African American father influences on the career development of emerging adults

Abstract African American emerging adults face unique contextual risks that place them at heightened risk for poor psychosocial outcomes. The purpose of this study was to identify profiles of contextual risks among rural African American emerging adults and determine how risk profiles relate to psychosocial outcomes. Our representative sample included 667 fifth graders who live in the rural South and were followed from preadolescence into emerging adulthood. Contextual risks were assessed at ages 19–21 years via six indicators: perceived stress, daily stress, community disadvantage, parent–child conflict, racial discrimination, and childhood trauma. Four psychosocial variables were also assessed at ages 19–21 years: self-regulation, racial identity, parent support, and friend support. Psychosocial outcomes were assessed at age 25 years: education, substance use, future orientation, depressive symptoms, and externalizing behaviors. Latent profile analysis results indicated that the sample could be characterized by three patterns of contextual risk: low contextual risk, high contextual risk, and high contextual risk–childhood trauma. Risk profiles were associated with psychosocial outcomes, with the childhood trauma and high-risk profiles faring worse than the low-risk profile. Further, childhood trauma was particularly predictive of worse outcomes for emerging adults. Findings highlight the need for research and prevention programs that mitigate the effects of contextual risks on psychosocial outcomes for African American emerging adults in rural areas.

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A cascade model connecting life stress to risk behavior among rural African American emerging adults

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579410000350 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 667-678 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Gene H. Brody ◽

Yi-Fu Chen ◽

Steven M. Kogan

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Emerging Adults ◽

Risk Behavior ◽

Life Stress ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Cascade Model ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Deviant Peers ◽

Increases In Risk

AbstractA three-wave cascade model linking life stress to increases in risk behavior was tested with 347 African American emerging adults living in the rural South. Data analyses using structural equation modeling and latent growth curve modeling demonstrated that life stress was linked to increases in risk behavior as African Americans transitioned out of secondary school. The cascade model indicated that life stress fostered increases in negative emotions. Negative emotions, in turn, were linked to increases in affiliations with deviant peers and romantic partners; this forecast increases in risk behavior. The findings supported a stress proliferation framework, in which primary stressors affect increases in secondary stressors that carry forward to influence changes in risk behaviors that can potentially compromise mental health.

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Racial Discrimination and Trajectories of Problematic Alcohol Use Among African American Emerging Adults: The Role of Organizational Religious Involvement

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/10901981211051650 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 109019812110516

Author(s):

Danielle R. Busby ◽

Meredith O. Hope ◽

Daniel B. Lee ◽

Justin E. Heinze ◽

Marc A. Zimmerman

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

African Americans ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Emerging Adults ◽

Racial Discrimination ◽

Religious Involvement ◽

Problematic Alcohol ◽

Stable Class ◽

Problematic Alcohol Use

Racial discrimination jeopardizes a wide range of health behaviors for African Americans. Numerous studies demonstrate significant negative associations between racial discrimination and problematic alcohol use among African Americans. Culturally specific contexts (e.g., organized religious involvement) often function protectively against racial discrimination’s adverse effects for many African Americans. Yet organized religious involvement may affect the degree to which racial discrimination increases problematic alcohol use resulting in various alcohol use trajectories. These links remain understudied in emerging adulthood marked by when individuals transition from adolescence to early adult roles and responsibilities. We use data from 496 African American emerging adults from the Flint Adolescent Study (FAS) to (a) identify multiple and distinct alcohol use trajectories and (b) examine organizational religious involvement’s protective role. Three trajectory classes were identified: the high/stable, (20.76% of sample; n = 103); moderate/stable, (39.52% of sample; n = 196); and low/rising, (39.72% of the sample; n = 197). After controlling for sex, educational attainment, and general stress, the interaction between racial discrimination and organized religious involvement did not influence the likelihood of classifying into the moderate/stable class or the low/rising class, compared with the high/stable class. These results suggest organized religious involvement counteracts, but does not buffer racial discrimination’s effects on problematic alcohol use. Findings emphasize the critical need for culturally sensitive prevention efforts incorporating organized religious involvement for African American emerging adults exposed to racial discrimination. These prevention efforts may lessen the role of racial discrimination on health disparities related to alcohol use.

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