Matthew A Diemer

• Ph.D.
• Professor at University of Michigan

This paper details the development and validation of a measure of critical consciousness, defined as the capacity of oppressed or marginalized people to critically analyze their social and political conditions, endorsement of societal equality, and action to change perceived inequities. In Study One, an EFA was conducted with a diverse sample of yo...

This study explored the role of critical consciousness as a key factor in predicting progress in career development among urban high school students. Critical consciousness, or the capacity to recognize and overcome sociopolitical barriers, was operationalized through sociopolitical analysis and sociopolitical control. Canonical correlation analysi...

In this chapter, the authors consider Paulo Freire's construct of critical consciousness (CC) and why it deserves more attention in research and discourse on youth political and civic development. His approach to education and similar ideas by other scholars of liberation aims to foster a critical analysis of society--and one's status within it--us...

This research examines the complex patterns by which distinct dimensions of critical consciousness may lead marginalized adolescents toward distinct forms of political action. Structural equation modeling was applied to nationally representative data from the Civic Education Study, first establishing the measurement invariance of constructs across...

An extensive body of research has documented the relation between social class, as indexed by socioeconomic status (SES) and subjective social status (SSS), and a host of outcomes, including physical and mental health, academic achievement, and educational attainment. Yet, there remains ambiguity regarding how best to conceptualize and measure soci...

There is debate around offering ethnic studies to high school students. Ethnic studies connects learning to students’ lives and analyzes the workings of racism to construct avenues toward equity. As the debate unfolds, it is critical to examine ethnic studies’ implications for youth development and the mechanisms that link it to student outcomes. O...

This study details the development and validation of the White Critical Consciousness Index (WhiCCI) as a tool for measuring the critical consciousness (CC) of white Americans. We argue that CC, when viewed from the vantage point of Freire’s oppressor, must be measured differently. Therefore, new items were developed using insights from the CC and...

This research develops a brief, and preliminary, parent‐report screener to assess gender identity alignment/distress in children. The increasing prevalence of children not identifying with their sex at birth, the length and outdated language of existing gender identity measures, and the need to assess gender identity among children (as opposed to a...

Like previous generations, today's youth are engaging in political activism to positively transform their local communities and the broader society. This review applies critical consciousness theory to shed light on the factors that spur youth political activism and to highlight how developing critical consciousness engenders developmental benefits...

Despite consensus that parent involvement is integral to children's educational success, Black parents’ involvement remains largely characterized from a deficits‐based perspective. Using critical race and critical consciousness theories, this study explored parents’ analysis of educational inequities and their school engagement. Using interview dat...

Introduction There is evidence that a supportive male partner facilitates maternal HIV testing during pregnancy, increases maternal ART initiation and adherence, and increases HIV-free infant survival. Most male partner engagement clinical strategies have focused on increasing uptake of couple-based HIV testing and counseling. We delivered a couple...

This study details the development and validation of the White Critical Consciousness Index (WhiCCI) as a tool for measuring the critical consciousness (CC) of white Americans. Since its inception into academic literature, scholars have debated whether the development of CC in privileged populations is compatible with the original CC philosophy. We...

Background Despite decades of calls for increased diversity in the health research workforce, disparities exist for many populations, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color individuals, those from low-income families, and first-generation college students. To increase representation of historically marginalized populations, there is a cri...

This preregistered study aimed to identify antecedents and consequences of adolescents' critical consciousness (CC) profiles with person‐centered approaches based on data from 663 ethnically diverse German adolescents collected from 2017 to 2019 (Mage = 12.91, 50% male, 50% female). Latent profile analyses of adolescents' critical reflection and in...

Quantitative methodology and the field of measurement have racist, sexist, and eugenicist histories. These histories have led many to abandon quantitative methods, believing that achieving equity is not possible with methods developed to propagate oppression. However, more critical and emerging scholarship has begun to articulate a Critical Quantit...

Critical consciousness (CC) is associated with beneficial developmental outcomes among youth contending with oppression, yet we know little about how CC develops and how the three dimensions of CC (i.e., critical action, critical motivation, and critical reflection) interrelate over time. Therefore, this study employed second‐order latent growth mo...

Partner engagement in antenatal care can improve care for pregnant people living with HIV. However, concerns about engaging unsupportive non-pregnant partners warrant further study to avoid engaging partners who pressure their pregnant partner to refuse testing or treatment and/or perpetuate intimate partner violence. We adapted established relatio...

