Rural African American Families Research Articles

Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Knowledge on Child Psychosocial Adjustment among Rural African American Families: A Pilot Study

Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Knowledge on Child Psychosocial Adjustment among Rural African American Families: A Pilot Study

The Strong African American Families Program: Disrupting the Negative Consequences of Racial Discrimination Through Culturally Tailored, Family-Based Prevention

Racism continues to be a major source of stress for African Americans and can impair psychological functioning. Adolescents experiencing discrimination may engage in self-soothing, but risky behaviors, which leave them at risk for negative life trajectories. Black pride has been identified as a key factor in explaining the heterogeneity in responses to discrimination. Racial socialization, strategies parents use to promote Black pride and protect youth from discrimination, is an important focus of family-based prevention programs serving African American families. This study tests the efficacy of a culturally tailored preventive intervention for rural African American families to disrupt the negative consequences of discrimination on adolescent psychological functioning. Four waves of data from the Strong African American Families (SAAF) efficacy trial (Murry & Brody in Journal of Marital & Family Therapy 30(3):271-283, 2004) with 667 African American families in rural Georgia were used for this study. Structural equation modeling was used to test study hypotheses. Adolescent experiences with discrimination at age 15 predicted concurrent psychological functioning and multiple risk behaviors at age 16, including sexual risk behavior, substance use problems, academic failure, and juvenile justice involvement. Mediation analyses demonstrated that psychological functioning was a significant mediator of these relations. The SAAF program was associated with increases in racial socialization, which in turn fostered gains in adolescent Black pride. Black pride was indirectly associated with reduced risk behavior through adolescent psychological functioning, but Black pride did not moderate the effect of discrimination on psychological functioning. This study confirms that family-based prevention can support African American adolescent mental health in the context of discrimination. However, more emphasis on reducing exposure to discrimination is needed.

The Pathways for African American Success: Does Delivery Platform Matter in the Prevention of HIV Risk Vulnerability Among Youth?

PurposeTechnology provides new possibilities for disseminating effective prevention programming to underserved families, such as those residing in rural communities. The present study is an evaluation of a technology-delivered HIV risk prevention program designed for rural African-American families, Pathways for African American Success (PAAS), to determine its promise for increasing access to evidence-based youth risk prevention programs among those in the greatest need. MethodsFour hundred and twelve parent/youth dyads were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) in-person facilitator-led PAAS small group, (2) self-directed PAAS technology, or (3) a literature control with home-mailed educational materials. ResultsCompared with families in the literature control condition, families assigned to the PAAS technology or small group conditions demonstrated significantly stronger intervention induced parent–child protective processes (e.g., enhanced discussion quality, clearly articulated norms, and parental expectations about risk engagement) and lower youth intentions to engage in risky behaviors 6 months postintervention. Although some important nuances were noted, this study suggests that the PAAS technology–delivered modality is just as efficacious as the in-person facilitator-led, small group modality in dissuading HIV-related risk behaviors among rural African-American youths. ConclusionsImplications for having a menu of service delivery models that address the diverse needs and contexts of families are discussed, including the promise of technology as an alternative modality for reaching populations often characterized as difficult to reach and to engage in family-based preventive interventions.

Pathways for African American Success: Results of Three-Arm Randomized Trial to Test the Effects of Technology-Based Delivery for Rural African American Families.

The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a technology-based program to avert risky behaviors among rural African American youth. We hypothesized that the technology-based and group-based formats of the Pathways for African Americans Success (PAAS) program would lead to improvements in primary outcomes, and that the technology condition would perform at least as well as the group condition. A three-arm Randomized Control Trial (RCT) ([N = 141] technology-based delivery, [N = 141] small group delivery, and [N = 136] literature control) was conducted with 421 sixth graders and their caregivers, Summer 2009-Fall 2012. Families were recruited from five rural counties in Tennessee and completed baseline, posttest [M = 14.5 (4.4) months after pretest] and long-term follow-up [M = 22.6 (3.7) months after posttest]. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test intervention-induced changes in both parents and youths' primary outcomes (pretest to posttest) and on secondary targeted outcome, youth sexual risk, and substance use patterns (pretest to follow-up). Parents in the technology condition reported significant increases in strategies to reduce risk. Youth in the technology condition experienced a significant decline in intent to engage in risk behaviors and reduction in substance use and sexual risk behavior. Youth in the group condition experienced a significant increase in affiliation with deviant peers. This study provides evidence of the ability of eHealth to improve parenting and reduce adolescent engagement in substance use and sexual risk behavior. Suggestions for dissemination in schools and health-care systems are offered.

