Promoting resilience in urban African American adolescents: Racial socialization and identity as protective factors

Abstract

Research into resilience has increased significantly over the past several decades. This increase notwithstanding, the need to study further the protective factors that facilitate resilience, especially those factors in vulnerable populations, important. This article discusses the findings of a study on resilience and protective factors among 131 urban African American adolescents. Educational involvement--an indicator of resilience--was hypothesized to be influenced by unique cultural protective factors. Stressors related to environmental conditions were identified as the adverse circumstances that adolescents must overcome. Findings suggest that significant interaction does occur among stressors and protective factors in such a manner that they enhance educational involvement. Directions for future resilience research and study limitations also are discussed. Key words: African Americans; adolescents; protective factors; resilience Although environmental disadvantage and stress can lead to behavioral and psychological difficulties among children (Luthar & Zigler, 1991), many children are able to overcome adverse influences and mature into well-adapted individuals (Garbarino, Dubrow, Kostolny, & Pardo, 1992; Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Safyer, 1994). A population that at particular risk of poor developmental outcomes urban African American adolescents. However, not all African American adolescents fall prey to the negative influences in their environment. Instead, many transcend expectations, and their lives take trajectories. The formidable question then is: Why some and not others? As Rutter (1979) indicated, this is an important issue to investigate. Many children do not succumb to the effects of deprivation, and it important that we determine why this so and what it that protects them from the hazards they face (p. 70). Positive despite negative environmental influences referred to as resilience. Research on resilience focuses on factors that enable an individual to adapt successfully to the environment, despite challenging or threatening circumstances (Garmezy, 1991; Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990). Two essential elements required for the development of resilience include exposure to risk factors and the presence of protective factors (Rutter, 1993). Risk factors may increase the likelihood of psychopathology in an individual (Grizenko & Pawliuk, 1994). These factors may be internal (for example, low intelligence) or external (for example, community violence). Protective factors on the other hand enable the individual to counter the effects of risk factors (Kaplan, Turner, Norman, & Stillson, 1996). This article reports the findings of an exploratory study investigating the influence of culturally unique protective factors on resilience in urban African American adolescents. With educational involvement as an indicator of resilience, this study explored the moderating effect of protective factors on and mastery in the educational domain in the presence of environmental risk factors. The unique cultural protective factors were racial socialization and racial identity, which have been found to protect African American adolescents against such adverse environmental circumstances as racism, poverty, and limited access to resources (Arroyo & Zigler, 1995; Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Peters, 1985; Stevenson, 1994). Research limited on how these factors promote educational achievement in African American adolescents, particularly those in urban environments (Spencer, Cole, DuPree, Glymph, & Pierre, 1993; Bowman & Howard, 1985). RESILIENCE: WHAT WE KNOW Richman and Bowen (1997) posited that a great deal of ambiguity exists in the definition of resilience. Seen as the positive pole (Rutter, 1987), unusually good adaptation (Beardslee, 1989), positive psychological adjustment (Smith & Prior, 1995), success in meeting developmental tasks or social expectations (Luthar & Zigler, 1991), and the ability to thrive, mature, and increase competence (Gordon, 1995, p. …