Whom do we study: An analysis of diversity in the community psychology literature from 1973 to 2007
type: CreativeWork
description: This study aims to assess the historical inclusion of diversity within community psychology. While community psychology has long held greater inclusion of diversity and the promotion of marginalized and disenfranchised peoples as goals of the field, many have questioned its ability live up to this aspiration. This study examines the extent to which community psychology has included diversity in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and identity, and disability in its primary academic journals, the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) and the Journal of Community Psychology (JCP). The sample size of this study was designed to capture as broad a sample of the community psychology literature as possible. To achieve this goal each article of AJCP and JCP from 1975 to 2005 was coded by a group of coders familiar with community psychology for the population served. Coding was conducted using an emergent coding scheme in which coders recorded each article’s population in the specific language used by the article. Coding yielded adequate inter-rater reliability with Kappa scores ranging from 85.73% to 91.66% over 3 time points across the coding period. Additionally, a member check yielded an 87% percent agreement with generated codes by 28 authors whose studies were coded as part of the study. Results indicated that a significant portion of community psychology articles have historically included diversity. Inclusion varied drastically between both domains of diversity and individual populations. Race, gender, and psycho-emotional disability were by far the most commonly included areas of diversity. Sexual orientation and disabilities other than psycho-emotional disabilities (physical, cognitive/developmental, and sensory) made up comparatively small proportions of the community psychology literature. Inter-domain inclusion differences were not limited to the disabilities domain. Amongst racial and ethnic groups, African American and Latino arti…
abstract: This study aims to assess the historical inclusion of diversity within community psychology. While community psychology has long held greater inclusion of diversity and the promotion of marginalized and disenfranchised peoples as goals of the field, many have questioned its ability live up to this aspiration. This study examines the extent to which community psychology has included diversity in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and identity, and disability in its primary academic journals, the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) and the Journal of Community Psychology (JCP). The sample size of this study was designed to capture as broad a sample of the community psychology literature as possible. To achieve this goal each article of AJCP and JCP from 1975 to 2005 was coded by a group of coders familiar with community psychology for the population served. Coding was conducted using an emergent coding scheme in which coders recorded each article’s population in the specific language used by the article. Coding yielded adequate inter-rater reliability with Kappa scores ranging from 85.73% to 91.66% over 3 time points across the coding period. Additionally, a member check yielded an 87% percent agreement with generated codes by 28 authors whose studies were coded as part of the study. Results indicated that a significant portion of community psychology articles have historically included diversity. Inclusion varied drastically between both domains of diversity and individual populations. Race, gender, and psycho-emotional disability were by far the most commonly included areas of diversity. Sexual orientation and disabilities other than psycho-emotional disabilities (physical, cognitive/developmental, and sensory) made up comparatively small proportions of the community psychology literature. Inter-domain inclusion differences were not limited to the disabilities domain. Amongst racial and ethnic groups, African American and Latino arti…
author: Gutierrez, Robert E
keywords: community psychology, racial and ethnic diversity, gender and sexual orientation, disability, research methodology
date published: 2010-06-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:03:45Z
provider: DePaul University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: DePaul University