European American Youth Research Articles

Youth Disclosure About Friendships Across the Transition to Middle School

This longitudinal qualitative investigation considered youth disclosure to parents about friends as well as parents’ responses to such disclosure across the transition to middle school. African American and European American youth participated in qualitative interviews regarding their disclosure to parents about friendships in three consecutive years spanning the transition to middle school. Coding was completed in a two-step process that started with identifying themes regarding disclosure about friends as they reflected the experiences of all youth. Second, global categorizations of disclosure patterns during each year were used to categorize participants into four groups: stable complete disclosers, stable partial disclosures, increasing disclosers, and decreasing disclosers. We then identified themes regarding disclosure about friends as they distinguished these disclosure groups. Findings indicated that adolescent disclosure to parents about friends is embedded within the nature of adolescents’ relationships with parents and the manner in which parents respond to adolescent disclosure episodes across time.

Measurement Invariance Testing of a Three-Factor Model of Parental Warmth, Psychological Control, and Knowledge across European and Asian/Pacific Islander American Youth.

While the interpretation and effects of parenting on developmental outcomes may be different across European and Asian/Pacific Islander (API) American youth, measurement invariance of parenting constructs has rarely been examined. Utilizing multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis, we examined whether the latent structure of parenting measures are equivalent or different across European and API American youth. Perceived parental warmth, psychological control, and knowledge were reported by a community sample of 325 adolescents (242 Europeans and 83 APIs). Results indicated that one item did not load on mother psychological control for API American youth. After removing this item, we found metric invariance for all parenting dimensions, providing support for cross-cultural consistency in the interpretation of parenting items. Scalar invariance was found for father parenting, whereas three mother parenting items were non-invariant across groups at the scalar level. After taking into account several minor forms of measurement non-invariance, non-invariant factor means suggested that API Americans perceived lower parental warmth and knowledge but higher parental psychological control than European Americans. Overall, the degree of measurement non-invariance was not extensive and was primarily driven by a few parenting items. All but one parenting item included in this study may be used for future studies across European and API American youth.

Have You Set Your Life Priorities Straight?: Intergenerational Differences in Life Goals among European and East Asian Americans College Students and their Mothers

We examined ethnic differences in (a) the life goals of college-enrolled youth as well as their mothers’ goals for them, (b) intergenerational similarity in life goals, and (c) the association between intergenerational similarity in life goal priorities and parent-adolescent relationships and psychological adjustment. East Asian American youth and their mothers (EA-Ams) and European American youth and their mothers (Euro-Ams) rated the importance of life goals and reported upon their depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, and relationship quality. Results indicated that family and mate selection goals were more important for EA-Ams. Intergenerational similarity in achievement-related goals was higher for Euro-Ams whereas similarity in family-related goals was higher for EA-Ams. Intergenerational similarities in life goal priorities were differentially correlated with select outcomes.

Linkages between mental health need and help-seeking behavior among adolescents: Moderating role of ethnicity and cultural values.

Risk of developing emotional and behavioral mental health problems increases markedly during adolescence. Despite this increasing need, most adolescents, particularly ethnic minority youth, do not seek professional help. Informed by conceptual models of health behavior, the current study examined how cultural values are related to help seeking among adolescents from 2 distinct racial/ethnic groups. Using a prospective survey design, 169 Vietnamese American and European American youth in 10th and 11th grade reported on their mental health need, as measured by emotional/behavioral mental health symptoms and stressful life events, with participants reporting on their help-seeking behavior at 6-month follow-up assessments. Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that mental health need interacted with cultural values and ethnicity to predict help-seeking behavior. Specifically, associations between symptoms and stressful life events, and help-seeking behavior were smaller among Vietnamese American adolescents, and among adolescents with strong family obligation values. These results underscore the complex sociocultural factors influencing adolescents' help-seeking behavior, which have important implications for engaging youth in needed mental health care.

Racial Differences in the Transactional Relationship Between Depression and Alcohol Use From Elementary School to Middle School.

