An Exploration of Grief Through the Lens of the Meaning Making Model of Coping: Amplifying Bereaved Black and African American Youth’s Voices

What is already known about this subject African Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity and other metabolic risk factors in comparison to White Americans. Increasing prevalence of obesity has been associated with concomitant increases in childhood hypertension, dyslipidaemia and type 2 diabetes. Oxidative stress is associated with obesity in both adults and children. What this study adds Oxidative stress is positively associated with total body fat and truncal fat, but not with body mass index (BMI) or BMI z-score in healthy youth. Oxidative stress is associated with diastolic blood pressure in African American but not in White American healthy youth. Oxidative stress is elevated in obese youth, but less is known regarding racial disparities in the relationship of oxidative stress with metabolic risk factors. To determine the relationship between oxidative stress and metabolic risk factors, adiposity, leptin, adiponectin and cardiovascular fitness (VO2PEAK ) in healthy African American and White American youth. A marker of oxidative stress (F2 -isoprostane), validated markers of metabolic risk factors, fitness and body composition were measured in African American (n = 82) and White American (n = 76) youth (8-17 years old) recruited over a range of BMI percentiles (4th to 99th). F2 -isoprostane concentration was positively correlated with percentage body fat (r = 0.198) and percentage truncal fat (r = 0.173), but was not different between African American and White American males and females (P = 0.208). African American youth had significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.023 and P = 0.011, respectively), body weight, BMI percentile and Tanner stage. After adjusting for gender, age, BMI and Tanner stage, African American youth varied from White Americans in the association of F2 -isoprostane with diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.047), but not with systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, VO2PEAK or homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (all P > 0.05). Oxidative stress, as measured by urinary F2 -isoprostane concentrations, was positively associated with percent body fat and truncal fat in youth. Oxidative stress levels were similar among African American and White American youth. Among markers of the metabolic syndrome, a significant difference between African American and White American youth was demonstrated only in the association of oxidative stress with diastolic blood pressure.

Cigarettes, cigars, and marijuana have generally been studied in isolation yet their use does not occur in isolation. Focus on cigarette smoking may overstate the observation that African American youth and young adults are less likely to smoke any combustible product compared with their white counterparts. Assessing cigarette, cigar, and marijuana use trends may help identify the extent of this difference. Data from the 2002-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (N = 25 541 to N = 28 232) were used to investigate past 30-day cigarette, cigar, and marijuana use trends among African American and white youth (12-17) and young adults (18-25). Logistic regressions assessed trends in combustible tobacco (cigarettes and cigars) and marijuana use, alone and in combination. From 2002-2012, the absolute difference in cigarette smoking prevalence between African American and white youth (9.6%-4.2%) and young adults (19.0%-10.5%) narrowed. Any combustible tobacco/marijuana use was significantly lower among African Americans than whites but, relative to cigarettes, the absolute difference was much smaller among youth (7.2%-2.2%) and young adults (15.8%-5.6%). Among any combustible tobacco/marijuana users, using two or more substances ranged from 31.4% to 40.3% among youth and 29.1% to 39.8% among young adults. Any combustible tobacco/marijuana use trends suggest the smoking prevalence difference between African American and white youth and young adults is real, but less pronounced than when assessing cigarette smoking alone. Policies and programs addressing smoking behaviors may benefit from broadening focus to monitor and address cigar and marijuana use as well. Trends in any use of cigarettes, cigars, and/or marijuana suggest the difference in smoking prevalence between African American and white youth and young adults is real, but less pronounced than when cigarette smoking is assessed alone. In 2012, more than 10% of African American and white youth, more than a third of African American young adults, and nearly half of white young adults reported past 30-day use of cigarette, cigars, and/or marijuana. Public health programs aimed at reducing these behaviors among youth and young adults could be informed by considering detailed, race-specific information regarding tobacco and marijuana use patterns.

