Jessica
Henderson
Daniel, Ph.D.
| Spirituality in the
Lives of Black Female
Adolescents:
An Exploration of
Sources and Impact
| This is a retrospective study of Black women students
enrolled in major law
schools in New England city. memories of childhood and adolescent life
experiences were collected in semi-structured interviews, varying in length
from one to two hours. The general goal of the study was to identify
factors including persons and experiences which may have contributed to
their academic success. Spirituality was a common theme in all the
interviews. The chapter will delineate the sources of spirituality as well
as deconstruct the particular attributes and meanings of spirituality in
their respective lives. Implications for research and practice will be
discussed.
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|
Esther
Jenkins, Ph.D.
| Violence and Trauma
in the
Lives of Stress in
African-American Children
| Black youth have a relatively high level of
violence exposure as victim and
witness of violence with serious implications for both their current
behavior and future development. The proposed chapter examines the
prevalence and trends in black youth's witnessing of violence and their
personal victimization both in and outside of the home, and including
physical and sexual abuse. The chapter explores the literature on the
impact of that violence exposure and how it affects and is affected by
developmental level. There is a special emphasis on gender issues, and the
role of violence exposure as a mediator of aggressive behavior. Treatment
and intervention approaches that recognize the cultural and social reality
of black children will be offered, with special consideration to building
resilience in high risk youth.
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|
Deborah J.
Johnson
| Contextual Influences on
African American
Children's
Racial Coping in
Middle Childhood
| This study explores the school and community level
influences on third
grade children's expressed racial coping strategies. School climate and
community influences are powerfully linked to the development of children's
competencies and social skills (Fisher, Jackson, & Villarruel, 1998; Parke
& Buriel, 1998). The broad constructs of school absences and poverty
levels are used as proxies for school climate and community
vulnerabilities, respectively. These variables are likely reflective of
variations in school quality and the ability of communities to foster
resilience in school-aged children. High absenteeism is an indicator of
poor school climate, lack of order and discipline, poor sense of school
community (National Research Council, 1989). Poverty as a school-wide
variable rather than an individual, family level variable may indicate the
community context within which the school exists. Four typologies have
been based on school absences and relative poverty level in the school.
These typologies are hypothesized to have differing impact on the
development of children's racial coping as potentially protective
insulation buffering school and/or community based experiences or
anticipated prejudice. In addition, the quality of the school climate
either providing less buffering more protection for children, will
determine whether children's strategies reflect more passive or
confrontational or more negotiation based coping. The differing contexts
will also have an effect on the development of problem-focused and
emotion-focused strategies, such that motion focused strategies will be
more plentiful in more protective settings. The participants are 2022
third grade African American children across 4 years located in a large
metropolitan midwestern school district. Children were located in two
types of schools, those that participated in a school-wide intervention and
those that did not participate in that intervention.
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|
Waldo E.
Johnson, Jr.
| The Determinants of
Paternal Involvement among
Young Unwed Fathers
and the
Consequences for Child Well-Being
| Systematic study on the influence and effects of
paternal involvement has
expanded over the past decade (Lamb, 1997) and it is presumed positive for
child well-being and family formation. Diversity among fathers and their
paternal role statuses affect their capacities to provide and sustain
involvement (Pleck, 1997). Empirical evidence supporting the presumed
positive effects of paternal involvement on child well-being is ambiguous.
Paternal role functioning among young unwed fathers has received limited
systematic inquiry. this chapter seeks to better understand how young
unwed fathers undertake paternal involvement. Developmental theories
suggest that fatherhood is best assumed subsequent to the transition into
adulthood. Premature fatherhood minimizes the chances for a smooth
transition (Elster and Lamb, 1982) while out-of-wedlock fatherhood
truncates paternal involvement. Implications for intervention and policy
practices are discussed.