The aim of this investigation was to test hypothesized reverse prospective relationships between alcohol consumption and depressive symptomatology as a function of race among youth. In a two-wave prospective study, 328 European American, 328 African American, and 144 Hispanic American youth were studied at the end of fifth grade (last year of elementary school) and the end of sixth grade (first year of middle school). A positive correlation was observed between alcohol consumption and depressive symptoms among all youth. However, the predictive relationship differed based on race. For European American and Hispanic American youth, depressive symptom levels at the end of elementary school predicted alcohol consumption at the end of the first year of middle school, but the converse relationship was not observed. For African American youth, the opposite pattern was found. Alcohol consumption at the end of elementary school predicted depressive symptom levels at the end of the first year of middle school, and the converse relationship was not observed. These findings suggest the possibility that etiological relationships between depression and alcohol use vary by race, thus highlighting the importance of considering race when studying the risk process.

Depression and Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Maltreated Adolescents

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in maltreated youth is a burgeoning research area. Previous studies reveal that depression is an important contributing variable to PTSD symptoms in these youth, though the exact relationship remains unclear. This study examined a previous structural equation model in which depression mediated (a) dissociation and trauma-related cognitions and (b) PTSD symptoms among maltreated adolescents. The model was replicated among a larger and more diverse sample. The model was also evaluated for younger (age 11–13 years) and older (age 14–17 years) adolescents, females and males, and European American and ethnic minorities. The model applied best to each age group, females, and European American and multiracial youth. Findings are discussed in the context of extant PTSD models in youth as well as implications for assessment and treatment.

Mother–Adolescent conflict in African American and European American families: The role of corporal punishment, adolescent aggression, and adolescents' hostile attributions of mothers' intent

The present study examined mothers' use of corporal punishment and adolescents' aggression as predictors of mother–youth conflict during early adolescence. Particular attention was given to the potential mediating role that adolescents' hostile attributions of intent (HAI) regarding mothers' behavior might play in connections between corporal punishment, youth aggression, and mother–adolescent conflict for European American (EA) and African American (AA) youth. Data were collected from 268 12- to 14-year-olds (154 European American; 114 African American; 133 girls; 135 boys) and their mothers over a period of 2 years. Questionnaires completed by both mothers and adolescents were used to assess maternal corporal punishment and adolescent aggression, and interviews concerning hypothetical situations were used to assess adolescent HAI in year one. In both year one and year two mother–adolescent conflict was observed in a laboratory interaction session. Data revealed that adolescent HAI mediated the link between maternal corporal punishment and mother–adolescent conflict for EA, but not AA youth. Adolescents' HAI mediated the link between adolescent aggression and mother–adolescent conflict for both EA and AA families.

Outcomes of an Agency-Developed Treatment Foster Care Model for Adolescents

Adolescents constitute a large proportion of youth in foster care, but few foster care models specifically concentrate on their developmental or treatment needs. This study examined outcomes for an agency-developed, theoretically based treatment foster care (TFC) model using de-identified administrative data from 612 youth discharged from care over a 3-year period using a structural equation modeling path analysis. Results indicate that youth enrolled in Pressley Ridge Treatment Foster Care (PR-TFC) improve in functioning from entry to discharge and that, overall, youth in PR-TFC treatment typically improve in day-to-day functioning as they age, and youth who enter the PR-TFC homes at an older age generally function better at discharge than younger youth who stayed comparable amounts of time. Additional results indicate that older youth, youth with a greater number of clinical diagnoses, youth with a lower pre-test Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS) score, and youth of color spent more time in care, while older youth, youth with fewer clinical diagnoses, youth with lower pre-test CAFAS scores, and European American youth had lower post-test CAFAS scores, indicating better functioning at discharge. This article also provides an example of how administrative data can be used to develop practice-based evidence for a treatment model.

