African American Parents Research Articles

Black Mothering in Action: The Racial-Class Socialization Practices of Low-Income Black Single Mothers

African Americans have long dealt with racism, discrimination, and racialized state and vigilante violence. As such, African American parents must educate their children about the realities of racism in the United States and how to cope with racism and discrimination. This practice, known as racial socialization, is a key aspect of Black parents’ parenting practices. Much of this labor tends to fall on the shoulders of Black mothers. To date, most of the scholarship on Black mothers’ racial socialization practices focuses on Black middle-class mothers. In this study, the author uses in-depth interviews with low-income African American single mothers in Virginia to examine how low-income Black single mothers racially socialize their children, what major concerns they express regarding raising Black children, and how their racial socialization practices and the concerns they express compare with those of Black middle-class mothers. Paralleling previous studies, the findings show that low-income Black single mothers generally fear for their children’s, especially their sons’, safety. They also invoke respectability politics when racially socializing their children, encouraging them not to dress or behave in ways that will reinforce stereotypes of Black boys as thugs or criminals. Diverging from previous research, however, the author argues that low-income Black single mothers’ employment of respectability politics is largely aspirational, as, unlike middle-class mothers, they are not able to assert their class status in an effort to prevent their children from experiencing discrimination.

Factor structure of the CES-D in an impoverished African American sample

The Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D) has been used for decades to identify symptomatology of depression in individuals. Overtime, the factor structure of the scale has been both confirmed and challenged when applied to different population samples. The present study explores the factor structure in population sample consisting of impoverished African American parents (N=1,020), and the data were collected from the Mobile Youth Study (MYS). Two-, four-, and higher-order models were used to identify the best fitting model. The results indicate that the most parsimonious model is a two-factor structure.

Perceived underemployment and couple relationships among African American parents: A dyadic approach.

In the United States, underemployment is more common among ethnic minorities, especially African Americans. At the same time, African American couples are at higher risks of marital difficulties than other racial/ethnic groups. This study used a dyadic approach to examine implications of underemployment, as perceived by African American mothers and fathers, for their own and their partners' couple relationship experiences, including relational love and coparenting satisfaction. The vulnerability-stress-adaptation framework of couple relationships guided tests of moderation by depressive symptoms, work hours, workplace discrimination, and expressive personality. The sample included 164 African American dual-earner parents (mean age = 40.53 and 43.11 for mothers and fathers) who were interviewed on two occasions across two years. Actor-partner interdependence modeling was used for the analyses. Fathers' underemployment perceptions negatively predicted their own reports of love and coparenting satisfaction. Significant interactions indicated that the negative effects of fathers' perceived underemployment on their own relational love were stronger for fathers with more depressive symptoms, and, for less expressive mothers, on mothers' love and coparenting satisfaction. However, mothers' perceived underemployment was a positive predictor of mothers' love when they worked fewer hours and a negative predictor of mothers' coparenting satisfaction when they had high expressive personality. Implications of underemployment experiences for couple relationships differ across gender and need to be considered in the context of partners' vulnerabilities, adaptive characteristics and other stressors. Findings advance understanding of underemployment and work-marriage linkages among African Americans, and highlight the utility of a dyadic approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Parent Activation and Child Mental Health Service use in African American Families in a Large Cross-Sectional Study.

1) To describe activation skills of African American parents on behalf of their children with mental health needs. 2) To assess the association between parent activation skills and child mental health service use. Data obtained in 2010 and 2011 from African American parents in North Carolina raising a child with mental health needs (n = 325) were used to identify child mental health service use from a medical provider, counselor, therapist, or any of the above or if the child had ever been hospitalized. Logistic regression was used to model the association between parent activation and child mental health service use controlling for predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics of the family and child. Mean parent activation was 65.5%. Over two-thirds (68%) of children had seen a medical provider, 45% had seen a therapist, and 36% had seen a counselor in the past year. A quarter (25%) had been hospitalized. A 10-unit increase in parent activation was associated with a 31% higher odds that a child had seen any outpatient provider for their mental health needs (odds ratio = 1.31, confidence interval = 1.03-1.67, p = 0.03). The association varied by type of provider. Parent activation was not associated with seeing a counselor or a therapist or with being hospitalized. African American families with activation skills are engaged and initiate child mental health service use. Findings provide a rationale for investing in the development and implementation of interventions that teach parent activation skills and facilitate their use by practices in order to help reduce disparities in child mental health service use.

