About

Rabiatu Barrie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. She is a community-based intervention and prevention scientist whose work aims to reduce negative mental health outcomes among Black boys and to develop family and community-based interventions that support their healthy development. Her research interests include African American youth identity development, gendered racial socialization of African American boys, Black masculinity, trauma, traumatic stress in Black boys, community violence, and community-based gun violence. Dr. Barrie has a background in counseling psychology, holding a PhD from Loyola University Chicago, an MA from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and a BS in Psychology from Florida State University. She is actively accepting doctoral students for the 2025-2026 school year and is engaged in research that emphasizes intervention science and participatory research methods.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Medicine
• Social psychology
• Gender studies
• Family medicine
• Demography
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• “Dark skin girls are unworthy of protection”: Black girls perceptions of colorism and its influence on psychological and sexual development.

  Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology · 2025-10-20 · 1 citations

  article

  OBJECTIVES: Black girls are at elevated sexual risk due to the combined effects of sexual development, adultification, gendered racist stereotyping, and lack of protection. Colorism is a skin-tone stratification system that privileges lighter skinned people of color over their darker skinned counterparts. Although colorism has been conceptualized as a determinant of Black girls' mental, physical, and sexual health, little is known about Black girls' understanding of the influence of colorism on psychological and sexual development. This qualitative study examined the influence of colorism on Black girls' psychological and sexual development. METHOD: Twenty-five multiethnic Black girls between 9 and 18 participated in semistructured interviews. Directed content analysis utilizing an intersectional approach was conducted to better understand the relationship between colorism and Black girls' health. RESULTS: Our analysis confirmed that Black girls perceive colorism as a significant factor influencing their psychological and sexual development. A conceptual model was developed demonstrating that Black girls perceive skin-tone-related messaging and colorist stereotypes as contributing to an increased risk of violence, internalization of colorist notions, and elevated sexual risk behaviors among Black girls. CONCLUSIONS: Current systems, such as families, schools, and media, should seek to address stereotyped messages and mistreatment that harm Black girls' development. Programming surrounding colorism, gendered racism, and discrimination may serve as an opportunity to begin dismantling systems rooted in Eurocentric preferences that encourage the oppression and mistreatment of Black girls based on skin tone. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• There's More to Being a Provider: Qualitative Exploration of Marriage Socialization of African-American men

  The Family Journal · 2025-01-29 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Objective: The current study explores how African-American men are socialized about marriage. Background: The literature on African-American men and marriage largely focuses on attitudes toward and motivation to marry, paying little attention to how they come to form their attitudes that drive their motivation. It is important to understand how African-American men are socialized on the topic of marriage to provide a point of intervention and prevention for service providers and policy makers. Method: Focus groups were conducted with 17 African-American men between the ages of 24 and 35 years. They were asked semistructured questions that inquired about how, from whom, and what messages they learned about marriage. Results: Thematic analysis revealed that the men learned about marriage via implicit and explicit messages from their kinship network and media. Three themes emerged regarding messages about marriage: (a) Adherence to traditional gender roles, (b) Basing marriage on religion and spirituality, and (c) Importance of maintaining the family unit at all costs. Conclusion: The findings elucidate competing messages between western norms and Afrocentric norms of marriage and manhood, specific to the definition and operationalization of the provider role of men in marriage. Implications: The findings provide specific points of intervention and inquiry for clinicians and scholars whose work is with African-American men on the issues of marriage, gender roles, and masculine identity development.

  PublisherDOI

• The role of Black men in protecting Black girls' sexual development

  Family Relations · 2024-06-16 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Background Black girls in the United States are at increased risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections due to early sexual development, stereotyping, adultification, and lack of protection. The Becoming a Sexual Black Woman framework highlights protection, or lack thereof, as a critical component of Black girls' sexual development. Objective The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we sought to understand how girls protect their bodies within the societal context of the COVID‐19 pandemic and social injustice. Second, we aimed to explore how Black men can better protect Black girls' sexual development. Method We conducted 25 in‐depth interviews with Black girls aged 9 to 18 years, primarily across the Midwestern United States. We performed a directed content analysis by reviewing transcripts, coding data, and developing themes. Results Findings revealed four themes: (a) feeling unsafe, (b) adultification of Black girls' bodies and increased vulnerability to harm, (c) desire for more protection by Black male caregivers, and (d) needing Black men to speak up. Conclusion Black men's engagement in girls' sexual development may significantly influence the health outcomes of Black girls and women throughout their life course. Implications Findings may inform future family‐based interventions that better protect and promote the sexual health and development of Black girls.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ‘Protecting your body and loving yourself’: strategies Black male caregivers use to protect Black girls sexuality in the USA

