African American Youth Research Articles

Authoritative or authoritarian parenting: Which one buffers the association between bullying and severe forms of violent behaviors among African-American youth in Chicago's Southside?

This study explored whether authoritarian or authoritative parenting practices for adolescents would mediate the association between involvement in bullying and severe forms of violent behaviors. Cross-sectional data were collected from a matched sample of 120 African-American adolescents, ages 13-24 (Mage=14.79 years, 27.5% boys), and their caregivers. The survey included self-report measures of severe forms of violent behaviors, bullying perpetration and victimization, authoritative and authoritarian parenting, and demographic characteristics. Results indicated that authoritative parenting moderated the relationship between bullying perpetration and severe forms of violent behaviors and bullying victimization and severe forms of violent behaviors. Low authoritative parenting was related to higher levels of severe forms of violent behaviors among adolescents reporting higher bullying, while low authoritative parenting was related to lower levels of severe forms of violent behaviors among adolescents reporting lower bullying. In addition, for victims, authoritative parenting was associated with a reduction in severe forms of violent behaviors at both low and high levels of victimization. Results suggest that an authoritative parenting style should be considered in prevention and intervention to avoid the escalation of severe forms of violent behaviors among African-American youth in Chicago.

Exploring the Spatiotemporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Shooting Incidents in the United States

Drawing on data from the Gun Violence Archive, this study employs mathematical statistics, spatial analysis, and regression analysis to investigate the essential characteristics, spatiotemporal distribution, and influencing factors of shooting incidents in the United States from 2014 to 2023. The key findings are as follows:1) Demographically, the victims of shootings are predominantly male and older youths. Notably, indirect victimization is more prevalent among older youths, non-white youths (especially African American youths), those from higher-income households, and urban residents. 2) Temporally, there has been a rising trend in U.S. shootings over the decade from 2014 to 2023, with a pronounced increase during the pandemic period of 2019-2023. On a monthly basis, the incidence of shootings peaks from May to July. 3) Spatially, shooting incidents are largely concentrated in coastal regions, decreasing in frequency towards inland areas. Hotspots for shootings include states such as Texas, California, Louisiana, and Florida, followed by Indiana and New York.4) Various factors significantly influence the occurrence of shooting incidents, including family environment, ethnocultural context, residential conditions, business economy, and economic indicators.

Establishing the Validity of a Cultural Assessment of Suicide Risks in Black Adolescents

ABSTRACTAlthough rates of suicide among Black American youth have increased in recent years, few brief assessment tools have been culturally tailored and validated to better identify suicide risk for this population. The current study addresses this gap by testing the validity and reliability of the Cultural Assessment of Suicide Risk‐short form (CARS‐S) in an online sample of Black American adolescents. Three hundred eighty‐one Black adolescents (Mage = 17.5) completed a 13‐item CARS‐S measure online. Cronbach's alpha and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were computed in Stata v.15 and Mplus v.8.0. The revised CARS‐S scale demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.82). A four‐factor solution retained through exploratory analysis demonstrated the best model fit (χ2 = 46.62, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.01–0.08 CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.97) compared to other model solutions. Confirmatory analysis supported a four‐factor model with no cross‐loaded items. The four factors were: (1) Family conflict and idioms of distress‐suicidal actions (four items); Social Support (two items); Minority‐specific distress (three items); Idioms of distress‐emotional/somatic and cultural sanctions (four items). Researchers conducting future suicide prevention research focused on Black American adolescents and including the CAR‐S measure should consider the inclusion of items related to family conflict and racism‐related stress to better capture risk.

W.E.B Du Bois and the Place of African American Youth in Histories of Environmental Thought.

In this article I reflect upon the development of my research on African American environmental thought as it emerged through the coincidence of my PhD research with the COVID-19 pandemic and the international Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. I situate my research at the intersection of Environmental American Studies and literary studies to highlight the intersections between environmental thought and racial justice movements through a focus on the ways that childhood and race are intertwined in African American thought and literature. I finish by offering a case study of my research on the children’s magazine of W.E.B Du Bois, The Brownies’ Book and its representations of Black children’s relationships to the outdoors and nature.