Ethnic variances in socializing young children’s mastery motivation among White, African American, and Hispanic low-income families

Mastery motivation is an individual’s drive to master and influence the environment and overcome challenges. Family plays the most important role in fostering children’s mastery motivation development, starting from a young age. However, there is no unique way of socializing children’s mastery motivation. The current study focused on ethnic variations in the patterns of parents’ behaviors (autonomy supportiveness, cognitive stimulation, and intrusiveness) when children encounter challenges, among White, African American, and Hispanic low-income families. Using Latent profile analysis (LPA), the study indicated unique parenting styles in each ethnic groups. Especially, majority of African American and Hispanic parents’ response styles cannot be captured by Self-Determination Theory and empirical studies which based on white sample. Through comparing children’s persistence and frustration across groups within each ethnic group, African American and Hispanic groups have more than one effective parenting styles in supporting children’s mastery motivation. This study indicated the diversity in socializing young children’s mastery motivation, and informed future ethnic adaptive practices in supporting young children’s mastery motivation.

Parent mentoring relationships as a vehicle for reducing racial disparities: Experiences of child welfare-involved parents, mentors and professionals

This qualitative study examines the Minnesota One-Stop for Communities Parent Mentor Program (MPMP). African American parents previously involved in the child welfare system conceptualized and spearheaded this program for parents currently involved in the system to reduce the involvement of families of color in child welfare, provide support and build protective factors. The MPMP exists alongside of, not as part of, state, county or tribal child welfare systems. This study included 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with parent mentors, parents and stakeholders, as well as participant observations and document reviews. Findings establish transferability of some of the positive findings of previous qualitative research on programs embedded within child welfare systems to the MPMP including the centrality of relationships to successful mentoring. It builds on existing research by providing insights into how to reduce racial disparities in the involvement of families of color in the child welfare system. Participants argued that by positioning their program outside of the formal child welfare system, they were better able to build trust and engage parents from African American and Indigenous communities, more flexibly address parent needs, and include parent mentors with a wide variety of life experiences. Implications for future research are discussed.

Lessons from the Research Field on Partnership in Pediatric Primary Care with Urban, Low-Income African American Parents

Qualitative data collection offers a unique opportunity to partner with research participants. Lessons learned through the process of data collection with urban, low-income, African American parents are reflective of the research findings themselves. Carefully designed research studies can remove barriers and empower participants, broadening the reach and results. Recruitment within communities develops trust, and focus groups offer a more empowering method for interviewing marginalized populations. Parents desire to have solid partnerships with their children’s health-care providers so that with their providers’ guidance, their children can flourish. The process of implementing the research itself, and not just the results, reveals strategies for improving partnership between parents and health-care providers.

Parent and Professional Experiences Supporting African-American Children with Autism.

While the identification of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has stabilized at 1 in 59 children in the USA, and children can now be diagnosed reliably with ASD at 2 years old, African-American children are less likely to be diagnosed with ASD. Once African-American children with ASD are identified, there is a latency between diagnosis and access to services when compared to European American children. In an effort to investigate these disparities, this qualitative study explored the experiences and perceptions of African-American parents of children with ASD. This study also explored the experiences and perceptions of professionals who support African-American children with ASD and their families. Findings indicate that (a) participants identified few facilitators to service access, and (b) both parents and healthcare providers perceived similar barriers and facilitators to early diagnoses and service access. Implications for parents, healthcare providers, and educators are discussed.

The Great Black Hope: An Examination of African American Parent Perspectives at Bass Charter Academy

Since the conception of education in the United States, schools have been the battlegrounds for equal opportunities among African American students. In an effort to improve educational options and achievement for such students, charter schools have emerged as a popular solution for African American parents. Findings from this study shed light on the experiences of African American parents who enrolled their children in Bass Charter Academy. The level of hope that was evident from the parent narratives centered on nonquantitative measures such as cultural pride and caring environments and mirrored that of pre-Brown schools that served African American students.