Experiences with Violence in Mexican American and European American High School Dating Relationships

Violence in adolescent dating relationships has become increasingly normative in the United States, with the severity of the consequences increasing into adulthood. Minority youths are at an increased risk for experiencing moderate to severe forms of physical dating violence, yet they are less likely to seek professional services. This comparative study of Mexican American (MA) and European American (EA) youths was conducted to understand the lived experience of dating violence within the context of romance. MA (n = 41) and EA (n = 34) adolescents (M = 16.04 years old, SD = 0.83; n = 40 girls) participated in focus groups (n = 12) on dating relationships. In order of saliency, four categories of violence emerged: relational (for example, gossip, intentional harming of a partner's reputation), emotional/verbal (for example, insults, controlling behavior), physical (for example, hitting), and sexual (for example, manipulation or coercion). MA girls were particularly vulnerable and noted experiences with sexual coercion and with emotional/verbal and physical violence, sometimes as the perpetrator. Experiences were contextualized as occurring alongside controlling or manipulative partners. An understanding of how MA and EA adolescents experience distinct types of dating violence should inform culturally relevant dating violence prevention strategies. Language: en

Ethnic Differences in the Developmental Significance of Parentification

Using an ecological framework, this 2-wave longitudinal study examined the effects of parentification on youth adjustment across the transition to adolescence in a high-risk, low-income sample of African American (58%) and European American (42%) mother-child dyads (T1 Mage = 10.17 years, T2 Mage = 14.89 years; 52.4% female). Children's provision of family caregiving was moderately stable from early to late adolescence. Emotional and instrumental parentification evidenced distinct long-term effects on adolescents' psychopathology and the quality of the parent-child relationship. Ethnicity moderated these relations. Emotional and instrumental parentification behaviors were associated with predominantly negative outcomes among European American youth in the form of increased externalizing behavior problems and decreased parent-child relationship quality, whereas emotional parentification was associated with positive outcomes among African American youth in the form of increased parent-child relationship quality, and instrumental parentification was neutral. These findings support a multidimensional view of parentification as a set of culturally embedded phenomena whose effects can only be understood in consideration of the context in which they occur.

Mexican American and European American Adolescents' Dating Experiences across the Ecosystem: Implications for Healthy Relationships within an Ecodevelopmental Framework

Dating health interventions that target the complex, multi-systemic spheres in which adolescents experience their first romantic relationships are required. This study utilizes an ecodevelopmental approach to better understand Mexican American and European American youths' perceptions of how peers, parents, school, and the media act both independently and collectively to affect their dating lives, also elucidating how such systems are at times in conflict. Seventy-five middle adolescents participated in focus groups divided by gender and ethnicity to uncover differences and similarities within and across groups. Findings underscore the importance and widespread effects of romantic relationships for adolescents' social development and the need for intervention programs that target multiple points of intervention while attending to mesosystemic conflicts across systems.

Adolescent health needs

Journal of Paediatrics and Child HealthVolume 49, Issue 11 p. 984-984 Heads UpFree Access Adolescent health needs First published: 20 November 2013 https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.12423_4AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey of 5018 Taiwanese adolescents aged 12–18 years found their main health concerns were weight and height, diet, acne, sports and injury prevention, and academic stress.1 These rated higher than mental and emotional well-being. Only 4.3% of Taiwanese adolescents used health-care services for mental and emotional problems.1 These data might be interpreted as suggesting that Taiwanese adolescents have a narrow view on health and do not see low mood as depression, let alone make the connection that doctors and others can help them. Taiwanese adolescents did not report as many concerns about sexual health and substance use as American and European adolescents, but their health needs were otherwise similar to Australian, British, other European and North American youth. The authors’ conclusion regarding an unmet health need and that health promotion and youth health services should adopt a ‘youth-friendly’ approach to target adolescents is echoed around the world.2 References 1 Tsai M-C et al. Arch. Dis. Child. 2013; 98: 9– 15. CrossrefPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar 2 Viner RM. Arch. Dis. Child. 2013; 98: 2. CrossrefPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar Reviewer: David Isaacs, Children's Hospital at Westmead, david.isaacs@health.nsw.gov.au; Simon Denny, University of Auckland Volume49, Issue11November 2013Pages 984-984 ReferencesRelatedInformation

