ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the integration of multicultural perspectives and constructs into the provision of sport and performance psychology services. The constructs we will cover in this chapter will be divided into sections that address (a) race; (b) the experiences of international students; (c) sexual orientation; (d) gender; and (e) socioeconomic status (SES). Across each section addressing a different dimension of identity, we will introduce and integrate multicultural constructs such as (a) identity development identifi ed by Waterman (1985) as a “self-defi nition comprised of those goals, values, and beliefs which a person fi nds personally expressive and to which he or she is unequivocally committed” (p. 6), with a particular focus on intersections of racial identity and athletic identity (e.g., athletes overly identify with sport identity, therefore not forming a strong personal identity); (b) microaggressions that refer to “the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership” (Sue, 2010, p. 24); (c) stereotype threat, which is being the target of a negative stereotype that threatens self-regard and creates signifi cant concern and discomfort for the individuals of a stigmatized group (Crocker, Major, & Steele, 1998),
including racial and academic stereotype threat (e.g., that student-athletes are less engaged and competent academically than other students) and possible compensatory strategies for gender stereotype threat; (d) issues with service provision (counseling services) across dimensions of identity (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation) between student-athlete and clinician, coach and clinician, and/or student-athlete and coach; and (e) experiences and perspectives in clinical supervision specifi cally addressing multicultural issues (e.g., ways that these issues were addressed and resolved, ways these issues were not addressed or resolved, and the impact of the supervisory relationship).
