Middle-class African American Adolescents Research Articles

Gender differences in motivational pathways to college for middle class African American youths.

Using a sample of predominantly middle-class African American adolescents and parents (N = 424), the authors tested a path model linking parental expectations for children's future educational attainment, youths' motivation during Grade 11, and youths' subsequent on-time postsecondary educational progress. Parents' expectations were positively related to adolescents' educational attainment aspirations, attainment expectations, utility values (i.e., beliefs about the usefulness of education), and perceptions of racial barriers to upward mobility. Relationships between parents' expectations and youths' aspirations and expectations were mediated by youths' perceptions of parents' expectations. For boys, but not girls, Grade 11 educational expectations and utility values each uniquely predicted college attendance 1 year after high school graduation. In addition, boys' perceptions of racial barriers were negatively related to subsequent postsecondary progress through their influence on values. Findings underscore the importance of academic achievement motivation as a developmental resource for African American boys and suggest that boys are especially likely to benefit from interventions promoting positive motivational beliefs.

Longitudinal development of family decision making: defining healthy behavioral autonomy for middle-class African American adolescents.

The development of decision-making autonomy was examined in 76 middle-class African American early adolescents (M = 13 years) and their mothers, who were followed longitudinally for 5 years. Adolescent decision-making autonomy over conventional, prudential, multifaceted, and personal issues increased over time but at different rates. Mothers viewed prudential and conventional issues as parent decisions, but adolescents increasingly viewed them as joint. Adolescents viewed multifaceted and personal issues as increasingly decided by adolescents (with parental input), whereas mothers viewed them as joint. Greater autonomy over multifaceted issues in early adolescence was associated with poorer adjustment. Controlling for background variables and earlier adjustment, increased autonomy over personal and multifaceted issues predicted less depression and better self-worth in late adolescence.

Exploring School Engagement of Middle-Class African American Adolescents

Because of the scarcity of knowledge about middle-class African American adolescents, the present study explored psychological and parental factors in relation to academic performance. The participants were 336 middle-class African American students and their biological mothers. The findings suggest that for African American middle-class adolescents, educational expectations and school engagement have the strongest relation to academic performance. Self-esteem was not related to academic performance. The results also indicate that positive parent-adolescent relationships, not parents’educational values, were related to better academic performance. Implications for school counselors are discussed.

“Clean your Room!”

Middle-class African American adolescents' and parents' (n = 82 families) everyday conflicts were examined longitudinally over 2 years. The number and frequency of conflicts did not change from early to middle adolescence, but mothers rated conflicts as less intense and adolescents rated conflicts as more intense over time. Conflicts over home-work increased and conflicts over the adolescents' rooms declined from early to middle adolescence. African American adolescents primarily justified conflicts on the basis of personal jurisdiction, and personal reasoning increased significantly with age. Mothers' pragmatic justifications for conflicts increased and their social-conventional justifications decreased over time. Across ages, nearly all conflicts were resolved by adolescents' giving in to parents. Compromise was relatively infrequent but increased with age, whereas reported use of punishment decreased. Although conflict may reflect normative developmental processes of individuation, the cultural and ecological context of middle-class African American families influences its expression and resolution.

Family Processes and Problem Behaviors in Middle‐Class African American Adolescents

This study examined the joint association between mothers’ and adolescents’ ratings of parental behavioral control and adolescents’ and observers’ ratings of mother – adolescent communication with adolescent problem behaviors in a sample of 86 middle‐class African American early adolescent boys and girls (age: M= 13.08 years, SD= 1.32) and their mothers. Consistent with hypotheses, greater adolescent‐rated parental behavioral control and better observer‐rated mother – adolescent communication were associated with lower levels of adolescent problem behavior, as examined using structural equation modeling. Furthermore, interrelationships between age and adolescent problem behavior were partially mediated by adolescents’ reports of parental behavioral control and observers’ ratings of positive mother – adolescent communication, which both decreased with adolescents’ age. Although the sample was primarily middle class, higher socioeconomic status was associated with more positive mother – adolescent communication, as rated by observers. Problem behavior was greater among boys than girls, but the hypothesized indirect effect of gender on problem behavior through associations with parenting was not observed. The findings demonstrate the utility of conceptually distinguishing between parenting and parent – adolescent relationships, and suggest that both have unique influences on middle‐class African American adolescents’ problem behavior.

Middle-class African American adolescents' and parents' conceptions of parental authority and parenting practices: a longitudinal investigation.

Conceptions of parental authority and ratings of parental rules and decision making were examined longitudinally among 82 middle-class African American adolescents and their parents (82 mothers and 52 fathers), who were divided into two groups according to family income. Adolescents were, on average, 13.14 years of age at Time 1 and 15.05 years of age at Time 2. Nearly all adolescents and parents affirmed parents' legitimate authority to regulate (and children's obligation to comply with) rules regarding moral, conventional, prudential, friendship, and multifaceted issues, but they were more equivocal in their judgments regarding personal issues. With age, adolescents increasingly judged personal issues to be beyond the bounds of legitimate parental authority, but judgments differed by family income. Adolescents from upper income families rejected parents' legitimate authority to regulate personal issues more at Time 1 than did adolescents from middle income families, but no differences were found at Time 2. Authority to regulate adolescents' behavior did not extend to other adults or to schools, churches, and the law. With adolescents' increasing age, African American families became less restrictive in regulating prudential, friendship, multifaceted, and personal issues. Adolescents', mothers', and fathers' judgments demonstrated significant continuity over time, but few cross- or within-generation associations in judgments were found. Conceptions of legitimate parental authority at Time 1 were found to predict family rules at Time 2.