Research Interests
- 2009 Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity (SERD) APA-Division 17 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity
- 2009 Arnold O. Beckman Distinguished Research Board Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Description
Dr. Hunter's line of research is consistent with a focus in ethnic minority psychology and explores identity and well-being in persons of African descent who reside in the U.S. Two key assumptions which inform her research are (1) the U.S. racial history has created a unique racial context with specific racial hierarchies and (2) racial minority status in the U.S. may hold psychological implications for persons of African descent with respect to observed ethnic group health disparities. Her research explores individual factors (resiliency and counter productive) such as racial and ethnic identity and cultural worldviews and its association with outcomes such as perceptions of racial discrimination and race-related stressors in African Americans and British Caribbean Americans. The inclusion of British Caribbean Americans (and Black immigrants in general) is unique and important because Black immigrants' migration into the U.S. racial context provides a unique opportunity to investigate identity and acculturation in a racial group that migrates to the U.S. without the psychological and social label "racial minority". It is her hope that this line of research will be utilized to inform culturally competent and culturally relevant service delivery thereby decreasing treatment and mental health disparities for persons of African descent who reside in the U.S.
Education
Ph.D., Columbia University
Awards and Honors
- 2009 Section on Ethnic and Racial Diversity (SERD) APA-Division 17 Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity
- 2009 Arnold O. Beckman Distinguished Research Board Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Psychology
Affiliate, Center for Social & Behavioral Science
External Links
Recent Publications
MacNear, K. A., & Hunter, C. D. (Accepted/In press). Racial Identity and Sense of Belonging: Moderators of Black College Students’ Institutional Race-Related Stress and Anxious Arousal. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000609
Mekawi, Y., Heller, W., & Hunter, C. D. (2022). The costs of anticipating and perseverating about racism: Mechanisms of the associations between racial discrimination, anxious arousal, and low positive affect. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 28(4), 544-556. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000495
Nelson, T., Cardemil, E. V., Overstreet, N. M., Hunter, C. D., & Woods-Giscombé, C. L. (2022). Association Between Superwoman Schema, Depression, and Resilience: The Mediating Role of Social Isolation and Gendered Racial Centrality. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 30(1), 95-106. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000533
Lewis, M. E. L., Akhu, A., & Hunter, C. D. (2021). Advancing African Psychology: An Exploration of African American College Students’ Definitions and Use of Spirit in Times of Stress. Journal of Black Psychology, 47(7), 507-541. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984211016950
Chioneso, N. A., Hunter, C. D., Gobin, R. L., McNeil Smith, S., Mendenhall, R., & Neville, H. A. (2020). Community Healing and Resistance Through Storytelling: A Framework to Address Racial Trauma in Africana Communities. Journal of Black Psychology, 46(2-3), 95-121. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798420929468