Research focusing on disparities in academic achievement among Black, African American, and other youth has largely examined differences in quantitative risk and protective factors associated with levels of achievement. Few interpretive studies of academic achievement by race or ethnicity have considered how the context of young people’s lives impact their perceptions of academic performance. Furthermore, the lived experiences of Black and African American youth have rarely been considered. This study examined perceptions of academic achievement among a sample of Black and African American elementary and middle school students living in four public housing neighborhoods in a Western US city. Twenty-five Black and African American youth participated in the study. Fourteen youth were in grades 4 and 5, and 11 youth were in grades 6, 7, or 8. Sixty-four percent of participants (n = 16) were male and 36% (n = 9) were female. Four themes emerged regarding participants’ perceptions of academic achievement: (1) (in)equity and the internalization of messages; (2) teachers as gatekeepers; (3) family and community factors promoting and inhibiting academic success; and (4) cultural considerations—language, stereotypes, and difference. Implications for improving academic outcomes and reducing the achievement gap among Black, African American, and other students are noted.

African American youth are less likely to use alcohol than their European American counterparts; however, the greater consequences of use for African American youth highlight the need for greater research attention to this group. Two social contexts that have been linked with adolescent alcohol use are parents and peers, yet these studies have rarely included African American youth or failed to examine potential racial differences. This study examined the main and interactive effects of parents and peers, as well as the moderating role of race on alcohol use, in African American and European American rural adolescents (n=71) identified as at high-risk for alcohol use. Contrary to study hypotheses, however, parents were not a more robust moderator for African American than European American youth. Clinical implications for prevention and intervention programming for both African American and European American youth are discussed.

Little is known about the association between apoC-III and lipoprotein-lipids in African American (AA) and Caucasian (CA) youths. The aim of this study was to investigate if plasma apoC-III level is associated with ethnicity differences in atherogenic lipoprotein-lipids between AA and CA youths. A total of 202 youths (mean age 16.1±1.3 y, range 13.8-18.9 y) consisting of 122 AA (boys/girls, 52/70) and 80 CA (boys/girls, 40/40) youths were recruited via flyers sent to local high schools. For AA youths, body mass index (BMI) values were 22.5±5.0 kg/m(2) and 25.0±6.8 kg/m(2) for boys and girls, respectively. For CA youths, BMI values were 22.0±4.8 kg/m(2) and 22.1±5.0 kg/m(2) for boys and girls, respectively. Anthropometric variables were measured using standard procedures. Body fat was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Fasting glucose and insulin, lipoprotein-lipids, and apolipoproteins were measured in fasting plasma samples. AA youths had significantly lower values in apoC-III (P<0.001), triglyceride (P<0.001), and total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.011) and higher values in HDLC (P=0.004), apoE (P=0.016), insulin (P=0.027), and homoeostasis model of assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (P=0.025) than CA youths. Body composition and insulin resistance parameters were significantly associated with apoC-III levels in CA youths, but not in AA youths. Regression analyses showed that waist circumference and HOMA-IR were significant predictors for apoC-III in CA, not AA, youths. The findings of the current study suggest that ethnicity differences in atherogenic lipids between AA and CA youths may be associated with differences in apoC-III and apoE levels.

Prepubertal African American (AA) youth compared with their Caucasian (C) peers have higher insulin secretion, which correlates positively with free fatty acid (FFA) concentration. In our continued efforts to explain the racial disparity in insulinemia, and because FFAs modulate insulin secretion, we hypothesized that AA youth would have a greater response to FFA-induced β-cell insulin secretion than C youth. We compared the short-term effects of FFA elevation on fasting and glucose-stimulated C-peptide–modeled insulin secretion in prepubertal normal-weight AA versus C peers during a 2-h hyperglycemic clamp (12.5 mmol/L) on two occasions: 1) infusion of normal saline and 2) infusion of 20% intralipid (IL). During IL infusion, insulin sensitivity (IS) declined comparably in AA and C youth. Glucose sensitivity of first- and second-phase insulin secretion showed a significant condition × race interaction being higher in AA youth. Disposition index, β-cell function relative to IS, declined with IL infusion in AA and C youth, with a significantly greater decrease in Cs compared with AAs. In conclusion, AA and C prepubertal youth both demonstrated a decline in β-cell function relative to IS during IL infusion, indicative of acute lipotoxicity. The greater decline in C youth compared with AAs may suggest that C youth are more susceptible to β-cell lipotoxicity than AA youth, or alternatively, that AA youth are hypersensitive to FFA stimulation of β-cell insulin secretion, consistent with our theory.