Childhood obesity and community food environments in Alabama's Black Belt region.

Childhood obesity has been rising rapidly in the USA. The rate is higher among those at a lower socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic minority groups. In Alabama, nearly half of the children from rural African American families are overweight or obese. Studies suggest that children's eating behaviours and weight could be influenced by surrounding food environments. The purpose of this paper is to assess the community food environment and examine the associations with childhood obesity in Alabama's Black Belt region. This research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. Weight status of 613 African American students in four elementary schools in a rural county of Alabama was assessed. We examined community food environments around children's home through GIS (Geographic Information System) and statistical methods. The interrelations between children's weight and community food environments are explored with multi-level models. Approximately 42.1% of surveyed children were overweight or obese, much higher than the national average, 30.6%. In Model 1, convenience stores (3.44; P < 0.01), full service restaurants (8.99; P < 0.01) and supermarkets (-37.69; P < 0.01) were significantly associated with the percentile of body mass index. Fast food stores (-0.93; P = 0.88) were not related to children's weight. In Model 2, the additions of sociodemographic factors and school effects cause significant changes of the relationships between children's weight and four types of food outlets. The percentage of African American population (90.23, P < 0.01) and school (6.68, P < 0.01) were positively associated with children's weight; while median household income (-39.6; P < 0.01) was negatively related to it. Children's weight is influenced by community food environments, sociodemographic factors and school context. Findings suggest that policymakers and planners need to improve community food environments of low-income minority communities. Parents and schools should pay more attention to reduce the negative impacts of food environments on children.

The strong African American families-teen trial: rationale, design, engagement processes, and family-specific effects.

This study addresses two limitations in the literature on family-centered intervention programs for adolescents: ruling out nonspecific factors that may explain program effects and engaging parents into prevention programs. The Rural African American Families Health project is a randomized, attention-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of the Strong African American Families-Teen (SAAF-T) program, a family-centered risk-reduction intervention for rural African American adolescents. Rural African American families (n = 502) with a 10th-grade student were assigned randomly to receive SAAF-T or a similarly structured, family-centered program that focused on health and nutrition. Families participated in audio computer-assisted self-interviews at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Program implementation procedures yielded a design with equivalent doses, five sessions of family-centered intervention programming for families in each condition. Of eligible families screened for participation, 76% attended four or five sessions of the program. Consistent with our primary hypotheses, SAAF-T youth, compared to attention-control youth, demonstrated higher levels of protective family management skills, a finding that cannot be attributed to nonspecific factors such as aggregating families in a structured, interactive setting.

Intervention Induced Changes on Parenting Practices, Youth Self-Pride and Sexual Norms to Reduce HIV-Related Behaviors Among Rural African American Youths

AIDS is the leading killer of African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, many of whom became infected when they were teenagers or young adults. The disparity in HIV infection rate among African Americans youth residing in rural Southern regions of the United States suggests that there is an urgent need to identify ways to promote early preventive intervention to reduce HIV-related risk behavior. The Strong African American Families (SAAF) program, a preventive intervention for rural African American parents and their 11-year-olds, was specially designed to deter early sexual onset and the initiation and escalation of alcohol and drug use among rural African American preadolescents. A clustered-randomized prevention trial was conducted, contrasting families who took part in SAAF with control families. The trial, which included 332 families, indicated that intervention-induced changes occurred in intervention-targeted parenting, which in turn facilitated changes in youths' internal protective processes and positive sexual norms. Long-term follow up assessments when youth were 17years old revealed that intervention-induced changes in parenting practices mediated the effect of intervention-group influences on changes in the onset and escalation of risky sexual behaviors over 65months through its positive influence on adolescents' self-pride and their sexual norms. The findings underscore the powerful effects of parenting practices among rural African American families that over time serve a protective role in reducing youth's risk behavior, including HIV vulnerable behaviors.

