Inner-city African American Adolescents Research Articles

Violence exposure, conflict, and health outcomes in inner-city African American adolescents.

To examine relationships among community and school violence exposure, parent-adolescent conflict, coping style, and self-reported health in a sample of 432 high-risk, inner-city African American adolescents at age 14 years. Multiple regression and principal component analysis were used to analyze the secondary data. After controlling for multiple covariates (eg, sex, age, blood lead levels, and socioeconomic status), both violence exposure and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) were related to health outcomes. The survey of exposure to community violence, the safe-school survey, and the conflict tactics scale were used to measure community violence, school violence, and parent-adolescent conflict. Coping was evaluated using the general coping scale. The child health illness profile-adolescent edition was used to obtain self-reported health measures, and the clinician-assisted PTSD scale was used to measure PTSS. Higher exposure to community violence was associated with less emotional comfort, less family involvement, higher individual risk, and poorer academic and work performance. Parent-adolescent conflict predicted less physical and emotional comfort and poorer home safety and health. Our findings suggest that it is important to evaluate both violence exposure and the responses to the exposure, which can include both PTSS and diverse coping strategies.

An Examination of Eating Behaviors, Physical Activity, and Obesity in African American Adolescents: Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Residential Status Differences

BackgroundAfrican American adolescents experience higher rates of obesity and have an increased risk of obesity-related diseases than do White American adolescents. Despite culturally sensitive obesity preventive interventions, obesity rates are increasing within the African American adolescent population. Current obesity interventions do not usually address the heterogeneity (e.g., socioeconomic status [SES], gender, and residential status differences) within the African American adolescent community that can affect the efficacy of these interventions. PurposeTo examine the gender, SES, and residential status differences related to obesity and weight behaviors in African American adolescents. MethodsA descriptive correlational study was conducted with 15- to 17-year-old African American adolescents (n = 145) from community clinics, youth organizations, churches, and social networks in metropolitan and inner-city Detroit. Data were collected through use of survey methods and analyzed with use of descriptive statistics, independent sample t tests, and multiple regression equations. ResultsFemale adolescents consumed foods higher in fat and calories (t = −2.36, p = .019) and had more body fat (t = −9.37, p = .000) than did males. Adolescents of lower SES consumed food higher in fat and calories (t = −2.23, p = .027) and had higher body mass (t = −2.57, p = .011) than did adolescents of higher SES. Inner-city African American adolescents had higher levels of physical activity (t = −2.39, p = .018) and higher body mass (t = 2.24, p = .027) than did suburban African American adolescent counterparts. Gender, SES, and residential status were statistically significant predictors of eating behaviors, physical activity, body mass index, and body fat. ConclusionsThe initial findings from the study will assist in better understanding the obesity epidemic that affects African American adolescents in disparate proportions. ImplicationsFurther examination of the study variables is essential to serve as a basis for developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant targeted interventions with this population. Health care providers and obesity researchers who work with youth can use the initial findings from this study to advocate for healthy lifestyles while reducing the obesity disparity within the African American adolescent population.

Sleep disturbance and risk behaviors among inner-city African-American adolescents.

Adolescents tend to experience more problems with sleep loss as a natural consequence of puberty, whereas teens from impoverished urban areas are likely to witness neighborhood violence and/or engage in risk behaviors that may affect sleep. Data from the Mobile Youth Survey, a longitudinal study of impoverished inner-city African-American adolescents (1998-2005; N = 20,716; age range = 9.75-19.25 years), were used to compare paired years of annual surveys elicited by questions about how sleep was affected when bad things happen to friends or family. Using a cross-lagged panel multivariate approach comparing reports for two sequential years and controlling for age/gender plus exposure to traumatic stress and violence, prior sleep disturbance was associated with carrying a knife/gun, brandishing a knife/gun, using a knife/gun, quick temperedness, warmth toward mother, worry, and belief in the neighborhood street code in the latter year. Conversely, seeing someone cut, stabbed, or shot, using alcohol, worry, and internalized anger were associated with sleep disturbance in a latter year. Although a limited measure of sleep disturbance was used, these findings support further research to examine sleep disturbance and risk behaviors among low-income adolescents.

