Differential effects of racial composition on male and female groups: Implications for group work practice

Group workers are increasingly required to construct multiracial groups. But race remains a critical and often problematic factor in the quality of individual interactions. Moreover, evidence indicates that the racial proportions of black-white groupings often affect the quality of those interactions. Still unclear, however, is which racial configurations of black people and white people are most or least satisfactory. The study described in this article had two goals: (1) to assess how varying the racial compositions of four-person groups would affect the members' perceptions of group atmosphere, satisfaction, success, and enjoyment and (2) to inspect gender differences in these homogeneous groups of men and women. The three groups contained one black and three white participants, two black and two white participants, or three black and one white participants. Each of the groups was either all male or all female. Findings indicate that varying the racial composition of these small groups affected significantly the reported experiences of group members; both racial and gender differences were observed. Implications for group workers are discussed.