Examining the Effects of Urban Neighborhoods on the Mental Health of Adolescent African American Males: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Abstract

African American adolescents residing in urban neighborhoods face many disadvantages due to high rates of poverty, acts of violence and crime, gang activity, physical victimization, parents under stress, limited social supports, among other factors (Grant et al., 2005; Gutman, McLoyd, & Tokoyawa, 2005; Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Massey & Denton, 1993; Nebbitt & Lombe, 2008; Wilson, 1987 & 1996). Studies have found that when adolescents are continuously exposed to these many negative characteristics, they have higher rates of mental health symptoms, such as aggression, depression, anxiety, and stress which may impact their ability to excel academically (Gutman, McLoyd, & Tokoyawa, 2005; Hurd, Stoddard, & Zimmerman, 2013; Robinson, Paxton, & Jonen, 2011; Zimmerman et al., 2000). This is especially true for African American male adolescents more than African American females, who report higher incidents of exposure to violence, personal victimization, and antisocial behavior, all of which have been associated with higher levels of depressive symptomology and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Nebbitt & Lombe, 2008; Paxton et al., 2004; Robinson, Paxton, & Jonen, 2011).Factors such as economic stressors, family stressors, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and perceived future opportunity are often used to explain the variance in African American adolescents' mental health (DuRant et al., 1995; Hammack et al., 2004; Hurd et al., 2013). However, even within urban neighborhoods, adolescent African American males may have differential exposure to mental health risk-factors based on neighborhood composition (e.g., crime and poverty levels), indicating that mental health status does not solely rely on an individual's ability to cope when certain risk factors are experienced (DuRant et al., 1995; Hawkins et al., 1998; Hurd et al., 2013). With this understanding, the study will attempt to show how continuous exposure to neighborhoods experiencing extreme poverty and condensed minority populations, high exposure to violence and crime, unemployment/underemployment, and other characteristics of high-risk urban neighborhoods may impact the mental health of adolescent African American males.CHALLENGES IN URBAN NEIGHBORHOODSAfrican American children are disproportionately more likely to live in urban neighborhoods plagued by the aforementioned characteristics, which are often described as high-risk urban neighborhoods, and experience persistent poverty due to economic shifts in American society (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000; Quillian, 2014; Sharkey & Elwert, 2011). In 2013, 38.3 percent of African American children under the age of 18 were living in poverty, compared to only 10.7 percent of non-Hispanic White children (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor 2014). Childhood poverty is problematic because research has established a relationship between low socioeconomic status and adverse mental health conditions in later life (Alegria, Molina, & Chen, 2014). This association is often mediated by factors, such as family stressors, and high levels of poor education and unemployment rates in the neighborhood, which are usually a part of the urban life experience (Hammack et al., 2004).Living in poverty-dense neighborhoods also increases the likelihood of exposure to violence, threatening the cohesion and feelings of safety for neighborhood residents (Hawkins et al., 1998; Shukla & Wiesner, 2015). Research findings demonstrate that adolescent African American males in high-risk urban neighborhoods are more likely to experience personal victimization, witness victimization against another person, and participate in problem behaviors that promote acts of violence or crime (Paxton et al., 2004). The relationship between exposure to violence and mental health problems has long been established (Fitzpatrick, 1993; Slopen et al., 2012; Wilson & Rosenthal, 2003). …