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African American Youth (african + american_youth)
Selected AbstractsMental Health Promotion for Vulnerable African American YouthJOURNAL OF FORENSIC NURSING, Issue 1 2006Deborah Shelton Fifty-six African American youth between 10,14 years of age participated in a community-based 14-week expressive arts program designed for youth at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Positive and statistically significant findings for pre-post changes in self-control, protective factors, and resilience were found. Difficulty in engaging parents and the strong racial biases of the community appear to have influenced the lack of improvement in self-esteem scores. [source] School Violence, Adjustment, and the Influence of Hope on Low-Income, African American YouthAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY, Issue 2 2010Linda A. Cedeno The current study investigated the prevalence and impact of exposure to school violence using a cross-sectional design with a sample of 132 low-income, African American fifth graders (mean age = 10.20). Additionally, hope was examined in relation to adjustment and as a potential resilience factor in the context of school violence. Students completed self-report measures for exposure to school violence frequencies, self-concept, and hope. Teachers completed a teacher-rated survey assessing levels of problem behaviors, social skills, and academic competence. Results indicated that the majority of youth had been personally victimized or witnessed violence during a 3-month period. Exposure to school violence was positively associated with problem behaviors, and negatively associated with social skills, self-concept, and academic competence; hope was inversely related to externalizing behaviors and positively related to self-concept. Hope buffered the effects of personal victimization and witnessing violence on self-concept. Gender differences were observed for a number of the analyses. The implications of both the prevalence and impact of exposure to school violence, as well as the moderating effects of hope, are discussed. [source] Patterns of Treatment Services and Costs for Young Offenders with Mental DisordersJOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC NURSING, Issue 3 2005Deborah Shelton PhD PROBLEM:,This study describes mental health treatment service delivery patterns and costs for youth in a juvenile justice system. METHODS:,A secondary data analysis on a random sample of juvenile offenders (N = 312) was completed. Service patterns and costs were described. Selected variables were examined for their ability to predict who received treatment. FINDINGS:,Only 23% of youth diagnosed with a mental disorder received any treatment. Older youth and African American youth received fewer services, and race was the only significant predictor for receiving treatment (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS:,Mental health treatment services were scarce, and the data reflects a race bias in the provision of services. Although the law protects the right to treatment for these individuals, provision of services remains a challenge. [source] Exposure to violence and aggression: protective roles of social support among urban African American youthJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2008Shira Benhorin This cross-sectional study examined the impact of social support on the relation between exposure to violence and aggressive behavior, as reported by self, peers, and teachers. The main-effects and stress-buffering models of social support were tested for parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends among 127 urban, African American youth. The results demonstrate the negative impact of violence exposure on aggressive behavior and the complex roles of social support in these relations. Specifically, more perceived support from parents, teachers, and close friends was associated with lower teacher-reported aggressive behavior, whereas classmate support buffered the impact of violence on peer-reported aggressive behavior. These findings, multiple reporter differences, and implications for preventive interventions are discussed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Growing up in a dangerous developmental milieu: The effects of parenting processes on adjustment in inner-city African American adolescentsJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 1 2006Alexander T. Vazsonyi The current longitudinal study examined the protective effects of parenting processes on measures of adolescent adjustment (health-compromising and violent behaviors) in a sample of high-risk, inner-city, poor African American youth ( N = 2,867). Parenting processes played an important role in this dangerous developmental milieu. For male adolescents, they accounted for 26 to 37% in health-compromising behaviors and 16 to 24% of the total variance in violent behaviors over time. Multigroup SEM analyses by sex and age groups (early, middle, and late adolescents) indicated no differences of these effects across groups. Findings provided evidence that parenting processes are salient for a high-risk, inner-city minority population in understanding and predicting health-compromising and violent behaviors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Ethnic identity in urban African American youth: Exploring links with self-worth, aggression, and other psychosocial variablesJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2002Susan D. McMahon This study represents an attempt to examine the relative influences of ethnic identity and global self-worth on aggression, coping, and adjustment among urban African American adolescents. Findings suggest that ethnic identity was associated with a range of positive feelings about oneself and health-related outcomes. When taking into account global self-worth, youth with a greater sense of ethnic/racial identity reported more active coping strategies, fewer beliefs supporting aggression, and fewer aggressive behaviors. A strong positive sense of global self-worth was significantly related to lower levels of anxiety and depression, and greater beliefs supporting aggressive behavior, when taking into account ethnic identity. Examining these constructs in combination can yield insight into the processes involved in competence and adjustment among at-risk youth. This study suggests that ethnic identity is an important component of development, and that we should consider examining and strengthening ethnoracial and political consciousness among youth in preventive interventions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Mental Health Promotion for Vulnerable African American YouthJOURNAL OF FORENSIC NURSING, Issue 1 2006Deborah