Paternal Relationship Quality as a Protective Factor: Preventing Alcohol Use Among African American Adolescents

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.

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The Moderating Effects of Culture on Peer Deviance and Alcohol Use among High-Risk African-American Adolescents

Journal of Drug Education ◽

10.2190/de.37.3.g ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 335-363 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Aashir Nasim ◽

Faye Z. Belgrave ◽

Robert J. Jagers ◽

Karen D. Wilson ◽

Kristal Owens

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Ethnic Identity ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Risk Behaviors ◽

African American Youth ◽

African American Adolescents ◽

Protective Effects ◽

Moderating Effects ◽

Heavy Alcohol ◽

Cultural Variables

African-American adolescents have lower rates of alcohol consumption than White youth. However, African-American youth suffer disproportionately more adverse social, mental, and physical health outcomes related to alcohol use. Affiliating with negative peers is a risk factor for alcohol initiation and consumption. Cultural variables have shown moderating effects against other risk factors for African-American youth and therefore were the focus of this study. Specifically, we tested whether three culturally-relevant variables, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and ethnic identity were promotive or protective for alcohol initiation and use within the context of negative peer affiliations. The sample consisted of 114 at-risk African-American adolescents whose ages ranged from 13 to 20. Participants were administered a questionnaire with measures of alcohol initiation and use, peer risk behaviors, ethnic identity, Africentric beliefs, religiosity, and demographic items. Peer risk behaviors accounted for significant percentages of the variance in age of alcohol initiation, lifetime use, and current and heavy alcohol use after adjusting for age and gender. Cultural variables showed both promotive and protective effects. Africentric beliefs were promotive of delayed alcohol initiation, whereas both Africentrism and religiosity moderated peer risk behaviors effect on alcohol initiation. Africentric beliefs were also inversely related to lifetime alcohol use revealing a promotive effect. Moreover, there were significant protective effects of ethnic identity and religiosity on heavy alcohol consumption. One implication of these findings is that prevention programs that infuse cultural values and practices such as Africentrism, ethnic identity, and religiosity may delay alcohol initiation and reduce use especially for youth with high risk peers.

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Drug Attitudes, Racial Identity, and Alcohol Use among African American Adolescents

Journal of Black Psychology ◽

10.1177/0095798400026004004 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 402-420 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Kathleen Burlew ◽

DeKimberlen Neely ◽

Candace Johnson ◽

T. Camille Hucks ◽

Bruce Purnell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Racial Identity ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

African American Adolescents

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

Youth & Society ◽

10.1177/0044118x15626063 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 50 (5) ◽

pp. 659-687 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

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.

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African American Adolescents’ Discrimination Experiences and Academic Achievement: Racial Socialization as a Cultural Compensatory and Protective Factor

Journal of Black Psychology ◽

10.1177/0095798406287072 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 199-218 ◽

Cited By ~ 154

Author(s):

Enrique W. Neblett ◽

Cheri L. Philip ◽

Courtney D. Cogburn ◽

Robert M. Sellers

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

African American ◽

Racial Socialization ◽

Protective Factor ◽

African American Adolescents

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School Racial Climate and Academic Outcomes in African American Adolescents: The Protective Role of Peers

Journal of Black Psychology ◽

10.1177/0095798417736685 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 47-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Alexandrea R. Golden ◽

Charity Brown Griffin ◽

Isha W. Metzger ◽

Shauna M. Cooper

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Academic Outcomes ◽

Protective Factor ◽

African American Adolescents ◽

The United States ◽

Racial Climate ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Academic Values ◽

School Students ◽

The Relationship

Using a risk and resilience framework, the current investigation explored the relationship between school racial climate and academic outcomes among African American adolescents. Additionally, this study examined whether positive peer characteristics (e.g., peer support; peer academic values) were a protective factor for African American youth who reported perceiving a negative school racial climate. Participants were 126 middle school students (65% female), ranging in age from 11 to 15 years, who resided in the Midwestern region of the United States. Moderating relationships partially supported hypotheses. Findings revealed that peer values moderated the association between interracial interactions and African American adolescents’ academic values, as well as the relationship between fairness and racial equity and classroom effort. Results suggest that peer academic values may be an important contextual factor for understanding the association between school racial climate and academic outcomes. Implications of findings for prevention programming are discussed.

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

Youth & Society ◽

10.1177/0044118x15605108 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 734-757 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

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.

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Perceived Teacher Encouragement as Buffer to Substance Use in Urban African American Adolescents: Implications for Disconnected Youth

Education and Urban Society ◽

10.1177/0013124517714848 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 144-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Xzania White Lee ◽

Michael Cunningham

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

African American ◽

Protective Factor ◽

African American Adolescents ◽

Future Expectations ◽

National Statistics ◽

Urban City ◽

Disconnected Youth ◽

Low Levels ◽

Teacher Encouragement

The variety of experiences of African American adolescents is still misunderstood and neglected. Empirical and lay reports consistently report that drug use is rampant within African American communities despite the fact that national statistics show that African Americans engage in substance use less than their White counterparts. Thus, the current study investigates the relations between African American adolescents’ school encouragement, academic future expectations (AFE), and substance use engagement. The participants are 206 African American adolescents (females = 65.7%), mean age 15.78 ( SD = 1.18), who reside in a southern, urban city. The regression results indicated that there was an inverse, trend level relation between school encouragement and the global substance use assessment (β = −.05, p < .10; Δ R2 = .02). AFE moderated the relation between school encouragement and all of the substance use variables except alcohol. Simple slopes analyses revealed that AFE only significantly moderated the relation between school encouragement and substance use for students who reported low levels of AFE, indicating that increased school encouragement may serve as a protective factor against substance use engagement for those students who may be disconnected from academic achievement.

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