McNair Scholar 2021 Jasmin Sanchez
Jasmin Sanchez is a senior at the University of Minnesota-twin cities, majoring in psychology with minors in leadership and family therapy. Her research interests revolve around understanding protective factors for racial and ethnic minorities as well as first-generation students. Jasmin plans on applying for Ph.D. programs in counseling psychology.
My dream is to receive a Ph.D. in counseling psychology so that I can partake in academia. I want to help fellow minorities better understand the ways they cope with different life situations and develop interventions centered around their resiliencies. I want to help the next generation of students of color realize what they are capable of and to have better mental health.
Research project
Associations among Critical Consciousness (CC), discrimination, and physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract: Experiences of discrimination are linked with greater mental and physical health concerns (Clark et al., 1999; Kessler, Mickelson, & Williams,1999). Critical consciousness (CC) has been found to buffer the negative effects discrimination has on health outcomes (Chan & Mak, 2019; Puckett, Zachary DuBois, McNeill, & Hanson, 2019; Diemer, Rapa, Voight, & McWhirter, 2016). CC is the process through which people become aware that they are being discriminated against or marginalized and work towards ending said oppression (Freire, 1973; Watts et al., 1999, 2011). This study aims to examine the moderating role of CC on the links between worrying about discrimination, and physical and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study draws from a 6-wave longitudinal study on wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic but focuses on waves 5 (February 2021) and 6 (April 2021) which contain 160 participants. All participants were people of color who identified as either staff or students from the University of Minnesota. We hypothesize that greater worries about discrimination will be associated with more somatic symptoms (i.e., back pain, headaches) and symptoms of depression and anxiety. We also hypothesize that these associations will be weaker for individuals with higher versus lower levels of CC. Data was analyzed using moderation analysis.
Faculty mentor
Dr. Richard P. Douglass is currently an assistant professor in the Psychology department in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota-twin cities. Dr. Douglass attended the University of Florida where he received his Ph.D. in counseling psychology in 2019. His research focuses on understanding how minority stressors are associated with general and vocational well-being outcomes for minority groups. Dr. Douglass has published in multiple journals and serves on the editorial board for the journal of counseling psychology, the journal of vocational behavior, and the counseling psychologist. Dr. Douglass has been a McNair mentor for the past two years.