Examining Perceptions About Mental Health Care and Help-Seeking Among Rural African American Families of Adolescents

Rural African American children living in poverty have a higher prevalence rate of mental health disorders than their urban counterparts. While access to mental health services is lacking in resource scarce rural communities, African American rural residents may also be the most likely to confront significant barriers to care and help-seeking. Studies of mental health help-seeking behavior among rural families are rare, even rarer are studies of African Americans living in these areas. To address this gap, the current study examined perceptions about help-seeking for adolescents with mental health problems among rural African American families. Data were obtained from African American mothers in rural Georgia to assess their perceptions of the mental health service system, help-seeking processes, and service experiences. A mixed-method approach was implemented, integrating a quantitative survey (n=163) with qualitative interviews (subsample n=21). Most of the mothers expressed confidence in mental health care providers' to help. Preferred sources of support, however, were family, church, and schools. Community stigma towards children with mental health problems and their families was a frequently endorsed perceived barrier to help-seeking. Although cultural mistrust was one of the two most frequently endorsed barriers in the survey, it did not emerge as a universal barrier to help-seeking for the mothers in this sample. Implications for research, policy, and practice include addressing family concerns about stigma, preferences for informal support and non-specialty services in addressing adolescents' mental health problems, and building community resources to enable all youth to participate in community life.

Connecting Rural African American Families with Differentiated Home Learning Instruction for Their Preschoolers

African American preschoolers living in rural areas are potentially at greater risk for entering schools less well prepared than their white counterparts. This article examines the importance of family involvement and engagement and dimensions of cultural competence needed to work with African American rural families to develop culturally responsive strategies for both home and early education school environments. Recommendations for rural service providers to improve African American preschooler learning outcomes also are shared.

Linking parental socialization to interpersonal protective processes, academic self-presentation, and expectations among rural African American youth.

Data obtained from 2 waves of a longitudinal study of 671 rural African American families with an 11-year-old preadolescent were used to examine pathways through which racial and ethnic socialization influence youth self-presentation, academic expectations, and academic anticipation. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that racial and ethnic socialization were linked with youth expectations for and anticipation of academic success through youth self-pride, which included racial identity and self-esteem, and through academic self-presentation. The results highlight the need to disaggregate racial and ethnic socialization to attain a better understanding of the ways in which these parenting domains uniquely forecast youth self-pride and academic orientation.

Disentangling Ethnicity and Context as Predictors of Parenting Within Rural African American Families

This study will address the initial question: Are there ethnic differences in parenting that remain when contextual variables are controlled and are related to culture, focusing on two samples of rural African American families. This study is part of a series of coordinated studies presented in this special issue (Le et al., 2008). Specific attention was given to ascertaining whether these differences were explained by contextual factors, such as socioeconomic factors (i.e., parents' educational level, homeownership, family structure, and number of children in the household). Finally, this study examined whether any differences in parenting (warmth, monitoring, communication) were attributed to cultural factors, after controlling for the contributions of contextual factors. Results indicate that parental education, family size, negative life events, racial discrimination, neighborhood characteristics, and religiosity were significantly associated with various domains of parenting among rural African Americans.

Lessons Learned from a Very Small Pilot Study

This report describes the lessons learned from a very small (three-family, nine-person) pilot study of the feasibility of in-home educational intervention for persons with diabetes in rural African American families. Lessons learned included the need to liberalize sample criteria, appreciation of the difficulties of scheduling visits with working rural families and maintaining standard intervals between visits, documentation of the learning needs of people with prior diabetes education, realizing that Caucasian nurses were accepted into African American homes and gaining insights into communication styles, finding that children were enthusiastic participants, and that even small studies produced some diffusion beyond the participants. The families all exhibited the self-reliance considered characteristic of rural families. Investigators without experience in rural nursing or research are urged to seek consultation and to pilot their study for feasibility and logistics.

Caregiving in Rural African American Families for Older Adult Stroke Survivors

Stroke disproportionately affects African Americans, but stroke caregiving research on this group is missing from the literature. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine rural African American family caregiving for older adult stroke survivors. Eight African American families participated in the study. The sample included 8 stroke survivors, 8 primary caregivers, and 18 secondary caregivers. Data were generated through interactive interviews and focused observations that took place in caregivers' or stroke survivors' homes. A multistep data analysis technique incorporating the constant comparative method was used to uncover the basic social psychological problem of transitions and a four-stage basic social process of striking a balance. The families coped with the transitions of stroke caregiving by using strategies termed here deciding to care, dividing care, protective care, and coming to terms. The substantive theory of caregiving provides nurses with a framework to help rural African American families care for their older relatives who have experienced stroke.

Partnering with community stakeholders: engaging rural African American families in basic research and The Strong African American Families Preventive Intervention Program.