Effects of Church-Based Parent–Child Abstinence-Only Interventions on Adolescents' Sexual Behaviors

PurposeThe aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of faith-based and nonfaith-based parent–child abstinence-only interventions in reducing sexual risk behavior among young African American adolescents. MethodsRandomized controlled trial recruiting 613 African American parent–adolescent dyads from urban African American Baptist churches and randomizing them to one of three parent–child interventions: faith-based abstinence-only intervention emphasizing delaying or reducing sexual intercourse drawing on Biblical scriptures; nonfaith-based abstinence-only emphasizing intervention delaying or reducing sexual intercourse without referencing scriptures; or attention-matched control intervention targeting health issues unrelated to sexual behavior. Primary outcome was the self-reported frequency of condomless sexual intercourse in the past 3 months assessed periodically through 18 months postintervention. Secondary outcomes were frequency of sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, consistent condom use and, among sexually inexperienced adolescents, sexual debut. ResultsGeneralized estimating equations analyses revealed that nonfaith-based abstinence-only intervention reduced the frequency of condomless sexual intercourse, frequency of sexual intercourse, and number of sexual partners compared with the attention-matched control intervention, whereas faith-based abstinence-only intervention did not. Neither intervention affected consistent condom use or sexual debut. ConclusionsParent-child abstinence-only interventions can reduce condomless sexual intercourse among young African American adolescents in church settings. Linking the abstinence message to Biblical scriptures may not be efficacious.

Speaking of trauma: the race talk, the gun violence talk, and the racialization of gun trauma

This paper considers the intersection of race and gun violence through the lens of trauma. We focus on two high-profile cases of gun violence: the state-deemed justifiable homicide of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012 and the active shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018. These cases illustrate not just how people in the US experience gun violence in racially divergent ways (as existing literature suggests) but also how people—particularly parents—manage the anticipation of gun violence and its trauma. To this end, we develop the concept of “anticipatory trauma” and illustrate it by analyzing a set of social practices that have emerged surrounding gun violence: parents’ conversations with their children aimed at explaining and addressing their children’s unique risk of gun violence. Building on existing literature on “the Talk” among African American parents, we analyze a racial bifurcation in how parents talk about gun violence. Specifically, we detail “the Race Talk” (in relation to the Trayvon Martin case) and “the Gun Violence Talk” (in relation to the Parkland case), which differentially construct children’s vulnerability, the social phenomena that render them vulnerable, and the appropriate solutions for addressing that vulnerability. Without understanding anticipatory trauma as a racialized phenomenon, we risk leveling the gun violence debate—and creating gun policy that is neither politically meaningful nor practically effective for addressing the broad but complex issue of gun violence.

In Need of Care: African American Families Transform the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans during the Final Collapse of Slavery, 1839–1846

In 1839, several white Quaker women in Providence, Rhode Island, founded the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans; they sought to take in the city’s orphans. During the first years of operation, dozens of African American parents admitted and withdrew their children from the Association. The vast majority of the children admitted had living parents or were paid boarders. In 1846, the Association incorporated as the Providence Association for the Benefit of Colored Children with an enlarged mission to provide for the support and education of black children. During the final collapse of slavery in Rhode Island, black parents transformed an orphanage into an institution that also offered short- and long-term care and education for wards and boarders. In doing so, they expanded the work of white reformers from raising African American children to supporting their needs as working parents.

Brief, group-based parent-child interaction therapy: Examination of treatment attrition, non-adherence, and non-response

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) has been shown to reduce challenging child behavior and improve parenting skills, yet treatment attrition, non-adherence and non-response remain matters of concern. This study analyzes rates and factors associated with attrition, non-adherence, and non-response using data from a randomized controlled trial of foster parent-child dyads who received brief, group-based PCIT. Multivariate logistic regressions demonstrated that, as compared to prior estimates of conventional outpatient PCIT, rates of treatment attrition, non-adherence and non-response from the group-based PCIT intervention were low. Compared to other racial/ethnic groups, rates of attrition were significantly higher among African American foster parents. No study variables were linked to treatment non-adherence. Foster parent ratings of child externalizing symptoms were positively associated with non-response. Implications for promoting retention and treatment effectiveness, successfully integrating PCIT into child welfare services and advancing future research are discussed.

Effects of Family Demographics and the Passage of Time on Parents' Difficulty with Their Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Youth's Sexual Orientation.

Parents' responses to a child's sexual orientation are critical to shaping lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents' health, but we know little about which families struggle most with having an LGB child. This study explored how parent responses to their LGB child varied by parent characteristics, child characteristics, and time passing. Parents of LGB youth aged 10-25 years (n = 1195) completed questions about themselves, their children, and their difficulty with having an LGB child. Parents with older children and African American and Latino parents reported the most difficulty. Parents who had known about a child's sexual orientation for more time reported less difficulty. However, these decreases in difficulty were only observed after 2years, and parents reporting they had known for between 2months and 2years all reported similarly high levels of difficulty. Findings point to families most in need of intervention to improve parent responses and reduce adolescent risk.

