Martha Bernal
American clinical psychologist of Mexican descent
American clinical psychologist (1931 to 2001) who studied behavioural treatment of children with conduct problems and the development of ethnic identity in Mexican American children. She also worked on the training of ethnic minority psychologists.
Why this person matters
Bernal's research on behavioural treatment of children's acting-out problems and, with George Knight, on ethnic identity helped bring minority mental health into clinical psychology. She also pressed the American Psychological Association on recruiting and training ethnic minority psychologists, and helped establish a national Hispanic psychology association.
Main contributions
Behavioural treatment of children's behaviour problems
At the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute (1964 to 1971) she used learning theory to treat children's acting-out behaviour, work that gained her national attention. Biographies say she held that these behaviours were learned and trained parents to change them. With J. A. North she later published a survey of parent training manuals (1978).
Ethnic identity in Mexican American children
With George Knight she studied how ethnic identity forms in Mexican American children and families, including how to measure it. They co-edited Ethnic identity: Formation and transmission among Hispanics and other minorities (1993), and Ocampo, Knight and Bernal published a 1997 article on children's cognitive abilities and ethnic identity.
Training of ethnic minority psychologists
She helped create the American Psychological Association's Board of Ethnic Minority Affairs and served on its Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training. Bernal and Padilla (1982) and Bernal and Castro (1994), both in American Psychologist, examined minority curricula and clinical training for work with ethnic minorities.
Context and limits
Several biographies describe her as the first Latina to earn a psychology doctorate in the United States. Other accounts word it differently: first Hispanic woman with a psychology doctorate, or first woman of Mexican heritage with a doctorate in clinical psychology. The sources read for this profile give no separate evidence, so treat the claim as a repeated attribution. Her 1962 Indiana doctorate is documented across several biographies.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.Appears in the history of psychology and in culture and diversity chapters as a Mexican American clinical psychologist and a researcher on ethnic identity and minority training.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1962
Received her PhD in clinical psychology from Indiana University Bloomington.
- 1964
Began at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, where she worked until 1971.
- 1978
Published 'A Survey of Parent Training Manuals' with J. A. North.
- 1982
Published 'Status of minority curricula and training in clinical psychology' with Padilla in American Psychologist.
- 1994
Published 'Are clinical psychologists prepared for service and research with ethnic minorities?' with Castro in American Psychologist.
Sources
- Feminist Voices, Martha Bernal (Meghan George, 2012)Archive or museum. Institutional biography inspected.
- Salud America, Dr. Martha Bernal: The First Latina with a PhD in Psychology (Julia Weis, 2021)Society or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Open History of Psychology (Pressbooks), Martha BernalReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Martha E. BernalReference work. Reference article inspected.