The Center for Family Research has implemented the first family-community preventive intervention program designed specifically for rural African American families and youths. Basic information garnered during a decade of research in rural African American communities formed the theoretical and empirical foundations for the program, which focuses on delaying the onset of sexual activity and discouraging substance use among youths. The Center's researchers have formulated future directions for engaging rural families in basic research and preventive intervention programs.

Longitudinal Links between Contextual Risks, Parenting, and Youth Outcomes in Rural African American Families

Longitudinal links between contextual risks, parenting processes, youth self-regulation, academic achievement, and conduct problems were explored in young adolescents. Data were gathered across 4years from 139 rural, African American, single mother-headed families with young adolescents (mean age =11 years at recruitment). Structural equation modeling indicated that accumulated risks were associated with lower levels of the competence-promoting parenting practices that were linked indirectly with youth outcomes via youth self-regulation. A combination of parent and youth variables appears to foster a link that encourages academic achievement and discourages conduct problems during early adolescence. Parental involvement, support, and vigilance and youths' development of self-regulation appear to enhance development among rural African American youths growing up in challenging circumstances. When Wave 1 academic achievement and conduct problems were controlled, all paths in the model remained significant thereby indicating that the hypothesized path-ways accounted for change in the outcome variables across 3 years.

Exploring Familial Processes in Urban, Low-income African American Families

A family process model was created to explore the direct and indirect links between financial resources, maternal optimism, maternal depression, routine, and various indices of adolescent adjustment among urban African American families. These processes have been explored among rural African American and European American families but not urban African American families. The sample consists of interview data from 164 low-income African American mothers and their adolescent children. The results are congruent with the hypothesized model of family processes. Financial resources are significantly associated with maternal optimism and depression but not routine. Also, maternal optimism is significantly associated with routine although depression is not. Routine is significantly associated with academic self-concept and school engagement but not depression and problem behavior. Maternal optimism and depression do not mediate the relation between financial resources and routine.

Longitudinal direct and indirect pathways linking older sibling competence to the development of younger sibling competence.

A 4-wave longitudinal model tested direct and indirect links between older sibling (OS; M = 11.7 years) and younger sibling (YS; M = 9.2 years) competence in 152 rural African American families. Data were collected at 1-year intervals. At each wave, different teachers assessed OS competence, YS competence, and YS self-regulation. Mothers reported their own psychological functioning; mothers and YSs reported parenting practices toward the YS. OS competence was stable across time and was linked with positive changes in mothers' psychological functioning from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Mothers' Wave 2 psychological functioning was associated with involved-supportive parenting of the YS at Wave 3. OS Wave 2 competence and Wave 3 parenting were indirectly linked with Wave 4 YS competence, through Wave 3 YS self-regulation. Structural equation modeling controlled for Wave 1 YS competence; thus, the model accounted for change in YS competence across 3 years.

Shelter in a Time of Storm: Parenting in Poor Rural African American Communities*

This study focuses on strengths and challenges of poor rural African American parents. Ninety‐two participants responded to semistructured interview questions about parenting, religiosity, and stress. Parents who are more religious reported using fewer coercive parenting strategies and experiencing fewer stressful life events. These findings are discussed in terms of practical implications for professionals who support rural African American families.