PREDICTORS OF ACHIEVEMENT IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS AT RISK FOR ACADEMIC FAILURE: THE ROLES OF ACHIEVEMENT VALUES AND BEHAVIORAL ENGAGEMENT

The achievement gap between African American and European American youth is a pervasive problem in the United States. This study explored how achievement values and behavioral engagement affect the academic attainment of an academically at-risk sample of 167 African American youth in late elementary school. Results indicate that achievement values do not have a significant influence on engagement or achievement in late elementary school. However, behavioral engagement significantly influenced math achievement from Grades 4 to 5. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Youth Participation in Organized and Informal Sports Activities Across Childhood and Adolescence: Exploring the Relationships of Motivational Beliefs, Developmental Stage and Gender

Involvement in physically active pursuits, such as sports, contributes to achieving and maintaining good emotional and physical health. The central goal of this article was to examine the longitudinal relationships between participation (i.e., time spent in the activities) in organized and informal sports contexts and motivational beliefs, and factors that might impact these relationships, such as developmental stage and gender. The data for the current study were drawn from the childhood and beyond longitudinal study, which utilized a cohort sequential design with data collected on three cohorts across four waves. The current study sample included 986 European American youth (51% female), who t were mostly from working- and middle-class families. Self-report questionnaires were used to collect data from the youth about their participation in sports and their motivational beliefs (i.e., value and perceptions of competence) about this activity. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between participation and motivational beliefs across childhood and adolescence. The results provide some support for a model of reciprocal relationships between participation and motivational beliefs in organized and informal sports activities. These relationships between participation and motivational beliefs did not vary significantly based on developmental stage or by gender. Overall, the findings suggest that participation in organized and informal sports contexts may be fostered by supporting the development of positive motivational beliefs about the activities across developmental periods.

Friends with benefits or “friends” with deficits? The meaning and contexts of uncommitted sexual relationships among Mexican American and European American adolescents

Abstract Using focus groups, this study sought to understand and compare how Mexican American ( n = 41, M = 16.0 years old, SD = .96) and European American ( n = 34, M = 16.1 years old, SD = .64) youths conceptualize and experience “friends with benefits” relationships (FWBRs). Contrary to the implied nature of friendship, partners did not show caring and viewed FWBRs as a means to meet sexual needs. The “benefits” of this arrangement included guilt-free pleasure, little responsibility, the freedom to date others, or to remain available for a more desirable partner. The inherent deficits of FWBRs, on the other hand, included the potential pitfall of getting emotionally attached. Despite the recognized deficits, European American and Mexican American girls both desired and participated in FWBRs. However, Mexican American girls described more committed “going-out” relationships as ideal, which left them vulnerable to mismatched expectations and emotional upset in FWBRs. Findings outline the socio-emotional contexts of adolescent involvement in FWBRs, as well as underscore the potential for conflicting desires. Recommendations for healthy relationship and sexual health programs are discussed.

The Associations Between Parents' References to Their Own Past Substance Use and Youth's Substance-Use Beliefs and Behaviors: A Comparison of Latino and European American Youth

Using primary socialization theory and theory of planned behavior, this study examined how targeted parent-child communication against substance use and parents' references to the negative consequences of their own past substance use (from the youth's perspective) directly and indirectly relate to Latino and European American youth's external norms (e.g., injunctive and descriptive), internal beliefs (e.g., personal norms, attitudes, and refusal efficacy), and substance use. This study used cross-sectional survey data from 253 Latino and 308 European American (N = 561) 6th- to 8th-grade students. Targeted parent-child communication was related to higher levels of antisubstance-use perceptions, whereas parents' references to their own past use was related to lower levels of antisubstance-use perceptions. Ethnic differences emerged with respect to specific mediators. Language: en

Youth Externalizing Problems in African American Single Mother Families: A Culturally-Relevant Model.

