1. ‘Mother May I?’
Examining the Effect of
Courtesy Stigma on
Academic Performance

2. Introduction
• The public’s perception (overwhelmingly pejorative)
toward African American students is in a state of
continuity, heavily affixed with the language of a
certain pathology, deficiency and crisis (Dixon-Roman,
2012).
• These sanctions can impose a certain stigma on
African-American students.
• For instance, the African-American male has a
propensity to academically underperform than their
white counterparts in education. (Larson, 2010)

3. •This research is theory
based and is an
exploratory study which
negates a hypothesis
from this research

4. Abstract
• Dominant ideology often imposes negative
stigmas onto Black single mother heads of
household. These stigmas question the
parental skills, abuse of social services,
intelligence, and lifestyle choices of these
women. These stigmas are potentially harmful
to their children since they are easily
transferrable to them through a process of
courtesy stigmatization

5. Literature Review
• Teacher Expectancy Effect
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Stigma & The Single Mother

6. Teacher Expectancy Effect
• Prior studies have reported that subtle variances in a
teacher’s pedagogy can impair a student’s academic
performance
• These studies illicit certain racial undertones and implications
considering the dominant ideology.
• “…teachersform expectationsabout their students’ minds
and students come to understand…what is in their teachers’
minds about their ability, reality is formed for both…” (McFall,
2004)

7. • Teacher effect- stigma is imposed upon the student
• Self-fulfilling prophecy- stigma is internalized by student
• Courtesy stigma is stigma by association
– An individual’s mere association with a
stigmatized person stigmatizes that person
as well

8. Statement of Purpose
• This African-American child coming from a female-
headed, single parent household represents a unique
social group because he or she is stigmatized from the
negative effects of race and gender (Harper, 2012).
• There is the sense of urgency for society to
categorically define divergent social groups (Stets and
Burke, 2009).
• Without this process it would be difficult for some to
gauge how they are expected to interact with out-group
members.
• As a result, out-group members risk becoming
arbitrarily or narrowly defined (White, 2009).

9. Stereotypes About African-American
Students
• Brezina & Winder Study (2003)
• Their study systematically aggregated a holistic survey from
almost 2,000 adults, with a focal point of 1,500 European
American respondents, the outcome revealed that the
European American are more inclined to stereotype the
African-American as lazy versus hardworking, (Brezina and
Winder, 2003)
• Variance in expectation could impair the performance of an
individual.

10. Stigma & The Single Mother
• The stereotype of the single mother
“intersects class, race, gender, sexuality,
ability…”
• ‘Racialized’ image of a single mother
dependent upon assistance.
• Pew Research Poll (2007)
• Fixated on centralizing the idea of the ‘broken
home’ to only belong to the African
American single mother household.

11. Stigma and the Single Mother ctn’d
Dominant discourses
concerning the
dynamic of the family
overshadow much of
the research
examining the single
mother household.
She is effectively an anomaly,
because she represents an entity of
marginalization on the basis of her
social identity

12. Data
Table1.Descriptivestatisticsforvariablesusedin the analysisof a student'sacademicperformancecomingfroma singlefemaleheadedhousehold.
Variables Mean Standard Deviation Minimum Maximum Percentage Frequen
DependentVariable
ChildOverallGrade 2.79 2.092 -1 6 N/A N
ChildOverallRatingson SchoolWork -0.17 1.464 -1 5 N/A N
ReportedChild BehaviorProblemsin School 1.77 0.555 -1 2 N/A N
ReportedProblemsin Schoolwork 1.72 0.576 -1 2 N/A N
PoorAcademicPerformance 6.1157 3.70385 -4 15 N/A N
EducationalAttainmentof Mother 6.2 3.281 -1 13 N/A N
ExplanatoryVariables
Parentsin Household 1.39 0.736 1 4 N/A N
ControlVariables
Sex of Child 1.48 0.5 1 2 N/A N
Childis White N/A N/A 1 2 77.8 90
Childis Blackor African-American N/A N/A 1 2 15.6 18
TotalHouseholdIncome 9.4 4.056 1 14 N/A N
Notes:Dataforthis studycomesfromthe UnitedStatesDepartmentof EducationNationalCenterforEducationStatistics’NationalHouseholdEducationSurvey(2005)
TheChild'sAcademicOutcomeis a sumof 4 indicatorvariables:1)Child'sOverallGradeacrossallsubjects2)Child'sOverallRatingson SchoolWork3)ReportedChildBehavioralProblemsin School4) ReportedProblems
with Schoolwork
Thecontrolvariableswere:the 1)the sexof the child2)if the childis African-Americanor Black3)If the childis White4) totalhouseholdincome

13. Methodology ctn’d
• Chronbach Alpha was used to test the reliability of the newly
created dependent variable. A Chronbach Alpha value of .6
was reported suggesting a good reliability for “Poor
Academic Performance.”
• Linear Regression was employed to examine the relationship
between Household Type, Poor Academic Performance,
controlling for the race of the child, the sex of the child and
household income.

14. ResultsTable1. Linear Regressionanalysisof a student'sacademicperformance coming froma single femaleheadedhousehold.
MainExplanatory Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Mother*Child'sRace (BLK) 0.007
Mother*Child'sRace (WHITE) 0.014
Controls
Mother*Child'sRace (BLK) 0.06 -0.006
Mother*Child'sRace (WHITE) 0.013 -0.001
Father*Child'sRace (BLK) 0.017*** 0.014
Father*Child'sRace (WHITE) -0.013 -0.021***
DualHead Household*Child'sRace
(BLK)
-0.025***
DualHead Household*Child'sRace
(WHITE)
-0.043***
R-square 0 0.001 0.002
Adjusted R-square 0 0 0.002

15. Discussion
• The idea that household type determines educational trajectory is
a grievous error.
• Statistical significance in Models II and III. (Single Father
Variable)
• Limitations in research
–No variable for mother’s race
–Interaction Effect Implemented
–Had to presume mothers race with
Child’s

16. Conclusion
• What the data can’t find is that the family is changing.
• However divided we are in literature and in reality; one can never
fully grasp the understanding of single African-American mothers
through our mere “pedestrian comparisons, stereotypes, arrogance
and condescension” (Toldson, 2013).
• Nor can we undermine an individual’s capability on the basis of
where they come from.

17. Thank You!

18. An Examination of Courtesy Stigma
on Academic Performance
John Arthur Jackson, III
School of Liberal Arts
Department of Sociology
Dr. Janice Allen-Kelsey, Acting Dean
Dr. Earl Mowatt, Advisor