Sibling Relationships in Rural African American Families

A family process model linked mothers' and fathers' psychological functioning to sibling relationship quality in a sample of 85 9- to 12-year-old African American youths and their married parents living in the rural Southeastern United States. Members of the rural African American community participated in the development of the research methods. Better parental psychological functioning was linked to closer and more supportive relationships in the nuclear and extended families and with more supportive parenting practices. In turn, these family processes were linked with children's development of self-regulation. Self-regulated youths experienced more harmonious and less conflicted sibling relationships. Key Words: African Americans, family processes, parental func-- tioning, rural families, siblings. In African American families, siblings serve important functions. During childhood, older siblings provide care for their younger brothers and sisters, and during the adult and aging years, siblings provide emotional and instrumental support for one another (Chatters, Taylor, & Jackson, 1986; Hunter, 1997; Taylor, Chatters, & Mays, 1988; Young, 1970, 1974). Despite the salience of sibling support and assistance among African Americans, very little attention has been given to understanding the family processes that contribute to variations in the quality of sibling relationships among African American children. From a developmental perspective, this issue has special significance. Because African American siblings provide substantial amounts of care for their younger brothers and sisters, conflict in sibling relationships can make it less likely that younger siblings will receive prosocial and responsive care (McHale & Crouter, 1996). Data suggest that sibling relationship quality remains stable from middle childhood into adolescence (Brody, Stoneman, & McCoy, 1994a; Dunn, 1996). Furthermore, Ross and Milgram (1982) found that feelings of rivalry originating in childhood persist well into adulthood and are associated with the closeness of adult sibling relationships. An understanding of the origins of relationship quality among African American siblings is important, given the degree to which they can serve as sources of mutual support across the life span. In this study, we examined the role that family processes (e.g., coparenting support and parenting practices) play in linking parental psychological resources (e.g., self-esteem) to sibling relationship quality among rural African Americans. Although the proposed model is consistent with our recent findings about the influence of family processes on the quality of sibling relationships among White families, we do not know whether similar associations exist in African American families, particularly those living in sparsely populated rural areas. We chose to focus on middle childhood in this study because, during this developmental period, older siblings often begin to assume caregiving and teaching responsibilities for their younger siblings (Brody, 1998). In addition, the quality of sibling relationships formed during this period provides the basis for supportive exchanges that can help to sustain both siblings during the transitions that accompany adolescence. Our research is guided by the conceptual model presented in Figure 1. The first link in the model concerns the association of parents' psychological functioning with family relationships and parenting practices. Elevated levels of parental depression have been found to be associated with less involved, less communicative, more negative, and more hostile family relationships (Brody et al., 1994; Jacob & Johnson, 1997; Susman, Trickett, lannotti, Hollenbeck. & Zahn-Waxler, 1985). Rutter (1990) found depressed and hostile parents to be less involved with and less affectionate toward their children, to feel more guilt and resentment, and to experience more difficulty in managing their children and communicating with them. …

Linking Family Processes and Academic Competence among Rural African American Youths

For most of this century, the potential influence of the family on intellectual development has been largely overlooked. This state of affairs is understandable because, when the nation entered the era of universal public education, the major responsibility for educating all children in society was transferred from the home and assigned to a social institution, the school. In the early 1960s and 1970s, the primacy of the school's role in promoting language and cognitive growth began to be challenged. During this period, sociologists (e.g., Majoribanks, 1972) identified a number of childrearing practices that they believed would stimulate cognitive growth in children. Their studies revealed a high correlation between home variables, such as reading to children, and achievement in school. Combined with the classic investigations by Hess and Shipman (1965), which also suggested that parental childrearing behavior could have an impact on cognition, this research led social scientists to reevaluate the role that families play in promoting cognitive growth. According to an ecological model of human development, academic competence among children and adolescents is influenced not only by factors such as teaching practices and social processes in their immediate classroom environments, but also by aspects of their family environments. In the ecological model the family is conceptualized as a context that directly influences child and adolescent behavior by contributing to the development of competencies that increase the likelihood of academic success. The family also plays a mediational role in linking factors such as social class to adolescent academic competence (Bronfenbrenner, 1989; Garbarino, 1982). Factors, such as family financial resources and parental educational attainment, that contribute social class status also affect family relationships and parental involvement in school activities; these family processes in turn are linked to youths' academic competence (Bronfenbrenner, 1989; Garbarino, 1982). To date, the research examining this mediational sequence has linked economic hardship to troubled family relation ships, and troubled family relationships to child and adolescent adjustment problems (Conger et al., 1992, 1993; McLoyd, 1989, 1990). We extend this work by focusing on the links among family financial resources, parents' educational attainment, family processes, and academic competence among African American youths in rural, two-parent families. Little is known about the ways in which the over one million rural African American families facilitate their children's academic competence-measured, for example, y reading and mathematics grades, or by performance on the vocabulary and mathematics subscales of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). McAdoo (1982) has argued that many African Americans view education as the only means to upward mobility, given the restriction of opportunities that exists for them. Research indicating that African American parents living in rural areas named educational attainment as an important developmental goal for their children (Stoneman et al., 1991) supports this position. Ethnic minority researchers have argued that a knowledge base placing development in a broad ecological context is essential for the development of culturally sensitive prevention and intervention efforts targeting children and adolescents (Harrison, Wilson, Pine, Chan, & Buriel, 1990; McLoyd, 1990). In recognition of the emphasis that African American parents place on educational attainment and of the importance of obtaining information that is sensitive to the ecological-cultural context, we focus on the ways in which sociocontextual factors affect academic competence among rural African American youths. In our study we obtained data from mothers, fathers, teachers, and the youths themselves, using multi-method measures and procedures that were designed with the assistance of African American community members. …