Ethnic representation in a sample of the literature of applied psychology.

Abstract

A number of authors have raised concerns over the external validity of psychological research.This study examined the extent to which empirical articles include human participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds.Articles published over a five-year period in 14 selected journals representing clinical, counseling, and school psychology were examined, and the ethnic compositions of the articles' participant pools were recorded.Of the 2536 articles coded, only 61.2% indicated the ethnicity of the participants.For those articles, the ethnic compositions approximated U.S. Census estimates, with the exception of an overrepresentation of African Americans and an underrepresentation of Hispanic/Latino Americans.The results imply that although the field is apparently adequately recruiting English speakers, representation of non-English speakers should be increased.To further enhance the external validity of psychological research, ethnicity of participants should not only be specified but be analyzed in relation to the results of a study.