Critical consciousness represents the analysis of inequitable social conditions, the motivation to effect change, and the action taken to redress perceived inequities. Scholarship and practice in the last two decades have highlighted critical consciousness as a key developmental competency for those experiencing marginalization and as a pathway for...

Background Despite decades of calls for increased diversity in the health research workforce, disparities exist for many populations, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color individuals, those from low-income families, and first-generation college students. To increase representation of historically marginalized populations, there is a cri...

We explore the interaction of different types of school ethnic-racial socialization, youth’s perceptions of the messages that schools and their agents broadcast about race and ethnicity, as it shapes Black youth’s critical action, the individual and collective action that youth engage in to combat oppression and racism. In particular, the co-occurr...

In a sample of 500 self‐identified Black adolescents from across the United States, this study investigated the pathways between youth's experiences of parental racial socialization (RS) and their sociopolitical development. Findings from structural equation modelling reveal that RS messages and actions were positively associated with youth's aware...

This preregistered study aimed to identify antecedents and consequences of adolescents’ critical consciousness profiles via a person-centered approach among 663 ethnically diverse German adolescents (Mage= 12.91, 50% male, 50% female). Latent profile analyses of the adolescents’ critical reflection and interpersonal and structural critical action i...

Psychometric instruments can quantify how people living with HIV experience three key barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and retention: partner support, trust in medical professionals, and internalized HIV-related stigma. However, two challenges arise when using these instruments to measure and interpret relational processes among Mozambican...

Guided by Critical Consciousness Theory and the Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments, this research explored whether a critical reflection of societal inequality and a hostile campus climate were associated with collective student efficacy and grade point average (GPA) among racially/ethnically diverse students. We examined wheth...

Engaging youth in the political system has promise for creating social change and ensuring the future of our democracy. Sociopolitical participation—individual and/or collective action to facilitate change—may be biased towards more liberal or Democratic views, which emphasize reform to create social equity. The aim of this study is to test if yout...

Despite the sacrifices to precision, researchers frequently visualize moderation by using the simple slopes approach with moderator endpoints of ± 1 and 2 standard deviations. Yet in structural equation modeling (SEM), it can be shown that this approach—particularly with endogenous latent moderators—misrepresents the strength of moderation by relyi...

Objectives: Critical action (sociopolitical action to combat social inequity) provides racially marginalized youth with a pathway to coping. Sociocultural factors (like experiences of racial discrimination and contact with racially marginalized peers) are integral for fostering critical action among racially marginalized youth, yet few empirical st...

Ethnic racial identity and critical consciousness frame how youth of color understand themselves in their racialized worlds. Although both may be salient in the lives of youth of color, little work investigates how ethnic racial identity and critical consciousness development overlap to promote positive outcomes during adolescence. This theoretical...

Scholarship on critical consciousness frames how people who are more marginalized deeply analyze, feel empowered to change, and take collective action to redress perceived inequities. These three dimensions correspond to critical reflection, motivation, and action, respectively. In this article, we aim to recenter action in scholarship on critical...

Critical consciousness represents the analysis and critique of structural inequalities, the motivation and perceived capacity to effect change, and social action to redress inequity. A wave of recent instruments measuring critical consciousness has been rigorously validated. Yet, whether these measures efficiently assess different levels of critica...

Background: The ability to understand another's emotions and act appropriately, empathy, is an important mediator of relationship function and health intervention fidelity. We adapted the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) - an empathy scale - among seroconcordant expectant couples with HIV in the Homens para Saúde Mais (HoPS+) trial - a cluster...

Deep-seated structural racism in the U.S. has been thrown into bold relief by the racially disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and a series of highly visible police murders of Black Americans. Longstanding and intergenerational economic inequalities have been laid bare by the ensuing economic recession. This special issue's focus on how people cri...

Wealth plays a pervasive role in sustaining inequality and is more inequitably distributed than household income. Research has identified that wealth contributes to children’s educational outcomes. However, the specific mechanisms accounting for these outcomes are unknown. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its supplements, SEM was...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

This small-scale field experiment tests whether an adapted values-affirmation intervention enhances youths’ academic achievement and mitigates social identity threat while simultaneously raising capacity to promote social change via the development of critical consciousness (CC). CC is the critical analysis of inequitable social conditions, motivat...