From the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt: The Predictive Accuracy of the Arizona Youth Assessment System (AZYAS-Reentry) for Juveniles on Parole Supervision

This study had two objectives: (1) to evaluate the predictive accuracy of the AZYAS-Reentry tool and (2) to test whether predictive accuracy levels were consistent across sex and race/ethnicity. Data from 249 Arizona adolescents released from secure care on parole supervision between June 2020 and July 2023 were examined. The mean AZYAS-Reentry score classifies much of the sample as moderate risk. Bivariate analyses show a medium effect size for AZYAS-Reentry on parole revocation for the full sample ( r = .344). Predictive accuracy is the highest for African American youth ( r = .534), followed by Hispanic ( r = .398) and white youth ( r = .191). Higher predictive accuracy for African Americans is driven by specific domains (e.g., values, beliefs, and attitudes). The one sex-based difference is the stronger effect of juvenile justice history for females. Findings support using AZYAS-Reentry and highlight the utility of targeting domains to plan interventions across sex and race/ethnicity.

The new (Black) civics: How popular media cultivates connected learning, and civic engagement among Black college students

Through interviews with 28 college students majoring in journalism, this study examines how African American youth and young adults uniquely develop civic mindsets and cultivate critical media literacy skills. Related to their desire to create counternarratives of racist representations of Blackness in popular media, imagine possibilities for their daily life, and promote pride in their local communities, findings in this study suggest African American youths use popular media to form unique pathways to connected learning (CL) capabilities, civic engagement, and positive individual trajectories. Three themes emerged from our interviews on media engagement: 1) learning through discourse on racial injustice in news media; 2) learning of Black-oriented community obligation via civic media; and, 3) participating in/observing political activism through social media. This article concludes by arguing that more consideration must be given to the racialized social learning practices that grow around digital devices and tools that shape how they are used and understood by African American youth.

Pain-Related Injustice Appraisals, Sickle Cell Stigma, and Racialized Discrimination in the Youth with Sickle Cell Disease: A Preliminary Investigation.

Despite the fact that perceptions of racialized discrimination, health-related stigma, and pain-related injustice have been associated with worse patient functioning, little is known about their unique relationships in Black youth living with sickle cell disease (SCD). In this study, we (1) examined the prevalence of perceptions of racialized discrimination, perceptions of health-related stigma, and pain-related injustice appraisals and (2) investigated how the aforementioned variables were uniquely related to functioning (i.e., functional disability, depressive, and anxiety symptoms) in Black youth living with SCD. The study sample included 30 non-Hispanic Black or African American youth living with SCD (17 male, 13 female youths). The average age of the sample was approximately 11.3years (SD = 2.73). Zero-order correlations and hierarchical regressions were used to examine and compare the multivariate relationships between perceived racialized discrimination, perceived health-related stigma, and perceived pain-related injustice and outcome variables (functional disability, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms). For functional disability, perceived racialized discrimination and perceived pain-related injustice were significant predictors in the final model (F(3,26) = 11.00, p < .01). For depressive symptoms, health-related stigma trended toward significance (p = .09) as a predictor in the final model (F(2,26) = 6.69, p < .01). For anxiety symptoms, perceived pain-related injustice was the only significant predictor in the final model (F(3,26) = 10.25, p < .001). Results suggest that the youth living with SCD experience and perceive racialized discrimination, health-related stigma, and injustice surrounding their pain experience and these factors are associated with worse outcomes.

Social Media Shadows: Unveiling the Hidden Struggles of African American Youth on Facebook

Abstract: While Facebook has become a central element of digital culture, its impact on the mental health of African American youth remains underexplored, particularly in relation to intersecting marginalized identities. Despite extensive research on social media and youth well-being, there is a significant gap in understanding how Facebook contributes to mental health challenges like depression and anxiety, especially for African American adolescents who experience systemic racism and discrimination both offline and online. This paper addresses these shortcomings by examining the intersection of race, socio-economic status, and the pervasive influence of social media on African American youth. Utilizing the Ecological Systems Model and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), this study critically analyzes existing literature to uncover how Facebook exacerbates mental health struggles through online discrimination, cyberbullying, and harmful social comparison. Furthermore, the research highlights the underrepresentation of African American LGBTQ+ youth in current studies, emphasizing the need for intersectional approaches. Findings reveal that while Facebook offers opportunities for connection and identity exploration, it also intensifies mental health challenges due to frequent exposure to online racism and social exclusion. This study concludes by advocating for targeted interventions, including digital literacy programs, supportive online communities, and improved content moderation, to mitigate the negative mental health impacts on African American youth in the digital age.

Polygenic Risk for Substance Use Disorders as Predictors of Substance Use Initiation Among African American Youth.