Secondary benefits of the families improving together (FIT) for weight loss trial on cognitive and social factors in African American adolescents

BackgroundAlthough weight loss is an important primary outcome in obesity interventions, family-based interventions may have cascading ripple effects that extend to other aspects of health and well-being. Identifying these secondary benefits may be useful for understanding how to best engage underserved African American families in weight loss. The present research examines whether African American adolescents and parents perceive secondary benefits from participating in a family-based weight-loss intervention, including secondary health, social, or cognitive benefits.MethodsQualitative data were obtained from families participating in the group-based intervention of the Families Improving Together (FIT) for Weight Loss trial. During the final week of the face-to-face motivational and family-based intervention program, families completed a guided open-ended group discussion about changes they experienced from participating (14 groups, N = 41 adolescents and 41 parents). Sessions were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded by independent pairs of raters using both inductive and deductive approaches. Guided by the multi-theoretical framework for the FIT trial, some themes were determined prior to coding using a deductive approach, including: (a) health outcomes (e.g., monitoring strategies for diet and physical activity), (b) social outcomes (e.g., involvement in family support, group support, autonomy support, family bonding, positive communication) and (c) cognitive outcomes (e.g., expression of self-confidence through self-efficacy, self-regulation, establishment of long-term goals). In addition to these pre-determined themes, the coding process included an inductive assessment, allowing for unexpected themes to surface as well around positive self-talk, relapse prevention, and monitoring strategies for different types of weight-related behaviors.ResultsAcross both adolescents and parents, the cognitive outcomes were the most frequently discussed outcomes, including self-regulation, monitoring strategies for diet, establishing long-term goals, and ultimate relapse prevention. Parents made a greater number of comments about the social outcomes, including family support, group support, self-efficacy, and family connectedness, whereas adolescents made a greater number of comments about positive family communication.ConclusionsThe results provide preliminary support for the positive secondary effects of weight loss programs on improving both cognitive and social well-being in underserved African American adolescents.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov # NCT01796067. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01796067?term=NCT01796067&rank=1The trial was registered on February 21, 2013 and the first participant was enrolled July 12, 2013.

The Association Between African American Parent-Child Sex Communication and Adolescent Condomless Sex.

African American adolescents are at elevated risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections. Risk reduction efforts have focused on parent-child communications, despite inconsistent findings regarding their association with adolescent sexual risk behaviors. The present study included sexually active African American adolescents and their parents/guardians (N = 125 dyads). All participants reported on frequency of sexual health conversations and adolescents reported recent occasions of protected and condomless sex. Analyses examined the congruence between parent-child communication reports and the association between this congruence and adolescent condomless sex. Parents and adolescents disagreed on the frequency of sexual health communication: 30% of parents reported such conversations as frequent, whereas only 2% of adolescents did. Parent-reported sex communication was negatively associated with adolescent condomless sex, while adolescent-reported communication was not. The moderation hypothesis was supported in that adolescent-reported sex communication was negatively associated with adolescent condomless sex only among parent-child dyads high in agreement on sexual health communication. Promoting parent-child conversations regarding sexual health, with attention to relational characteristics of the conversations, offers a promising approach to sexual health promotion and disease prevention for African American youth.

Community members trusted by African American parents for vaccine advice

ABSTRACT Exposure to pro-vaccination messages from nonmedical peers and others perceived to share a similar value system for society (referred to as worldview outlook) improves vaccination attitudes. Nonetheless, a minority of African American parents have friends and family members who provide them with vaccine advice. The aims of the current study were to identify the presumed worldview outlook of eight types of community figures as perceived by African American parents, and determine parents’ trust in these figures for vaccine advice, and whether trust varied according to the figures’ racial concordance. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 110 African American parents in 2015. Parents perceived the community figures to represent a spectrum of worldview outlooks. Although levels of trust in the community figures differed overall (p < .001), it was high in the school nurse, pediatrician, mother, father, disease survivor, and vaccine scientist. All trusted figures except the father were perceived to hold a communitarian outlook. Parents shown race-concordant figures had higher levels of trust in them than those who were shown race-discordant equivalents (p < .01). These findings suggest that vaccination campaigns geared toward African American parents may be strengthened by including other nonmedical, African American spokespersons who convey their community contributions in messages.