Contraceptive Attitudes among Inner-City African American Female Adolescents: Barriers to Effective Hormonal Contraceptive Use

Study Objective To better understand the contraceptive attitudes of low-income, inner-city African American female adolescents. Design We conducted four focus group sessions with African American female adolescents. Setting An urban, community health clinic serving low-income patients on Chicago's south side. Participants African American female adolescents (n = 15) between 14 and 19 years of age. Interventions Focus group sessions lasting approximately 90 minutes in length were conducted using a pre-determined script with set probes and open-ended questions. Main Outcome Measures Qualitative analysis was conducted to identify major themes related to adolescents’ contraceptive attitudes. Results Six themes related to the contraceptive attitudes of these adolescents emerged: Concerns About Hormones, Concerns About Privacy, Concerns About Compliance, Limited Awareness of New Methods of Hormonal Contraception (HC), Preference for Condoms, and Acceptability of Emergency Contraception (EC). Overall, adolescents in these sessions expressed skepticism and unwillingness to use continuous methods of HC. For some adolescents, concerns about hormones, privacy, and compliance outweighed their concerns about pregnancy. Conclusion Concerns about perceived side effects and long-term health risks associated HC and privacy in obtaining contraception and reproductive health care, as well as concerns about ability to comply with daily and weekly HC regimens are common among African American female adolescents and may deter consistent HC use. Although condoms and EC appear to be highly acceptable among this group, adolescents also report a number of barriers to their consistent use. Efforts to reduce early, unintended pregnancy among African American youth should focus on addressing adolescents’ HC-related concerns, improving access to EC, and helping female adolescents effectively negotiate condom use.

Use of MP3 players to increase asthma knowledge in inner-city African-American adolescents

Low-income African-American adolescents suffer a disproportionate burden of asthma morbidity. To evaluate the ability of our intervention, the Adolescents' Disease Empowerment and Persistency Technology (ADEPT) for asthma, to increase asthma knowledge in our target population. This was a 14-week (2-week run-in and 12-week treatment) randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study in which 28 inner-city African-American adolescents with asthma, between 10 and 18 years of age, were randomized to receive (1) celebrity asthma messages (experimental group), or (2) general health messages (control group) between music tracks on an MP3 player. The asthma messages were recorded by famous athletes, musicians, and other celebrities popular among this group of teenagers. Asthma knowledge, assessed by the ZAP Asthma Knowledge instrament, was collected pre- and post-intervention. Mean improvement in ZAP score was significantly higher in the experimental group (8.1%, SD 7.2%) than the control group (0.4%, SD 7.2%) (p = 0.05). These findings suggest that this may be an innovative and promising new approach to improving asthma outcomes in this difficult-to-reach population.

Sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity as mediators in the relationship between childhood abuse and HIV-related risk behavior

Objectives Although a wealth of literature suggests that childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse are related to later-life HIV-related risk behaviors, few studies have explored disinhibition (e.g., impulsivity, risk-taking propensity, and sensation-seeking) as a risk factor in this relationship. Method This cross-sectional study examined impulsivity, risk-taking propensity, and sensation seeking as mediators in the relationship between abuse history and engagement in HIV-related risk behaviors among a sample of 96 inner-city African American adolescents. Results Findings indicated that abuse history was positively related to self-reported engagement in HIV-related risk behaviors ( B = .027, SE .008, β = .32, sr 2 = .105, p = .001), as well as risk-taking propensity ( B = .35, SE .11, β = .30, sr 2 = .090, p = .003) and sensation seeking ( B = .17, SE .05, β = .35, sr 2 = .124, p = .0004). Abuse history was not related to impulsivity. Further, while sensation-seeking and risk-taking propensity (to a lesser extent) mediated this relationship, impulsivity did not. Conclusions These findings provide an initial step in the examination of the mechanisms underlying the relationship between childhood abuse and engagement in HIV-related risk behaviors.

How do varied populations interact with embodied conversational agents? Findings from inner-city adolescents and prisoners

Two studies were conducted to identify individual characteristics that predict behavioral responses to violence prevention interventions. These studies used embodied conversational agents (ECAs) to create hypothetical social situations (called virtual vignettes) to assess interpersonal competency skills. One study was of male inner-city African–American adolescents, and the second was of male prisoners in a state correctional system. In pre- and post-intervention sessions, participants interacted with an ECA that tried to entice them into making risky decisions. The virtual vignette sessions tested participants’ negotiation and conflict resolution skills. Results showed differing tendencies for participants to be engaged by the virtual vignettes. The vignettes were sufficiently realistic to elicit differences in behavior among the adolescents, but generally not for the prisoners. Prior acceptance, accessibility, and usability data suggest that most users readily accept ECAs as valid conversational partners. The evidence presented here suggests that the technology – or the setting in which the technology is used – is not by itself sufficient to actively engage users. The usefulness of virtual vignettes to adequately predict future behavior may be at least partially influenced by participant characteristics.

Reliability and Validity of the Youth Version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART–Y) in the Assessment of Risk-Taking Behavior Among Inner-City Adolescents

This study examined the reliability and validity of the youth version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART–Y) for assessing adolescent risk behaviors among a sample of 98 inner-city African American adolescents (M age = 14.8, SD = 1.5). In addition to a relation with sensation seeking, BART–Y responding evidenced a significant relation with a composite of risk behaviors across substance use, sexual behavior, delinquency, and health domains. BART–Y responding also explained unique variance in a composite of these risk behaviors above and beyond demographic variables and risk-related personality constructs, including sensation seeking and impulsivity.

