Racial/Ethnic Identity, Religious Commitment, and Well-Being in African Americans
In recent years, positive psychology linked to an empirical examination of constructs has dramatically expanded. It has shifted the focus from problematic character to assessing strengths and virtues that facilitate the best ideal of human functionality and flourish. Constructs such as mindfulness, the meaning of life, forgiveness, subjective well-being, and optimism all play a significant role in African Americans’ racial/ethnic identity, religion, and well-being. This paper looks to re-examine and summarize the evidence on the relationship between racial identity, religious commitment, and psychological well-being.
Over the years, there has been criticism in the positive psychology levels of multicultural awareness because of the absence of study considering the cultural factors paramount to human virtue and optimal functioning. According to Ajibade et al. (2016), something like forgiveness as a positive psychology constructs has been researched based on White Americans’ perspective, with little to no emphasis concentrating on certain understandings and definitions on culture. The lack of racial/ethnic diversity in the research samples presents the second critique of the positive psychology movement. On such, the vast majority of the research conducted was only conclusive based on white participants, with few pieces of research exploring positive psychology constructs more, especially on African Americans. Additionally, few studies have tried to draw some relationships by comparing positive psychological constructs in a cross-cultural manner. However, there is relatively small literature concerning these specific cultural groups’ constructs.