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|
Michael
Lambert, Ph.D.
| Appropriate Defining,
Quantifying and
Assessing
Strengths in
Psychopathology in
African-Americans
| History, and the sociocultural mores in engenders,
provides African
American children with unique strengths, but society presents them with
distinct challenges. Clinicians serving these youngsters must address
these strengths and challenges to understand how they influence
developmental psychopathology in this population. lack of theoretical and
empirical literature and insufficiency of assessment procedures designed
for and standardized on African American youngsters, further complicates
this task. This chapter reviews existing literature on strengths and
psychopathology of African American youngsters, assessment of these
constructs, and discusses treatment from a strength-based perceptive. It
highlights the acute need for further research on African American youngsters.
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|
Angela M.
Neal-Barnett, Ph.D.
| Acting White and the
Experience of Fear:
Social Anxiety Among
African American
Children and Adolescents
| The accusation of "acting white" is one of the
most negative evaluative
messages an African American child can receive from his or her peers.
Clinical observations and exploratory research suggests that many children
who have been accused of acting white experience high levels of social
anxiety. Given these findings, the question arises as to the role race
based negative evaluations play in the development of social anxiety. In
this chapter, I examine the experience of acting white and social anxiety
development. Specifically, I examine how a child's ethnic identity and
socialization by parent(s) might facilitate or protect one from the
development of social anxiety.
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|
Robert
Sellers, Ph.D.
| A Multi-dimensional
Approach to
Racial Identity;
Implications for
African-American Children
| The present chapter uses the Multidimensional Model
of Racial Identity
(MMRI) as a conceptual framework for understanding the successful
development of African American adolescents. The MMRI is a model developed
by Sellers and his colleagues to represent the significance and meaning
that African Americans place on race in defining themselves. The MMRI
delineates three dimensions: racial centrality; racial regard; and racial
ideology. The chapter examines potential pathways between the various
dimension of racial identity and adolescents' psychological functioning and
well-being. Implication for potential psychological interventions are also
discussed.
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|
Robert
Stadulis, Ph.D.
Angela M.
Neal-Barnett, Ph.D.
Gary
Waters
| Values, Aspirations and
Motives of
African American
Children Relative to Sport
| Sport has often been perceived
as the panacea for such troubled youth.
Such a perception grows out of the philosophy that sport is a major
contributor, through social learning opportunities, of society's values to
children (Coakley, 1998). For North American males especially, sportsman
role models are an important contributor to adult career aspirations
(Leonard, 1993). However, for African-American males in particular,
evidence is strong that black professional sportsmen serve as exclusive
role models whereas the white cohorts broaden their range of role models to
include a variety of additional occupational options (Castine & Roberts,
1974). Guttman (1988) has assailed this exclusive modeling by black males
as a "folk belief" that sport is an "accessible avenue for increasing
socio-economic status." As many have noted, e.g. Edwards (1988), Guttman
(1988), there are very few opportunities for professional sport careers for
30 million people.
The purpose of the proposed chapter is to focus upon the role of sport in
the development of occupational goals and societal values within African
American children, especially males.
The existing literature will be reviewed, data from an ongoing study will
be reported and recommendations will be made regarding the potential of
youth sports to promote values.
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|
Ronald
Taylor, Ph.D.
| The Impact of Poverty on
African-American
Adolescents'
Psychological Well-being
| In the manuscript I review literature examining the
association of
families' economic resources and status with the psychological well-being
of African-American adolescents. The work is guided by a conceptual model
suggesting that families' economic resources effect adolescents through
links to parents' psychological functioning and parenting practices. Thus,
research suggest that economic disadvantage is associated with
psychological distress and problem behavior in parents. The psychological
well-being of economically distressed parents is at risk at least partially
because of the stressful experiences often associated with economic
disadvantage. Lower psychological functioning in parents, in turn is
linked to less adequate parenting, including low support and warmth and
harsher treatment of children and adolescents. Less adequate parenting is
associated with lower functioning in adolescents including increases in
problem behavior, psychological distress and lower autonomy and
independence. Potential moderators of the effects of stressors on parents,
and moderators of the impact of less adequate parenting on adolescents are
discussed. Finally, implications of the work for prevention and
intervention are discussed.
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|
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