The Origins of Hopelessness Among Inner-City African-American Adolescents

Much has been written in recent years about hopelessness among residents of impoverished inner-city neighborhoods, but little research has been conducted on the origins of hopelessness. The literature on social disorganization and the literature on child development independently suggest two possible causes of hopelessness among adolescents: disruptive events and lack of connectedness to people and institutions. We explore these two factors as predictors of hopelessness for 5895 youths living in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama. The longitudinal data for this study allow us to explore the development of hopelessness over time, predicted by prior levels of disruption and connectedness. The results show that over time several variables associated with disruption (Change in Mother Figure, Exposure to Violence, Traumatic Stress, Worry) and connectedness (Sense of Community, Warmth Toward Mother, Religiosity) are positively or negatively associated with increased feelings of hopelessness among inner-city adolescents.

Growing up in a dangerous developmental milieu: The effects of parenting processes on adjustment in inner-city African American adolescents

The current longitudinal study examined the protective effects of Parenting Processes on measures of adolescent adjustment (health-compromising and violent behaviors) in a sample of high-risk, inner-city, poor African American youth (N = 2,867). Parenting processes played an important role in this dangerous developmental milieu. For male adolescents, they accounted for 26 to 37% in health-compronfising behaviors and 16 to 24% of the total variance in violent behaviors over time. Multigroup SEM analyses by sex and age groups (early, middle, and late adolescents) indicated no differences of these effects across groups. Findings provided evidence that parenting processes are salient for a high-risk., inner-city minority population in understanding and predicting health-compromising and violent behaviors. Language: en

The Recruitment Process

ABSTRACT This article explored recruitment patterns, as well as factors that predicted these patterns, in a relationship-based substance abuse prevention intervention study, targeting inner-city African American adolescents living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Of the 257 eligible participants, 38.5% (N = 99) enrolled in the project. It required a total of 559 contacts to enroll these participants, in addition to the 99 home visits that were conducted to secure baseline data. Results from hierarchical logistic regression analysis indicated that the youths' attitudes towards alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, as well as the parents' report of family conflict predicted ease of recruitment. Implications for recruitment strategies and future research are discussed.

Social Support Factors as Moderators of Community Violence Exposure Among Inner-City African American Young Adolescents

Using both surveys and the experience sampling method (ESM), community violence exposure, social support factors, and depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed longitudinally among inner-city African American adolescents. Moderator models were tested to determine protective factors for youth exposed to community violence. Several social support factors emerged as protective–stabilizing forces for witnesses of violence both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, including maternal closeness, time spent with family, social support, and daily support (ESM). Contrary to hypotheses, several social support factors demonstrated a promotive–reactive effect such that, in conditions of high victimization, they failed to protect youth from developing symptoms. Effects did not differ by outcome or sex, though sex differences in findings emerged. Protective-stabilizing effects occurred more for witnessing violence, whereas promotive–reactive patterns occurred more for victimization. Results affirm social support factors as protective from the adverse effects of violence exposure, but they also suggest that some factors typically conceived as contributing to resilience might at times fail to protect youth in conditions of extreme risk.

The intention of adolescents to carry a knife or a gun: a study of low-income African-American adolescents

Purpose To examine whether African-American inner-city adolescents are independently motivated by a fear of victimization or by delinquency to carry a knife or gun. Methods A household sample of 130 female and 93 male African-American adolescents, aged 13–19 years old, were queried about their fear of victimization, history of delinquency, and intention to carry a knife or a gun in the next 3 months. Results A high intention to carry a knife was reported by 27% of the males and 35% of the females. A high intention to carry a gun was reported by 25% of the males and 9% of the females. The intention to carry a knife was independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (odds ratio [OR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4–6.2) and males (OR = 4.7; 95% CI = 1.7–13.3). It was not associated with a fear of victimization. The intention to carry a gun was independently associated with fear of victimization in females (OR = 4.5; 95% CI = 1.1–17.7) and males (OR = 3.3; 95% CI = 1.1–9.9). It was also independently associated with a history of delinquency in females (OR = 4.1; 95% CI = 1.1–16.3) and males (OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 3.1–44.7). Conclusions Delinquency may play a role in motivating inner-city African-American adolescents to carry a knife, whereas both delinquency and fear of victimization may influence adolescents’ motivation to carry a gun.

Reducing Substance Use Among African American Adolescents: Effectiveness of School-Based Health Centers.