Social Networks for Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Advice Among African American Parents

PurposeDespite that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination could prevent ∼90% of HPV-associated cancers, only 65.5% of American adolescents initiate vaccination. African Americans have the highest prevalence of morbidity and mortality from HPV-associated cancers. Mounting evidence suggests that advice from social contacts is associated with vaccine acceptance. The present study examines the associations of social processes with HPV vaccine refusal among African American parents. MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among African American parents of children aged 10–12 years before a health-care visit at which HPV vaccine was offered by the health-care provider. Data from the 353 parents who named at least one social contact who advised them about vaccines were included in these analyses. ResultsOnly 54.4% of the participants consented to HPV vaccination for their children. On average, parents had 2 to 3 social contacts who provided vaccine advice. Vaccine advice networks were generally dense, family-centric, and homophilous. Slightly over 80% of all parents trusted family members and friends for vaccine advice “some” or “a lot.” Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics and reason for the health-care visit, perceived high exposure to anti-HPV vaccine viewpoints and low exposure to pro-HPV vaccine viewpoints were both associated with HPV vaccine refusal (adjusted odds ratio = 1.5, 95% confidence interval = 1.01, 2.3, and adjusted odds ratio = 1.7, 95% confidence interval = 1.2, 2.6, respectively). ConclusionsSocial processes may be associated with HPV vaccine refusal among African American parents. Interventions designed to educate African American parents about HPV vaccine to increase uptake should consider leveraging vaccine advice networks for greater impact.

Placement disruption in foster care: Children's behavior, foster parent support, and parenting experiences.

The majority of children in foster care 24 months or longer experience three or more placements. Children's behavior problems are a primary contributor to multiple moves, but little is known about how behavior problems and other stressors lead to disruptions. This study focused on foster parents' experiences of parenting a child at risk for moves using the determinants of parenting model (Belsky, 1984) to identify potential correlates of difficult parenting experiences and placement disruption. To identify factors associated with difficult parenting experiences and placement disruption. Foster parents (N = 139) caring for children age 8-14 in long term foster care with a history of two or more moves were randomly selected in a large Midwestern state in the U.S. Participants completed a 90-minute telephone interview (86% response rate). Placement moves were tracked prospectively for two years. Parenting experiences and disruption were analyzed using multiple and logistic regression. Results support aspects of the determinants of parenting model. Behavior problems, children's risk to others, low support, and stress were significantly associated with more difficult parenting experiences (βs = .28, .22, .18, .19, respectively, ps < .05), and more difficult parenting experiences strongly predicted placement disruption (p < .01). Risk to others also predicted disruption before including parenting experiences, with this association becoming nonsignificant after including parenting experiences. Unexpectedly, African American foster parents had a higher risk for disruption, despite more positive parenting experiences. These findings support attending to foster parents' parenting experiences, children's risk to others, social support and stress to better support placements of children at risk for disruption.

The Duplicity of Equality: An Analysis of Academic Placement in a Racially Diverse School and a Black Community

Background/ContextFor more than four decades, researchers have shown that African American students are overrepresented in lower-track classes, while their White peers tend to be in advanced courses. In the past twenty years, school districts have implemented detracking reforms that stressed self-selection policies as an alternative to separate academic paths, yet quantitative data still show that most African American students are not attending upper-level or advanced classes in racially diverse schools.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of studyThis study explores how African American parents come to terms with academic placement, and the mechanisms that impact their child's educational experiences in a racially diverse school while coming from a segregated high-poverty African-American community.SettingResearch took place in a racially diverse suburban school and city. The suburban city is a microcosm of the United States, not only because of the racial and economic diversity of its school district, but also because its story encapsulates the plight of many African Americans in relation to the Great Migration, segregation, disinvested neighborhoods, and systemic inequalities.Population/participants/SubjectsParticipants included 26 African American parents, many of whom attended the same school district and experienced their own lower-track placement.Research DesignEthnographic methods, which include interviews and observations, were used to explore the research questions. African American parents were individually interviewed about their own educational experiences, children's academic placement, family background, interactions with the school system, community issues, and perceptions of the middle school and city.Findings/ResultsAfrican American students and their parents were a product of intergenera-tional tracking. Parents and their children had experienced lower-track courses. In addition, the exposure of African American students and parents to systemic inequalities in their home and community heavily influenced their academic placement and overall educational experiences. Moreover, tracking in this school was not necessarily about abilities and skills but also about separating African American students and creating a formal semblance of equality that actually reinforced systemic inequalities, a reality captured in the phrase “duplicity of equality.”