Despite adverse health consequences associated with early substance use initiation, less is known about the influence of genetic risk on initiation and environmental characteristics that may moderate these associations, particularly among African Americans. We examined whether genetic risk for alcohol and cannabis use disorder, and nicotine dependence, is associated with age of initiation of these substances, and whether community disadvantage and parental monitoring moderate these associations in a sample of African American youth. Participants (n=1,017; 56% female) were initially recruited for an elementary school-based universal prevention intervention trial. At age ~20, participants reported on age of initiation of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use and provided a saliva or blood sample. At age ~12, caregiver reports on parental monitoring were obtained, along with census-tract data to measure community disadvantage. Hypotheses were tested using Cox Proportional Hazard Models. Higher alcohol use disorder PRS was associated with later alcohol initiation (HR=0.78, 95% CI =0.65-0.94). Cannabis use disorder and nicotine dependence PRSs were not associated with initiation of these substances. We observed an interaction between the cannabis use disorder PRS and parental monitoring; among individuals with high cannabis use disorder PRS, high monitoring was associated with earlier cannabis initiation, whereas among individuals with low PRS, low monitoring was associated with earlier initiation. Findings largely indicate that PRS for substance use disorders are not associated with age of initiation among African American youth. Parental monitoring may influence the association between cannabis use disorder PRS and age of cannabis initiation, but replication of our findings is warranted.

The Development of a Brief but Comprehensive Therapeutic Assessment Protocol for the Screening and Support of Youth in the Community to Address the Youth Mental Health Crisis.

The objective of this study was to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a therapeutic assessment protocol for the Screening and Support of Youth (SASY). SASY provides brief but comprehensive community-based screening and support for diverse youth in the community. SASY screening evaluates symptoms, functioning and clinical risk. The Kiddie Computerized Adaptive Test was used to evaluate seven different diagnoses and symptom severity. The Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale-Self was used to measure functional impairment. Measures were scored according to nationally developed norms. An algorithm was developed to aggregate symptom and function ratings into an overall score for clinical risk. The results are discussed with participants in a motivational interview designed to promote insight, followed by the opportunity for the participant to engage in an online intervention. Protocol changes necessitated by social distancing during the pandemic led to innovative methods including the use of a QR code for recruitment, integration of both online and offline participation, and expansion from in-person recruitment within the schools to virtual engagement with youth throughout the community. The final sample included disproportionately more Black or African American and Hispanic youth as compared to school and community statistics, suggesting that optimization of online and offline methods in research may facilitate the recruitment of diverse populations. Qualitative interviews indicated that the screening and feedback raised youth awareness of their wellbeing and/or distress, its impact on their functioning, and engagement with options for improved wellbeing. The emergence of innovative methods optimizing the advantages of both online and offline methods, developed as a necessity during the pandemic, proved advantageous to the feasibility and acceptability of community-based recruitment of at-risk, minoritized youth.

Mother-child closeness and adolescent structural neural networks: a prospective longitudinal study of low-income families.

Mother-child closeness, a mutually trusting and affectionate bond, is an important factor in shaping positive youth development. However, little is known about the neural pathways through which mother-child closeness is related to brain organization. Utilizing a longitudinal sample primarily from low-income families (N = 181; 76% African American youth and 54% female), this study investigated the associations between mother-child closeness at ages 9 and 15 years and structural connectivity organization (network integration, robustness, and segregation) at age 15 years. The assessment of mother-child closeness included perspectives from both mother and child. The results revealed that greater mother-child closeness is linked with increased global efficiency and transitivity, but not with modularity. Specifically, both the mother's and child's reports of closeness at age 15 years predicted network metrics, but report at age 9 years did not. Our findings suggest that mother-child closeness is associated with neural white matter organization, as adolescents who experienced greater mother-child closeness displayed topological properties indicative of more integrated and robust structural networks.

Initial Witnessing on Future Witnessing: A Mediation Analysis of Chronic Community Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Delinquency in Urban, African American Youth.

Witnessing community violence can predict negative mental health outcomes for youth such as post-traumatic stress symptoms and delinquent behavior. Such outcomes differ by gender. Variables that predict witnessing community violence in youth are less understood. This study aims to explore potential pathways between initial witnessing and continued witnessing for early adolescents. The relationship between witnessing as a predictor and witnessing as an outcome is hypothesized to be mediated by both post-traumatic stress and delinquency and moderated by gender. A sample of 153 African American, sixth-grade students (M= 11.65, 59% female) in high crime, high poverty areas completed self-report surveys at baseline, 12 and 24 months. Moderated serial mediation was used to assess longitudinal associations. For the full model, delinquency at Time 3 was associated with a positive change in witnessing at Time 3. Gender moderated several paths. For girls, witnessing at Time 1 was predictive of high post-traumatic stress (aggregate) at Time 2 and high delinquency at Time 3. For girls, witnessing at Time 1 also was predictive of higher hyperarousal and higher intrusion subscale symptoms than other symptoms at Time 2. Analyses also indicated that hyperarousal at Time 2 significantly predicted witnessing at Time 3 for girls only. Lastly, delinquency at Time 3 was associated with a positive change in witnessing at Time 3. For boys, no analyses indicated witnessing at Time 1 as a significant predictor. Results contribute to our understanding of the trajectory of witnessing community violence and the roles both post-traumatic stress subscales and delinquency play in that trajectory, especially among girls.