This paper explores the impact of school-based heath centers (SBHCs) on the substance use behaviors of low-income, inner-city African American adolescents. Researchers surveyed 2,114 9th- and 11th-grade students from seven inner-city public high schools (three with SBHCs and four without SBHCs). Of the initial 2,114 students, 598 SBHC students and 598 non-SBHC students were successfully matched using ethnicity, grade, gender, and propensity scores. The results of separate grade × gender × SBHC ANOVAs indicated significant grade × SBHC interactions (i.e., such that substance use decreased in SBHC schools while increasing in non-SBHC schools) for cigarettes (p = .05) and marijuana (p< .001), but not for alcohol. These findings show that the SBHC intervention model is promising toward the prevention and reduction of substance use among high-risk African American adolescents and highlight the importance of accessible, holistic, and culturally appropriate health care.

A longitudinal examination of familial risk factors for depression among inner-city African American adolescents.

This research examines longitudinally associations between family risk factors and child and parent depression in 302 urban, low-income, African American adolescents (ages 9-15) and their parents across 2 waves of data collection. Diagnostic data revealed that 7.3% of parents and 3.0% of children at Time 1 and 5.4% of parents and 2.8% of children at Time 2 were clinically depressed. Regression analyses revealed that changes in family functioning were concurrently associated with changes in depression for both children and parents. Specifically, increases in conflict and decreases in parental monitoring were associated with increases in child depressive symptomatology, and increases in conflict and decreases in positive parenting were associated with increases in parental depressive symptomatology. Findings are discussed within a framework of understanding family protective factors and the prevention of depression.

Correlates of continued risky sex among pregnant African American teens: implications for STD prevention.

African American adolescent females have been understudied with regard to their continued sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk behavior during pregnancy. Preintervention studies of this population are especially important because the sequelae of STDs during pregnancy can be particularly problematic. This exploratory study identified correlates of engaging in relatively frequent penile-vaginal sex, unprotected by a condom, among inner-city African American adolescents during their first or second trimester of pregnancy. Baseline data collected as part of an HIV prevention study were used. Adolescents at their first prenatal visit completed a self-administered survey and face-to-face interview. Only adolescents reporting a current boyfriend were included in this exploratory analysis (n = 144). Significant bivariate correlates were assessed for multivariate significance. Significant bivariate correlates of relatively frequent unprotected vaginal sex were older age (P < 0.02), primiparity (P < 0.03), not being enrolled in school (P < 0.02), not residing with at least one parent (P < 0.001), reported infrequent sexual communication (communicating about sex) with the boyfriend (P < 0.01), spending at least 30 hours each week with the boyfriend (P < 0.001), reporting that the age of the current relationship was at least 2 years (P < 0.04), and using marijuana in the past 30 days (P < 0.03). Three correlates retained significance in the multivariate model: not residing with at least one parent (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.24; P < 0.04), spending at least 30 hours with the boyfriend each week (AOR = 3.70; P < 0.002), and infrequent sexual communication with the boyfriend (AOR = 2.88; P < 0.008). Given the potential of STDs to complicate pregnancy outcomes, clinic-based and community-based programs addressing relational dynamics and relational obstacles to safer sex may be warranted, particularly for adolescents not residing with parents.

A longitudinal examination of familial risk factors for depression among inner-city African American adolescents.

A longitudinal examination of familial risk factors for depression among inner-city African American adolescents.

The state of mental health services for children and adolescents: an examination of programs, practices and policies.

This article presents an overview of the state of mental health services for children and adolescents. It provides a brief historical review of policies affecting mental health services for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. It discusses the roles of various systems in the provision services for emotionally and behaviorally disordered children and adolescents, and the need for cross-systems collaboration and funding. A model psycho-educational day treatment program. City Lights, is highlighted as an approach to serving inner-city African American adolescents with a profile of services and of the types of youth best served by such a program.

A Longitudinal Examination of Correlates of Depressive Symptoms Among Inner-City African-American Children and Adolescents

We longitudinally examined across four years the presence and correlates of depressive symptoms in a sample of inner-city African-American children, an ethnic minority population which is understudied regarding child depressive symptoms. Results, based on mother- and child-report, did not indicate gender differences in depressive symptoms at the onset of adolescence. However, depressive symptoms did significantly predict future child adjustment problems. Implications for the understanding and future study of depressive symptoms in ethnic minority youth are discussed.

Negative coping as mediator in the relation between violence and outcomes: Inner-city African American youth.

The present study examined whether negative coping mediated the relation between exposure to violence and psychological outcomes (posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, and anxiety) in a sample of 120 inner-city African American adolescents (ages 10 to 14). Increased community violence was shown to be related to the use of negative coping strategies (avoidance, aggression, and internalizing behaviors), which mediated the relation between violence and all three outcomes.