Purpose In this conceptual essay used to introduce the special issue titled “Clarifying the Role of Race in the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth,” I argue for centralizing race in research that examines Englishes and literacies of the largely invisible population of Black immigrant youth in the United States. My rationale for this argument is based largely on the increasingly divisive rhetoric surrounding Black immigrants and Black Americans, exacerbated by current racial tensions and further amplified amidst a politicized landscape and COVID-19. This rhetoric has erupted from often implicit and negative connotations associated with Black immigrants as a “new model minority” when compared with their “underperforming” Black American counterparts and evolved into the use of dichotomous intraracial ideologies that continue to pit one subgroup against the other. Beyond this, race continues to be present as a key part of conversations in the Englishes and literacies of Black American students. And the notion of race, as seen through constructs such as “critical race theory,” “racial literacy,” “linguistic racism,” and “a raciolinguistic perspective,” remains central to the conversations about how Black Americans’ language and literacy use is understood and evaluated in U.S. schools. Yet, we know little about how Black immigrant literacies and Englishes refect racial tensions that affect literacy instruction and assessment because data surrounding their academic performance across the U.S., more often than not, remains subsumed within the data of Black students overall. As they are immigrants of color who are subjected to similar forms of linguistic and racial discrimination often faced by Black American youth, and who also often undergo tremendous difficulty in adjusting to the cultural and linguistic differences faced in the U.S., why is race not central to the distinct, varied, and unique Englishes and literacies of Black immigrant youth? Theoretical Perspectives To address this gap in the field, I examine affordances from the lenses of diaspora literacy, transnational literacy, and racial literacy, which hold promise for understanding how to foreground race in the literacies of predominantly English-speaking Black immigrant youth. I demonstrate how each of these lenses, as applied to the literacies of the invisible population of Black youth, allows for partial understandings regarding these students&gt; enactment of literacies based on their Englishes and semiotic resources. In turn, I illustrate how these lenses can work together to clarify the role of race in Black immigrant literacies. Implications Based on these discussions, I present the framework of Black immigrant literacies to assist researchers, practitioners, and parents who wish to better understand and support Black immigrant youth. I invite researchers who work with populations that include Black immigrant youth to consider how race, when central to research and teaching surrounding the literacies and Englishes of these youth, can provide opportunities for them to thrive beyond the perceptions of them as “academic prodigies” while also facilitating relationships with their Black American peers. I invite teachers to consider ways of viewing Black immigrant literacies that foster a sense of community between these youth and their Black American peers as well as ways of engaging their literacies in classrooms that allow them to demonstrate how they function as language architects beyond performance on literacy assessments. I invite parents to provide spaces beyond school contexts where Black immigrant youth can use their literacies for social adjustment. Through this essay, it is expected that the dominant population can gain further insights into the nuances that exist within the Black population and be cognizant of these nuances when engaging with Black immigrant youth.

β2-adrenergic receptor gene and resting hemodynamics in European and African American youth

One in five children and adolescents experience significant symptoms of emotional distress and approximately 10 % of youth suffer from emotional disorders, which impair their personal, school, and family lives. African American youth may experience even higher rates of some psychiatric distress due to a number of environmental challenges they face that place them at risk, including a lack of access to mental health services. Yet little is known about the mental health of African American youth and the risk or protective factors they may experience. In this chapter we provide an overview of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among African American or Black youth, with special attention to within group ethnic (i.e., African American and Caribbean Black youth when available) and gender differences, along with an assessment of available data and consideration of what is known about mental health service use for African American children and adolescents.