African American youth, particularly those from single mother homes, are more likely to evidence externalizing problems than European American youth and youth from two parent homes; however, relatively little empirical attention has been devoted to identifying the contextual variables associated with externalizing problems within this at-risk group. Accordingly, this study examined the family as a context for youth externalizing problems among 194 African American single mother-youth dyads. Findings demonstrated that higher levels of mother-coparent conflict were associated directly, as well as indirectly via compromises in coparent (but not maternal) warmth, with youth externalizing problems. The spillover from mother-coparent conflict to coparent warmth to child externalizing problems did not vary depending upon family income. Findings suggest that prevention and intervention programs targeting African American youth from single mother homes may be strengthened with greater attention to variability in family processes, as well as a more sensitive assessment of which adults are centrally involved in childrearing.

Perceived Discrimination and Peer Victimization Among African American and Latino Youth

Perceptions of racial discrimination constitute significant risks to the psychological adjustment of minority youth. The present study examined the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and peer nominations of victimization among 173 (55 % female) African American, European American and Latino youth. All respondents completed peer nominations of victimization status whereas the African American and Latino youth completed subjective measures of racial discrimination. The results indicated that African American and Latino's subjective perceptions of racial discrimination were linked to nominations of overt and relational victimization when rated by their European American peers. The results suggest that there is consistency between African American and Latino youth's perceptions of racial discrimination and nominations of peer victimization by their European American peers.

Listening to WhitenessWhite Kids: Language, Race, and Styles of Youth Identity. By Mary Bucholtz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Since the late 1990s, Mary Bucholtz has been a leading analyst of linguistic styling, gender, and race and their place in American youth identity construction. She has a terrific ear for the telling details of young people’s talk. Bucholtz has now brought together the many threads of her influential work in a much-anticipated monograph based on her ethnographic research in a multiracial Northern California high school, pseudonymously dubbed Bay City High School (BCHS), in the mid-1990s. White Kids examines how European American youth used the tools of language to construct a range of identities in a school that was experiencing racial turmoil. Bucholtz argues that these multiple styles of whiteness are all founded on calibrations of alignment with black and white youth cultures. She examines three emblematic local white styles: preppy mainstream, white hip-hop fans, and nerds. The analysis relies centrally on recorded interviews of 26 white students, along with maps of the schoolyard that she asked them to draw, a rewarding technique. Contextualizing the interviews in ethnographic observation, Bucholtz analyzes extracts from the transcripts in fine-grained interactional detail to unpack the identities and social worlds that these students negotiate. Limited quantitative analysis of a set of sociolinguistic variables rounds out the study. A central goal of the book is to demonstrate that the conceptual and methodological tools of sociocultural linguistics can enrich the study of identity across all the disciplines, showing in detail how language serves ongoing identity projects and is implicated in larger sociopolitical structures (p. 3). The book is intended to reach readers well beyond linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics, and the presentation is well geared for such a broad audience. Bucholtz focuses on different features of linguistic display for each of the three white styles. The preppy, or “popular,” group appears to arbitrate white students’ exclusive social

Neighborhood context and adjustment in African American youths from single mother homes: The intervening role of hopelessness.

African American youths from single mother homes are more likely to live in neighborhoods characterized by greater risk and fewer resources than youth from two parent homes or European American youths; in turn, such adverse conditions are associated with increased adjustment problems. Despite this well-established vulnerability, relatively little is known about variables linking neighborhood context to youth adjustment. With the aim of identifying a potential youth-focused intervening variable amenable to intervention, this study examined the intervening role of hopelessness in the association between neighborhood context and adjustment problems in a sample of 171 African American youths (11-16 year olds) from single mother homes. Findings revealed direct associations between neighborhood context and youth adjustment, as well as indirect associations through youth hopelessness, although findings varied by the marker of neighborhood context (sense of community or perceived crime) and adjustment (internalizing or externalizing problems). Building on prior work noting that hopelessness is amenable to psychosocial intervention, the present findings suggest that hopelessness may afford a valuable target for prevention and intervention programming among African American youths from single mother homes in the context of adverse neighborhood conditions.