The current study examined whether youth perceptions of school racial messages that acknowledged the reality of racism (critical consciousness [CC] messages) or denied racism (color‐blind messages) predicted youth anti‐racism action through interpersonal and communal/political means. We further tested whether youths’ critical reflection of perceive...

The current special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior focuses on an exploration of decent work in different national contexts. Specifically, the special issue consists of eight papers written by research teams from eight different countries. In each article, researchers developed a reliable instrument to assess decent work with clear evid...

Although decades of research document the positive benefits of parent involvement in schools, Black parents are not always welcomed in schooling spaces. Black parents have sometimes been perceived as uncaring about their children's education, and often racism has precluded their full inclusion and meaningful participation. This article uses critica...

This study applies multiple indicator and multiple causes modeling to examine to what extent critical social analysis of inequality, a dimension of critical consciousness (CC), may be explained by political party identification (i.e., Republican vs. Democrat) or political ideology (i.e., conservative vs. liberal). These issues were examined among 2...

Objectives: Latinx and Black young adults’ experiences with the U.S. political system have been contentious. Despite this, they utilize psychological strengths, such as their critical consciousness (CC), to participate in the political process. This research explored relations between CC (e.g., critical reflection of social inequality and voting li...

This study explores changes in perceived leadership ability during emerging adulthood among a predominantly African American sample, with special consideration of the differences between the experiences of individuals who attended 4-year universities and those who did not. We used data from a longitudinal study that followed participants from high...

Background: In resource-limited rural settings, scale-up of services to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV has not been as effective as in better resourced urban settings. In sub-Saharan Africa, women often require male partner approval to access and remain engaged in HIV care. Our study will evaluate a promising male engagement interve...

This study examines how student perceptions of teacher practices contribute to female high school students’ math beliefs and achievement. Guided by the expectancy–value framework, we hypothesized that students’ motivation beliefs and achievement outcomes in mathematics are fostered by teachers’ emphasis on the relevance of mathematics and constrain...

Light-touch social psychological interventions have gained considerable attention for their potential to improve academic outcomes for underrepresented and/or disadvantaged students in postsecondary education. While findings from previous interventions have demonstrated positive effects for racial and ethnic minority and first-generation students i...

Marginalized youth's development occurs in contexts rife with racialized, gendered, and socioeconomic social identity threats and barriers to social mobility. An emergent line of inquiry suggests critical action-a component of critical consciousness, defined as engaging in individual or collective social action to produce social change-may bolster...

This article describes an innovative application of a social justice-infused pedagogy to an out-of-school program for urban high school students. Using an interdisciplinary framework, the program featured a coherent synthesis of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, highlighting environmental and food justice perspectives; so...

Grounded in the theory and pedagogy of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, critical consciousness (CC) comprises components of critical reflection, critical motivation, and critical action. CC represents marginalized or oppressed people's analysis of societal inequities and their motivation and actions to redress such inequities. In this article, we i...

Framed by expectancy-value theory (which posits that beliefs about and the subjective valuation of a domain predict achievement and decision-making in that domain), this study examined the relationships among teacher differential treatment and relevant math instruction on African American students' self-concept of math ability, math task value, and...

In the current article, we build on research from vocational psychology, multicultural psychology, intersectionality, and the sociology of work to construct an empirically testable Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). Our central aim is to explain the work experiences of all individuals, but particularly people near or in poverty, people who face di...

This article reviews three emergent measures of critical consciousness (CC), which refers to marginalized or oppressed people’s critical reflection on oppressive social, economic, or political conditions, the motivation to address perceived injustice, and action taken to counter such injustice in a liberatory manner (Freire, 1973; Watts, Diemer, &...

Rightfully pushing us to go beyond duality in conceptualizing the transition to adulthood as optimal or suboptimal, Schoon (Chap. 9) artfully considers the interweaving of social forces such as gender , race, ethnicity, and social class with the transition to adulthood. Given the complex interpenetrations of the transition to adulthood and social c...

This article details the development and validation of a measure of critical consciousness, defined as the capacity of oppressed or marginalized people to critically analyze their social and political conditions, endorsement of societal equality, and action to change perceived inequities. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conduct...

