The Protective Role of Religious Involvement in African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents’ Experiences of Racial Discrimination

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes ◽  
Pamela P. Martin ◽  
Nikeea Copeland-Linder ◽  
Eleanor K. Seaton ◽  
Niki Matusko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
Religious Involvement ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Psychological Outcomes ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Caribbean Black

For many Black adolescents, racial discrimination increases the risk of developing adverse psychological outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationships among religious involvement, racial discrimination, and psychological outcomes among a nationally representative sample of African American adolescents and Caribbean Black adolescents from the National Survey of American Life. Multiple regression models were used to determine the interactive effects of religious involvement and racial discrimination experiences on Black adolescents’ psychological outcomes. Findings indicate that religious involvement was a protective factor for Caribbean Black adolescents but not African American youth. The implications of these findings underscore the varied roles of religious involvement for African American and Caribbean Black adolescents.

Teacher-Based Racial Discrimination: The Role of Racial Pride and Religiosity Among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes ◽  
Stephanie Cook ◽  
Seanna Leath ◽  
Cleopatra Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
Caribbean Black ◽  
Racial Pride

scholarly journals Why now? Examining antecedents for substance use initiation among African American adolescents

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 719-734
Author(s):  
Tamika C. B. Zapolski ◽  
Tianyi Yu ◽  
Gene H. Brody ◽  
Devin E. Banks ◽  
Allen W. Barton
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
African American ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Developmental Period ◽  
Social Risk ◽  
Risk Models ◽  
Risk Indices ◽  
Substance Use Initiation

AbstractCurrent adolescent substance use risk models have inadequately predicted use for African Americans, offering limited knowledge about differential predictability as a function of developmental period. Among a sample of 500 African American youth (ages 11–21), four risk indices (i.e., social risk, attitudinal risk, intrapersonal risk, and racial discrimination risk) were examined in the prediction of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette initiation during early (ages 11–13), mid (ages 16–18), and late (ages 19–21) adolescence. Results showed that when developmental periods were combined, racial discrimination was the only index that predicted initiation for all three substances. However, when risk models were stratified based on developmental period, variation was found within and across substance types. Results highlight the importance of racial discrimination in understanding substance use initiation among African American youth and the need for tailored interventions based on developmental stage.

scholarly journals Future Orientation as a Protective Factor for African American Adolescents Exposed to Community Violence

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 734-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanna So ◽  
Noni K. Gaylord-Harden ◽  
Dexter R. Voisin ◽  
Darrick Scott
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Community Violence ◽  
Violence Exposure ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Externalizing Behaviors ◽  
Future Orientation ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

For African American youth disproportionately exposed to community violence and the associated risk of externalizing behaviors, developmental assets that reduce the risk for externalizing behaviors and enhance adaptive coping should be explored. In a sample of 572 African American adolescents ( Mage = 15.85; SD = 1.42), the current study explored whether future orientation or gender buffered the impact of community violence exposure on externalizing behaviors. The current study also examined the interaction between future orientation, gender, and violence-specific coping strategies to determine their association with externalizing behaviors. Future orientation moderated the relationship between violence exposure and delinquent, but not aggressive, behaviors. Future orientation interacted differently with coping for males and females to predict externalizing behaviors. Research and clinical implications are discussed.

Resiliency factors protecting against teenage alcohol use and smoking: influences of religion, religious involvement and values, and ethnicity in the Missouri Adolescent Female Twin Study

Twin Research ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
AC Heath ◽  
PAF Madden ◽  
JD Grant ◽  
TL McLaughlin ◽  
AA Todorov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Proportional Hazards ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Religious Involvement ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
High Heritability ◽  
The Difference

AbstractThe objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of ethnicity (African American vs European/other ancestry), family religious affiliation, religious involvement, and religious values, to risk of alcohol and cigarette use in adolescent girls; and to estimate genetic and shared environmental effects on religious involvement and values. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of female like-sex twin pairs, aged 13–20 (n = 1687 pairs, including 220 minority pairs), as well as with one or both parents of twins aged 11–20 (n = 2111 families). These data, together with one-year follow-up twin questionnaire data, and two-year follow-up parent interview data, were used to compare ethnic differences. Proportional hazards regression models and genetic variance component models were fitted to the data. Despite higher levels of exposure to family, school and neighborhood environmental adversities, African American adolescents were less likely to become teenage drinkers or smokers. They showed greater religious involvement (frequency of attendance at religious services) and stronger religious values (eg belief in relying upon their religious beliefs to guide day-to-day living). Controlling for religious affiliation, involvement and values removed the ethnic difference in alcohol use, but had no effect on the difference in rates of smoking. Religious involvement and values exhibited high heritability in African Americans, but only modest heritability in EOAs. The strong protective effect of adolescent religious involvement and values, and its contribution to lower rates of African American alcohol use, was confirmed. We speculate about the possible association between high heritability of African American religious behavior and an accelerated maturation of religious values during adolescence.

“Broken windows”: Relationship between neighborhood conditions and behavioral health among low-income African American adolescents

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dexter R Voisin ◽  
Dong Ha Kim
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
African American ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Broken Windows ◽  
Neighborhood Conditions

This study explored the association between neighborhood conditions and behavioral health among African American youth. Cross-sectional data were collected from 683 African American youth from low-income communities. Measures for demographics, neighborhood conditions (i.e. broken windows index), mental health, delinquency, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors were assessed. Major findings indicated that participants who reported poorer neighborhood conditions compared to those who lived in better living conditions were more likely to report higher rates of mental health problems, delinquency, substance use, and unsafe sexual behaviors. Environmental factors need to be considered when addressing the behavioral health of low-income African American youth.

Exploring Psychosocial Task Resolution and Self-Concept among African-American Adolescents

1996 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 803-810
Author(s):  
Craig C. Brookins
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
African American Youth ◽  
African American Adolescents ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Developmental Task ◽  
Multiple Components ◽  
Highly Correlated

Developmental task resolution and self-concept of adolescents were examined for a sample of 110 African-American youth. The Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory was used to measure Erikson's stages of psychological development and the Bronstein-Cruz Child/Adolescent Self-concept and Adjustment Scale was used to measure multiple components of the self-concept. Scores for Self-concept and Resolution of Identity stages were highly correlated although scores on Resolution of Identity, commonly seen as the primary psychosocial task of adolescence, were not related to scores on either Emotional Well-being or Family Relations. The results are discussed in terms of improving understanding of relationships between processes in development, identity, and other salient psychosocial variables.

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

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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