Physical markers of adiposity including BMI, WC and WHtR have been utilized as physical surrogates of IS and βCF to examine type 2 diabetes risk but without attention to race/ethnicity specific differences. Herein, we examined race-specific differences in the relationships between those physical surrogates and clamp-measured IS and βCF in obese African American (AA) vs. American White (AW) youth. A total of 183 obese youth (age 14.6 ± 0.1 yrs [SE]) completed a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp to evaluate peripheral IS and a hyperglycemic clamp to measure 1st-phase insulin (1st-PhI) . In AW, BMI, WC and WHtR correlated significantly with peripheral IS and 1st-PhI while in AA with only peripheral IS (Table) . The relationships of BMI to peripheral IS and 1st-PhI were stronger in AW vs. AA youth, with no differences in the correlation coefficients by race for WC and WHtR (Table) . There was a larger decrease in peripheral IS from the lowest to the highest tertiles of BMIs in AW vs. AA youth (63 vs. 39%, interaction p&amp;lt;0.01) , with no interaction on 1st-PhI.The strong relationship of BMI with IS and 1st-PhI in AW but not AA youth may suggest that other factors besides BMI may play a role in the insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia reported in AA youth. In AW youth, increases in BMI may be more detrimental for reductions in insulin sensitivity than is the case for AA youth. Disclosure J.Rosenberg: None. W.Cho: None. S.A.Arslanian: Advisory Panel; Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, Other Relationship; AstraZeneca, Research Support; Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk. J.Kim: n/a. Funding National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant (K24-HD01357 and R01-HD27503) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Award (UL1TR000005) National Center for Research Resources grant (UL1RR024153)

To test whether rapid expansion of mental health services in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) reduces African American/white disparities in youth psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits. Secondary ED data for psychiatric care for 3.3 million African American and white youth in nine states, 2006-2011. We used the HCUP SEDD and SID. We obtained FQHC service data from the Uniform Data System. The psychiatric ED visit is the dependent variable. Logistic regression methods control for individual risk factors for ED use, as well as county-level health system factors and county and year fixed effects. Key independent variables include indicators of mental health service capacity in FQHCs in a county-year. We extracted ED psychiatric visits for 3.3 million African American and white youth in nine states, 2006-2011, from the HCUP SEDD and SID, and FQHC data from the Uniform Data System. Overall mental health visits at FQHCs correlate positively with psychiatric ED visits among African American youth. However, increases in the number of mental health visits per FQHC patient corresponds with fewer outpatient psychiatric ED visits among African American youth, relative to white youth (odds ratio=0.96; 95% CI=0.94, 0.98). Increases in the intensity of services offered per mental health patient at FQHCs-rather than increases in overall capacity-may reduce African American youth's overreliance on the ED for psychiatric care.

The present study evaluated the measurement equivalence of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a clinical sample of non-Hispanic White (NHW) and African American (AA) youths and parents. In addition, we explored the concurrent criterion validity of parent report on the SCARED to a parent diagnostic interview. Cross-ethnic measurement equivalence was examined in both youth self-report (ages 11–18; N = 374) and parent report (youth ages 5–18; N = 808) using multiple group analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the SCARED parent report were also examined. The original five-factor structure of the SCARED was replicated using confirmatory factor analysis for both groups using parent and youth report, although factor loadings were not equivalent across groups. Sensitivity and specificity of the SCARED-P clinical cutoff score (Total ≥25) to anxiety diagnoses were acceptable in both ethnic groups. Although evidence for the cross-ethnic equivalence of SCARED was limited, results suggest a similar structure of anxiety symptoms across NHW and AA youths while demonstrating sensitivity in symptom-level differences in anxiety expression. Overall, results provide preliminary evidence for the SCARED as an acceptable screening tool for anxiety symptoms in NHW and AA youths.

