Astyn Lopez

Trust/Efficacy

"Re-thinking the decline in trust: A comparison of black and white Americans" By: Rima Wilkes

The methods used in the first article when determining how race directly effects trust/efficacy were based around isolating different generations and the time periods these generations took place. As stated in the article what is being looked at are the, generation effects and period effects. A crucial factor being examined was what exactly was going on around this specific period that may have affected black and white Americans diverse levels of trust. Wilkes used 'cross-classified random effects models' to find more accurate information. Using this style of model helped Wilkes incorporate demographic factors into the topic of trust (Wilkes pg. 1600 sct. 4). Also looked at to produce our findings were age, level of education, marital status, religion and of course age and the most important race. It was found that trust appeared to rise as number in age did (Wilkes pg. 1603 sct. 5). Wilkes also did find that whites were more trusting that black Americans in the first model. In Wilkes' third model it was found that the interactions between education, age, and Southern residency were important. Overall both the first and second model indicated that the trust of white Americans was decreasing, and the responses of black Americans was quite diverse (Wilkes pg. 1603 sct. 5).

"The blacker the berry: Gender, skin tone, self-esteem, and self-efficacy." By: Maxine S. Thompson & Verna M. Keith

The methods used in my second article chosen were to examine the two main factors of one's self-esteem and efficacy, these were our dependent variables used (Thompson & Keith pg. 342). There were a little over a handful of questions to measure both our dependent variables. This article's independent variables ranged from skin tone, to sociodemographic and socioeconomic status, and finally body image. Male and female were evaluated separately to see the role that gender did play in self-image, esteem, and efficacy. What was shown in the results in tone of skin for both men and women was that those with lighter skin had high esteem and efficacy, in a sense it was viewed to be a superiority. Alas, once the factors of demographics were added in the results were altered and the levels did rise on self-efficacy (Thompson & Keith pg. 347). Although skin tone does indeed not have a noticeable effect on self-esteem for black American men, but for women it does have a noticeable effect. Skin tone can be a helpful indicator when it comes to that of self-efficacy and esteem according to these results. The study suggests that this is more of an important piece of information when observing African American women versus African American men (Thompson & Keith pg. 352).