Theorizing Performance: An Embodied and Multisensory Communicative Framework for Analysis of African American Children's, Youth's, and Young Adults' Rhythmic Play and Performance

Abstract: This article explores an embodied and multisensory communicative framework for understanding the play and performance traditions of African American children, youth, and young adults. African American participants use, prioritize, and combine multiple embodied communication pathways as they perform their expressive culture. Influenced by Richard Bauman's performance theory (1975, 1977), this framework illuminates aspects of performance that include verbal dimensions but places words within a multisensory, layered relationship with other parts of the communicating body. To acknowledge only verbal expression in African American play and performance traditions neglects significant dimensions of intentional multisensory communication generated by participants' entire bodies. By examining African American body sensory modalities such as sight, hearing, body motion, touch, and use of space, and pairing sensory communicative pathways within each modality, I investigate the ways African American young people use their bodies to construct genres and distinguish between play and performance events. By comparing six African American genres (handclapping, cheering, cheerleading, double Dutch jump roping, drill and step, and stepping), I also explore the ways young people create each genre and communicate meanings to each other and to audiences of interaction, identity, and cultural values. This embodied, multisensory framework is designed to be easy to use.

Ecological Contexts and Suicidality among Marginalized African American Youth

Drawing data from a sample of African American youth and their caregivers, the study investigated youth suicidality in social contexts. Results show that approximately one-seventh of these youth reported suicidality. Multivariate analyses show that depressive symptoms, bullying victimization, exposure to violence, and neglectful parenting were positively linked with a higher risk of suicidality, whereas receiving public assistance was negatively related to suicidality. The findings suggest the need to assess youth suicidality risk from an ecological perspective. They also necessitate a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention, including strengthening families to enhance child support and care.

Mitigating rACEsm in K-12 Classrooms: The Consideration of Culturally-Informed Adverse Childhood Experiences and Utilization of Culturally Relevant Education and Systemically Trauma-Informed Practice

Forty-six percent of children in the United States experience a potentially traumatic event (PTE), also known as an Adverse Childhood Experience (or ACE), including abuse (physical, sexual, emotional), neglect, and/or household dysfunction (incarceration of a family member, parental mental illness, divorce, etc.) before their 18th birthday. In the United States, 61% of African-American youth experience at least one ACE (more than any other racial or ethnic group), compared with 40% of White children. A culturally informed conceptualization of the ACEs framework (C-ACEs) that considers the effects of historical trauma, racist social conditions, and race-based biological stress on African-American youth is essential. This is particularly important in K-12 Educational institutions for two reasons: (1) Schools are a major environment in which African-American youth are exposed to racial trauma via teachers, peers, policies, and practices within the school itself; (2) Popularity of the “trauma-informed” movement in schools that overemphasizes and overuses the existing ACEs framework (i.e., a “neoliberal biomedical trauma model”) and does not consider larger systems that cause and perpetuate trauma (p. 105). Further, it is essential to review how school teachers, administrators, and staff can amalgamate Systemically Trauma-Informed Practice (SysTIP) with Culturally Relevant Education (CRE) to increase education equity, reduce the trauma of racism experienced within educational spaces, and help ensure that African-American students succeed academically and personally.

Cultivating STEM engagement among African American youth: an exploration of secondary students’ voices

In the United States, individuals who identify as Black are severely underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This underrepresentation begins as early as middle school due to the stereotype of successful STEM students being white and male thus affecting Black students sense of belonging in STEM. The goal for this exploratory qualitative study was to understand the experiences of Black students in their science classes. Our choice of focus groups empowered these students, who have historically been missing from educational policy decisions, by providing them an opportunity to be part of the change they want to see in their schools. The results indicate that participants could see potential relevance in science and math classes but the structure of their current science classes (e.g., neglect and lack of care from teachers) affects their ability to actually experience this relevance. Despite this, many of our participants understood their value and believed that they “deserve more,” which shows that we can improve the experiences for Black students in STEM and increase their representation in these disciplines.

