Resilient Yet Vulnerable: Understanding the Psychosocial Experiences of Black Women First-Generation College Students in STEM

The ontological experiences (realities and ways of being) and epistemologies (ways of knowing) of underserved and marginalized populations are not one-dimensional. This research aimed to explore how Black women who are first-generation college students (FGCSs) navigate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). As an educational psychologist who researches help-seeking and learning in STEM for numerically underrepresented and minoritized students, I became frustrated reading deficit-based approaches to research. This frustration brought me to the quote, “Black women are simultaneously vulnerable and resilient in the face of systematic inequality” (Evans-Winters, 2019). From this liminal space, I began a research journey to understand the both-and tension of resilience and vulnerability for Black women FGCSs in STEM. First, I employed autoethnographic storytelling to uncover my developmental trajectory toward graduate studies. As a Black woman, FGCS, and as someone who studied chemistry as an undergraduate, I needed to grapple with my own stories to analyze other stories responsibly. Next, I conducted a single-case interpretative phenomenological analysis of Jane (pseudonym), a Black woman FGCS in computer science, to explore the risk contributors and protective factors to her STEM pursuit. Last, I conducted a cross-case interpretative phenomenological analysis of four Black women FGCSs in STEM to investigate their net vulnerability, stress engagements, and coping mechanisms when seeking academic help. Ultimately, each study reported in this dissertation presents layered and practical insights for instructors, administrators, and students. To address any educational problem effectively, we must first know what is happening, what is working, what is not working, and for whom it is not working.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Williams-Dobosz, Destiny

Contributors dc:contributor

• Perry, Michelle
• Cromley , Jennifer
• Bosch , Nigel
• Marchand , Aixa
• Collins , Jasmine

• Black women
• psychology

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 Destiny Williams-Dobosz

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129546

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129546