Shelton Fifty-six African American youth between 10,14 years of age participated in a community-based 14-week expressive arts program designed for youth at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice system. Positive and statistically significant findings for pre-post changes in self-control, protective factors, and resilience were found. Difficulty in engaging parents and the strong racial biases of the community appear to have influenced the lack of improvement in self-esteem scores. [source] A Longitudinal Study of Depressive Symptoms and Marijuana Use in a Sample of Inner-City African AmericansJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 3 2008Paula B. Repetto The association between marijuana use and depressive symptoms was examined longitudinally in a sample of 622 African American youth, interviewed on six occasions, using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). We considered whether depressive symptoms predicted changes in marijuana use and vice versa from high school through the transition into young adulthood. We also examined gender differences in these behaviors over time. The results indicated that depressive symptoms predicted later marijuana use only for males. Marijuana use did not predict later depressive symptoms for females or males. These findings are consistent with a unidirectional hypothesis indicating that marijuana use may play a role as mood regulator among young males, but not among females. Research findings also indicate that females with lower depressive symptoms use more marijuana than females who report high depressive symptoms. These findings did not change even after controlling for the effects of using other substances at previous stages, school achievement, and demographics factors. These results suggest that depressive symptoms may be an antecedent of marijuana use among African American males. [source] Adolescent Transitions to Young Adulthood: Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences of Adolescent EmploymentJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 3 2001Tama Leventhal The antecedents, correlates, and consequences of adolescent employment were investigated in a sample of 251 low-income, African American youth that were followed since birth. The youth (age: M at preschool = 4.89, SD= .70; M at adolescence = 16.44, SD= .66; M at transition to adulthood = 19.36, SD= .76; and M at early adulthood = 27.67, SD= .75) were the firstborn children of African American teenage mothers who gave birth in Baltimore in the 1960s. Analyses examined the antecedents and correlates of age of entry into employment and stability of employment during adolescence. The associations of adolescent work experiences with subsequent adult education and employment outcomes also were considered. Findings indicate that among this sample of low-income, African American youth, those who repeated a grade in school during middle childhood were more likely to enter the workforce at later ages than their peers who did not repeat a grade. The small subset of adolescents who never worked (n= 12) appear to be markedly more disadvantaged than their peers who worked. At the transition to adulthood, adolescents who entered the workforce earlier were more likely to complete high school than their peers. In addition, stable employment during the adolescent years had more beneficial effects on young men's chances of attending college than young women's postsecondary education. This pattern of findings is consistent with ethnographic accounts of adolescent employment among poor, minority, urban youth. [source] Identity processes and the positive youth development of African Americans: An explanatory frameworkNEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 95 2002Dena Phillips Swanson This chapter presents Spencer's phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory, or PVEST (1995), as a conceptual framework for examining positive youth development. Contextual factors affecting racial and gender identity of African American youth are discussed, with the focus on the influence of schools and religious institutions. [source] Relational Aggression and Adverse Psychosocial and Physical Health Symptoms Among Urban AdolescentsPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 6 2009Jessica Roberts Williams ABSTRACT Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine relational aggression and its relationship with adverse psychosocial and physical health symptoms among urban, African American youth. Design and Sample: Quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. The sample consisted of 185 predominantly African American (95.1%) seventh-grade students (mean age: 13.0; female: 58%) attending 4 urban middle schools. Measures: The Children's Social Behavior Scale and Social Experience Questionnaire were used to measure relational aggression and relational victimization. The Pediatric Symptom Checklist was used to assess psychosocial difficulties, including internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, and attention problems. Physical health symptoms were measured with questions about colds/flu, headaches, and stomach aches. Results: 2-way multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences in externalizing behavior, with perpetrators reporting higher levels than nonperpetrators. Victims reported more internalizing behavior than nonvictims; however, this was only significant for males. For females, significant negative effects on health outcomes were found, resulting from the interaction of perpetration and victimization. Conclusions: Findings suggest that relational aggression is a common occurrence among urban, minority adolescents and may result in adverse health outcomes. These results provide several avenues for future research and implications for healthcare practice. Intervention strategies are needed to prevent relational aggression and continual or subsequent adverse health symptoms. [source] Linking Changes in Parenting to Parent,Child Relationship Quality and Youth Self-Control: The Strong African American Families ProgramJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 1 2005Gene H. Brody A randomized prevention trial was conducted contrasting families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a conceptual model positing that changes in intervention-targeted parenting behaviors would enhance responsive-supportive parent,child relationships and youths' self-control, which protect rural African American youths from substance use and early sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that intervention-induced changes in parenting were linked with changes in responsive,supportive parent,child relationships and youth self-control. [source] | |||||||||||||