  Culture Health & Sexuality · 2024-05-23 · 3 citations

  articleSenior author

  Black girls in the USA face disproportionate rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV, and sexual violence, prompting research into the sociocultural factors such as adultification, race and gender discrimination, and stereotyped messaging, impacting Black girls' sexual development. While existing literature finds that Black female caregivers utilise protective strategies to mitigate potential harm to Black girls, little is known about the role of Black male caregivers. This qualitative study employed the Becoming a Sexual Black Woman framework and one-on-one interviews to examine how 30 Black male caregivers of girls conceptualised parental protection and elated strategies. The thematic analysis revealed key themes of: Being a Provider, Being a Present Role Model, Protecting Black Girls' Bodies, Limiting Exposure to Stereotyped Messages, and Providing Emotional Protection. Black male caregivers navigated traditional gendered expectations and limited resources while utilising parental strategies that reflected patriarchal, sometimes misogynistic, and non-patriarchal ideals and norms. The study highlights the attitudes and beliefs of Black male caregivers regarding protecting Black girls from sexual violence and other related adverse outcomes. The findings offer insights for family-based interventions and programmes that empower Black girls to support their sexual development and health in the USA.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Genius Flexin’: The Radical Potential of a Dreams Assessment in Participatory Research

  Journal of Participatory Research Methods · 2023-12-27 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The devastation of COVID-19 and racial violence in 2020 suffocated the dream potential of Black families in North Carolina. That same year, Village of Wisdom (VOW) received rapid funding and leveraged this funding to support an inaugural group of five self-identified Black mothers, aka “mommas,” to serve as Parent Researchers. These mommas, trained in participatory research, would embark upon a project to understand the needs of Black students, their parents, and teachers during COVID-19 and challenges associated with remote learning. The Dreams Assessment then emerged as a communal assessment to activate the dream potentials of the mommas, VOW, and spark a movement of amplifying Black parent wisdom as co-authors of research, co-designers, and creators. This paper uses storytelling to reflect on conducting the Dreams Assessment from the perspective of those Black mommas and the “other” mothers and centers communal weaving through shared discoveries and lessons learned. The authors offer the Dreams Assessment as a radical and reimagined participatory research approach from a community-driven and liberatory lens.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Interventions for African American male youth with internalizing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress: A comprehensive review protocol

  Open MIND · 2023-01-01

  other1st authorCorresponding

  This review will focus on the methods, efficacy and effectiveness, findings, and dissemination of mental health interventions that identify how African American boys and men are diagnosed and treated in therapeutic settings for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.

  Publisher

• Am I man Enough?: A Qualitative Study of African American Heterosexual Men’s Attitudes Toward Marriage

  Sex Roles · 2023 · 3 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Gender studies
  PublisherDOI

• The Role of the Strong Black Woman in Black Female Sexual Development

  Archives of Sexual Behavior · 2023 · 9 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  PublisherDOI

• Interventions for African American male youth with internalizing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress: A comprehensive review protocol

  OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2023-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This review will focus on the methods, efficacy and effectiveness, findings, and dissemination of mental health interventions that identify how African American boys and men are diagnosed and treated in therapeutic settings for symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Defeated No More: Meaning-Making After Military Sexual Trauma

  Military Medicine · 2022 · 6 citations

  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Social psychology

  INTRODUCTION: Military sexual trauma (MST) has been a concern within our U.S. military for many years. Many interventions have been found to benefit this population, although meaning-based interventions are still lacking in this area. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the meaning-making process and themes that arise for female military veterans as they narrate their experience(s) of MST. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The qualitative study consisted of six female participants, from different areas across the nation, who all reported experiencing MST during their time in service. Their experiences of MST included both sexual harassment and sexual assault. Participants completed a semi-structured interview that was analyzed using an axial coding method to discover the major themes of each participant's interview. The participants discussed the positive and negative aspects of their journey following their MST experience(s). This study's procedures were approved by Adler University's Institutional Review Board. RESULTS: Many found the interview to be a healing experience on their path of post-traumatic growth (PTG). There were eight major themes that arose from the data analysis under the three main domains of (1) creating a work or doing a deed, (2) experiencing something or encountering someone in a way to produce PTG, and (3) altering one's attitude toward unavoidable suffering. The eight themes were as follows: advocacy, adaptive coping, sense of family unit, psychological clarity, meaningful mantra, survivor mentality code, view of self in the world, and resiliency. CONCLUSIONS: All participants endorsed engagement in some type of activity that fell into one of the three major domains identified above. This finding helped highlight the PTG that participants were able to experience through their meaning-making journey. There were several recommendations and study implications that were derived from this research study. With the themes introduced from this study, future treatment planning for individual survivors of MST can be better informed by the utilization of meaning-making techniques. Family and group meaning-based interventions would also be an area of continued exploration for this population. Future implications for practice are also included within this article. Significant limitations of the study include amount of participants, lack of diversity in sample population, qualitative study results, and lack of a more-personal interviewing process.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Diana M. Gibb

  MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL

  10 shared

• Anita Thomas

  7 shared

• Amber Hewitt

  Congressional Budget Office

  6 shared

• Gihane Jérémie‐Brink

  William Paterson University

  5 shared

• Marianne Debré

  4 shared

• J-P Aboulker

  Laboratoire d'études sur les monothéismes

  3 shared

• J Darbyshire

  Medical Research Council

  3 shared

• Kimberly J. Langrehr

  Roosevelt University

  3 shared