complete a personal data sheet. Results indicated that racial identity attitudes and socioeconomic status appear to represent separate constructs.…

Studied racial identity attitudes derived from Cross's racial identity model and respondents' racial self-designations used to predict Black college students' preferences for Black and White counselors. Racial attitudes accounted for a significant percentage of the variance involving preferences for counselor's race. (Author)

Argues that a study which assessed a white racial identity measure failed to account for other possible variables, such as failing to correct appropriately for artifacts in the data sets. Discusses tentative theory-relevant implications of the study for the construct validity of the racial identity measure. (RJM)

Argues that little of what Michael L. Penn, Stanley O. Gaines, and Layli Phillips (1993) have to say in their article "On the Desirability of Own-Group Preference" about ethnic own-group preference is new and that it is distorted and naive interpretation of social history to carry on the tradition of blaming African Americans for the…