Black Men’s Gendered Racial Equity Ethic: Examining Its Impact on Career Motivations, Interests, and Future Goals

Black men are underrepresented as trainees and faculty within graduate-level helping professions (e.g., psychology and counseling). One strategy for reducing this underrepresentation is to understand the motivating factors that attract Black men to helping fields and integrate these motivating factors into recruitment and retention interventions targeting this group. However, limited career research has explicitly focused on the motivations of Black men pursuing graduate education in psychology. Integrating McGee and Bentley’s Equity Ethic framework, the current study draws on 27 semi-structured interviews with Black men in counseling psychology doctoral programs to examine their motivations for pursuing a doctoral degree in a helping profession, their clinical and research interests, and their future career goals. Using reflexive thematic analysis, findings supported the presence of a Gendered Racial Equity Ethic that impacted all aspects of Black men’s professional journeys. Implications for research and practice supporting Black men’s career development in psychology fields are outlined.