This study examined the relations among sport involvement and social and personal influences on high school students? educational expectations and attainment, using National Education Longitudinal Survey-88. Athletic engagement, educational expectations of significant others, peer support for academics, parental involvement in academics, and academ...

This study integrated Bayesian hierarchical modeling and receiver operating characteristic analysis (BROCA) to evaluate how interest strength (IS) and interest differentiation (ID) predicted low–socioeconomic status (SES) youth’s interest-major congruence (IMC). Using large-scale Kuder Career Search online-assessment data, this study fit three mode...

This study examines the roles of parental political socialization and the moral commitment to change social inequalities in predicting marginalized youths' (defined here as lower-SES youth of color) political participation. These issues are examined by applying structural equation modeling to a longitudinal panel of youth. Because tests of measurem...

The present study sought to develop and validate an instrument to measure work volition, defined as the perceived capacity to make occupational choices despite constraints, among college students. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a large and diverse sample of college students, finding a reliable scale with two factors,...

The present study sought to develop and validate an instrument to measure work volition, defined as the perceived capacity to make occupational choices despite constraints, among college students. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a large and diverse sample of college students, finding a reliable scale with two factors,...

Given associations between critical consciousness and positive developmental outcomes, and given racial, socioeconomic, and generational disparities in political participation, this article examined contextual antecedents of critical consciousness (composed of sociopolitical control and social action) and its consequences for 665 marginalized youth...

Low-income youths enroll at postsecondary institutions less frequently, drop out more often, are less likely to return after dropping out, and are less likely to attain a postsecondary degree than their more affluent peers. It is therefore important to understand how low-income youths develop the capacity to persist in the postsecondary setting. Th...

The present study sought to develop and validate an instrument to measure work volition, defined as the perceived capacity to make occupational choices despite constraints, among college students. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted with a large and diverse sample of college students, finding a reliable scale with two factors,...

Structural barriers constrain marginalized youths' development of work salience and vocational expectations. Sociopolitical development (SPD), the consciousness of, and motivation to reduce, sociopolitical inequality, may facilitate the negotiation of structural constraints. A structural model of SPD's impact on work salience and vocational expecta...

Australia's Indigenous population is excluded from a range of opportunities, experiences and amenities that facilitate wellbeing, self-determination and social inclusion. This social exclusion constrains the career development and occupational attainment of Indigenous youth, which represent key routes to societal inclusion. Critical consciousness—t...

A clear sense of vocational interests may facilitate high school students’ capacity to connect current interests to congruent educational and occupational environments. This is particularly important for youth who experience external constraints on career development and college attendance. This study examined how well vocational interests, operati...

Structural barriers constrain marginalized youths' development of work salience and vocational expectations. Sociopolitical development (SPD), the consciousness of, and motivation to reduce, sociopolitical inequality, may facilitate the negotiation of structural constraints. A structural model of SPD's impact on work salience and vocational expecta...

Although social class plays a salient and significant role in career development and occupational attainment, social class is underrepresented in vocational psychology theory, scholarship, and practice. Vocational psychologists are in a unique position to meet the career development needs of persons from all social classes by integrating a fuller u...

This article summarizes presentations on career assessment delivered at the 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and National Career Development Association. Notable among the many themes that emerged from this discussion group were the concepts of culture...

Psychometric evaluation of presenting problem checklists is vital, given increasing clinical severity among college students. However, checklist research has focused on students at public universities and utilized inappropriate methodologies when doing so. It is unclear whether checklists used at academically selective universities reliably and com...

Sociopolitical development represents a motivation to reduce sociopolitical inequity, a healthy sense of the self, and perceived agency in the context of structural oppression. Sociopolitical development has been associated with progress in career development, school engagement, and healthier sexual behavior among oppressed and marginalized adolesc...

Large scale survey datasets have been underutilized but offer numerous advantages for career development scholars, as they contain numerous career development constructs with large and diverse samples that are followed longitudinally. Constructs such as work salience, vocational expectations, educational expectations, work satisfaction, and occupat...

Cross-Cultural Counseling: Latinos - Elizabeth Fraga, Rebecca M. Redington, Matthew Diemer, Sheila Vanessa Graham, Robbie Jean Steward, Hammad S. Ncho, Laura Smith, Cristina Dorazio ADHD/ADD - Brian Johnson, Rebecca M. Redington, Matthew Diemer, Sheila Vanessa Graham, Robbie Jean Steward, Hammad S. Ncho, Laura Smith, Cristina Dorazio Parental Stres...