Ethnic-Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination and Support for Black Lives Matter among Black American Youth

Abstract The current study examines whether ethnic-racial identity and racial discrimination experiences predict strong support of the Black Lives Matter movement among a representative sample of Black American youth. The 2016 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) examined attitudes about the 2016 United States election, immigration, policing, racial equality, and racial discrimination among Asian American, Black American, Latinx, and White adults. The current study used the Black American youth sample, which included 225 individuals (73 percent female) between 18 and 20 years of age. We conducted logistic regression analysis to assess the associations of ethnic-racial identity and racial discrimination experiences with strong support of Black Lives Matter. The results indicated that positive views of one’s ethnic-racial group and belief in anti-Black bias were associated with strong support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet, racial discrimination experiences were not associated with strong support for Black Lives Matter once ethnic-racial identity was accounted for.

Psychometric Properties of the Modified Parenting Attitudes Measure Among African American Adolescents in Public Housing

Valid and reliable measurements reflecting how perceived maternal and paternal parenting practices are similar, different, complementary, or additive in studying youth outcomes are critical for building knowledge on supportive parenting practices for African American youth living in public housing. We examined the psychometric properties of the Parental Attitudes Measure (PAM) which focuses on youths’ attitudes on parenting practices. Data was collected from the perspective of 660 African American youth living in urban public housing across three cities in the northeast and mid-Atlantic region in the United States. Youth reported on their attitudes about maternal and paternal caregivers. Reliability was determined using Cronbach alpha (α) for internal consistency. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to examine the dimensions and loading of the construct with this population. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) examined the validity of the measure using four goodness-of-fit indices. Pearson correlations were used to test construct validity among the sample and across parent status (birth or non-birth parent) and residence in the household. The EFA indicated a two-factor structure with strong reliability for both maternal (α = 0.86, 0.84) and paternal (α = 93, 0.92) encouragement and supervision. The CFA supported a 2-factor model for both maternal and paternal PAM. Findings demonstrate high internal consistency of the PAM for use in examining maternal and paternal attitudes among African American youth living in public housing, generally, as well as by gender and across cities. The measure had good construct validity with maternal caregivers but only partially with paternal caregivers.

“We got to stand up and speak”: Youth in high-poverty, high-crime urban communities of color reflect on their cross-age mentoring program

This project draws from youth voices to develop theory about outcomes and change mechanisms in a cross-age mentoring out of school program with urban African American and Latine youth living in low-income communities. With instructors’ supports, African American and Latine mentors (N = 148, ages 14–20) in four U.S. urban, high-poverty communities of color mentored children weekly for an average of 16 sessions, followed by a debriefing session. Researchers used qualitative, participatory methods to elicit mentor perspectives about what made their program impactful. Diverse qualitative data were collected by staff and youth and analyzed thematically. Outcomes adolescent mentors deemed meaningful were 1) developing good character, specifically persistence, leadership and listening skills, patience, respectful collaborations, goal-oriented hopefulness, and more positive racial identities, and 2) building trustworthy, supportive relationships with mentees, peers, and instructors. Mechanisms mentors regarded as generating outcomes were 1) being active agents in program implementation and evaluation, and also contributing knowledge about themselves, and 2) the fulfillment of caring for community children, which youth regarded as a partial remedy for deprivations and injustices their communities experience. Differences in emphasis based on gender are described. Outcomes and generative mechanisms are discussed in relation to youths’ community cultural wealth. Comprehensively empowering youth to co-lead program development, implementation, evaluation and theorizing can improve the fidelity of scientific knowledge to youths’ strengths and priorities, and yield theories of intervention consonant with youths’ cultural wealth.

The role of affirming faith communities on internalizing symptoms in African American LGBTQ+ emerging adults

African American youth identifying as LGBTQ+ (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-heterosexual and/or non-cisgender identities) are often at increased risk to adverse experiences such as discrimination, stigma, and family rejection that impact psychological well-being. A critical protective factor for African Americans facing these difficulties is religiosity, and religiosity typically results in multiple psychological benefits. Given the potential anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes from other congregants in their religious spaces, this protective factor may operate differently for LGBTQ+ African American youth. Using a sample of 156 emerging adults ages 18 to 25 (M age= 18.85; 61.5% having a current religion) self-identified as African American and LGBTQ+, we examined identity processes (i.e. ethnic-racial, LGBTQ+, and religious identity exploration, resolution, and commitment) along with experiences of family rejection and an LGBTQ+ affirming faith community would be associated with depressive and anxious symptoms. Results indicated that attitudinal faith community affirmation was associated with fewer depressive and anxious symptoms, while family rejection was associated with greater depressive and anxious symptoms. Ethnic-racial identity was also associated with greater depressive symptoms. Interpretations of the findings and implications for future research are explored.