A primary purpose of the school is to foster academic achievement, and a primary goal of the school counselor is to support the overall achievement of students by addressing problems and concerns that present impediments to their education. Regarding the language development of Ebonics-speaking African American youth, this article contends that school counselors must assume the role of consultants to and collaborators with teachers and students toward the fulfillment of two objectives: (a) increasing and improving students ' use of Standard English without depreciating their culturally based dialect, and (b) improving the teacher-student relationship in the language learning process. INTRODUCTION Successful communication between counselor and client is the modus operandi of effective counseling and helping. Communication is even more important in cross-cultural counseling situations such as when the counselor and the client come from different cultural backgrounds that suggest language or dialect differences. Bankart (1997) highlights the historical importance of language and culture in the dyadic counseling relationship, concluding that it is important not only for counselors to understand their clients' cultural world view but also to understand the linguistic system clients use to communicate that world view. Proficiency in Standard English is a legitimate and viable learning goal for African American school youth. However, these students' common engagement with and fluency in Ebonics, or that dialect of English peculiar but not limited to African Americans, suggests that Ebonics is a real and legitimate community-based language system that cannot be ignored or devalued. Thus, whereas African American school youth should be expected and required to learn Standard English, Ebonics should be allowed in certain school-based learning activities. Moreover, as affirmed by the resolutions of the Oakland (California) Unified School District's (OUSD) (1996,1997)1 and the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) (1997), African Americans' use of Ebonics should be incorporated into these and other school activities without demeaning, discrediting, or repudiating its users. This position applies equally to issues related to Ebonics and Ebonics-speaking students in the school counseling setting. The present article focuses on the school counselor's role as it relates to two areas: (a) effective counseling of African American students who speak Ebonics; and (b) consulting and collaborating with teachers to facilitate the effective teaching of Standard English to Ebonics-speaking students while preserving the integrity of these students' indigenous language system. Although the primary focus of this discussion is urban African American youth from preschool through grade 12, there are important secondary implications for African American higher education and adult learners. THE NATURE OF EBONICS Contrary to the Oakland school board's controversial 1996 resolution, which stated that language use, specifically that of African American students in urban settings, was genetically based, language is learned or culturally based. (The OUSD's amended January 15, 1997, resolution acknowledges this and omits references to language as having any genetic basis.) Black English-speaking persons from different parts of the world speak varieties of English that are peculiar to their cultures or nationalities. Thus, the English spoken by Blacks in Nigeria differs in rules, sounds, and meanings from that spoken by Blacks in Jamaica. Similar disparities are evident in the English of Black South Africans and Black South Carolinians. Correspondingly, the dialect of English spoken by Whites from the Appalachian Mountains region of the U.S. differs from that spoken by Whites in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Variations within English, or any other language for that matter, often result from a combination of social, political, historical, geographic, and socioeconomic factors (Beaman, 1994). …

Perceived Discrimination Associated With Asthma and Related Outcomes in Minority Youth: The GALA II and SAGE II Studies

Depression is an ongoing public health issue impacting over 5 million American adolescents. Although prevention has been shown to be an effective strategy in reducing the incidence of depressive symptoms, depression prevention programs have been developed and tested in largely White populations. Thus, the effects of such programs in diverse groups are understudied, though research shows adapted versions are more beneficial for diverse populations than nonadapted programs. In this study, we sought to examine the effects of depression prevention in Black and White American youth. Informed by youth focus groups, we adapted and implemented a program which previously benefited mainly White samples to benefit Black and White American inner-city high school students. Of the 425 youth who participated, 57.2% identified as Black and 42.8% identified as White. We randomized youth into two conditions-prevention and nonprevention control-and measured depressive symptoms over three semesters. We found differential effects of prevention on Black and White American youth. For Black American youth, there was no difference between the two conditions at any of the waves of data collection. For White American youth, however, the prevention program worked as intended. Given our findings and past research, it is essential to investigate possible causes for the differential effects of prevention to increase understanding and ensure positive effects of prevention for all youth. Additional ramifications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).