The well-documented aspiration-expectation gap refers to lower socioeconomic status (SES) adolescents of color expecting to attain occupations with lower pay and status than the occupations to which they aspire. Sociopolitical inequity, such as structural racism and asymmetrical access to resources, may explain this gap. This article examines the c...

The formation of future occupational expectations is a critical career-development task for adolescents that has a significant impact on adult occupational attainment. However, sociopolitical barriers constrain the occupational expectations and attainment of poor youth of color. Extant research has suggested that sociopolitical development, the con...

Critical career development tasks for adolescents include developing vocational expectations and a connection to the world of work. Given the sociopolitical barriers to the career development of poor Youth of Color, it is vital to identify contextual resources facilitative of their career development. The present study examines the impact of relati...

Emancipatory communitarian perspectives advocate for theory, research, and action that address the needs of oppressed groups, such as urban adolescents. Considering the dearth of instruments sensitive to the career development needs of urban adolescents, this study examined the component structure of three indices of career development with 220 urb...

Negotiating 2 worlds, a predominantly White opportunity structure and one's community of origin, often produces distress among persons of color. in this qualitative study, the author examines the perspectives and competencies of African American men who negotiate 2 worlds and suggests that bicultural competence may facilitate participation in the o...

This mixed-model study examined the relationship between urban adolescents' perceived support for challenging racism, sexism, and social injustice from peers, family, and community members and their critical consciousness development. These relationships were examined by relating participants' qualitative perceptions of support for challenging raci...

This study sought to examine how poor and working-class urban adolescents conceive of work as well as the work-related messages they receive from their families. Data were collected to understand how 9th-grade urban students perceive work using an exploratory and qualitative research methodology. Although the data suggested that urban youths' conce...

Recognizing the importance future aspirations play in the developmental outcomes of adolescents, this study illuminates the role that individual and contextual factors play in the formation of future aspirations among urban youth. The data for this study were collected prior to the implementation of an intervention program at an urban high school....

Satisfying relationships are important to the well-being of individuals and families. Because of increased longevity, many couples are staying together for extended periods of time. Thus, it is valuable to understand the factors that contribute to a sense of satisfaction among partners in lasting relationships. Relatively little attention has been...

This study sought to examine how poor and working-class urban adolescents conceive of work as well as the work-related messages they receive from their families. Data were collected to understand how 9th-grade urban students perceive work using an exploratory and qualitative research methodology.

This article describes the construction of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI), and 5 studies that examined its psychometric properties. Factor analysis indicated 11 distinct factors: Winning, Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Playboy, Self-Reliance, Primacy of Work, Power Over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals, and P...

This article describes the construction of the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI), and 5 studies that examined its psychometric properties. Factor analysis indicated 11 distinct factors: Winning, Emotional Control, Risk-Taking, Violence, Dominance, Playboy, Self-Reliance, Primacy of Work, Power Over Women, Disdain for Homosexuals, and P...

This study examines the impact of social class on the school-to-work (STW) transitions of young adults in working-class occupations. Using an exploratory, qualitative research methodology, interviews were conducted with 10 men and 10 women to examine the role of social class in the STW transition. All participants were working in low-skilled jobs a...

This study examines the impact of social class on the school-to-work (STW) transitions of young adults in working-class occupations. Using an exploratory, qualitative research methodology, interviews were conducted with 10 men and 10 women to examine the role of social class in the STW transition. All participants were working in low-skilled jobs a...

This exploratory study examined the identity constructions of African American men using a qualitative research methodology. Seven African American men, ranging in age from 20 to 47 years and whose education levels ranged from a 1st-year university student to a PhD, were interviewed for this study. Central to how all of these men defined themselves...

This article focuses on conflict-management styles of spouses in marriages that lasted an average of 35 years. Data about adaptation in these marriages, which included how spouses dealt with marital conflict, was collected through in-depth interviews with 144 spouses in 72 marriages. The sample was diverse in terms of race, socioeconomic status, an...

This research focused on the meaning of psychological intimacy to partners in heterosexual and same-gender relationships that have lasted for an average of 30 years. In-depth interviews were used to explore the meaning of intimacy to 216 partners in 108 relationships. The participants were whites, blacks, and Mexican-Americans, with Catholic, Jewis...