Self-efficacy among urban African American early adolescents: Exploring issues of risk, vulnerability, and resilience

Data from the first year of a longitudinal study of 562 African American adolescents were analyzed to examine coping methods and competence outcomes as measured by academic performance (national percentile ranking [NPR] on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills) and academic self-esteem. With resilience conceptualized as adaptive coping, regression analyses were performed to test a model of risk and resilience that takes into account family and neighborhood characteristics, youths' perceptions of their contexts, coping strategies, identity processes, and achievement outcomes. With all measures in the regression model, significant predictors of NPR for males were mother's education and academic self-esteem; predictors for females were mother's education, parental life dissatisfaction, youths' perception of family conflict, and academic self-esteem. Predictors of academic self-esteem for males were mother's education, negative life events, and youths' perception of family conflict; predictors for females were negative life events and youths' perception of family conflicts. The findings indicate that, as adaptive coping responses, both academic self-esteem and academic achievement are responsive to particular protective factors. The authors suggest that prevention and intervention efforts should be sensitive to specific coping methods and abilities that could promote resilient outcomes.