| The involvement of racial/ethnic minority doctoral students in the conduct of psychological research is of significance in meeting the mental health challenges of an increasingly diverse US population. However, scant empirical evidence exists regarding the mentored research experiences and resulting increases or decreases in confidence these students encounter in conducting research. The purpose of this study is to examine predictors [i.e., Research Mentoring Experiences (RME), perceptions of the Research Training Environment (RTE), and Interest in Research (IRQ)] of research self-efficacy among a sample of racial/ethnic minority PhD students in APA-accredited clinical and counseling psychology programs. The study is guided by a social-cognitive conceptual framework. Moreover, this study extends prior research (Hollingsworth & Fassinger, 2002), exploring the role of research mentoring experiences in affecting the research self-efficacies and behaviors of professional psychology doctoral students.;The researcher utilizes a cross-sectional, correlation design in examining the research mentoring experiences and research self-efficacies of racial/ethnic minority doctoral students. Online survey methodology serves as the process by which data is collected, managed, and initially stored. Participants include 106 individuals (74 females, 31 males, and 1 transgendered person), who self-identify as Black or African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, Biracial, or Multiracial.;Findings reveal endorsement of a range of research mentoring experiences by racial and ethnic minority doctoral students. The research mentoring experiences of minority doctoral students are also shown to account for a significant and unique proportion of variance in research self-efficacy above and beyond that explained by RTE and IRQ. Data also suggest the mediating effects of research mentoring experiences on the relationship between students' perceptions of their research training environments and their research self-efficacies. Further, data indicate the primacy of interest in research over research mentoring experiences as a predictor within the linear model predicting research self-efficacy. Finally, results reflect the moderating effect of mentor-mentee minority status congruence on the relationship between research mentoring experiences and research self-efficacy. Implications for the research mentoring of racial/ethnic minority doctoral students are discussed. |
