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

1996 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 803-810
Author(s):  
Craig C. Brookins

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.

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Zuberi

Research shows that neighborhood safety is strongly associated with the health and well-being of adolescents. However, few studies examine what shapes these perceptions of safety, especially for adolescents who grow up in more dangerous neighborhoods. The present study explores what factors shape the neighborhood safety perceptions of a sample of low-income, African American adolescents aged 15 to 19 years ( n = 46) from Baltimore who lived in public housing as children. The study reveals the complexity in how adolescents perceive safety, especially among those living in dangerous neighborhoods. The results highlight the importance of the type of danger (e.g., drug activity vs. gun-related violence) and social connections in shaping neighborhood safety perceptions. Sample youth are more likely to report feeling safe when there is little perceived danger. In more dangerous neighborhoods, youth feel safe where there is low violence, they have protective social ties, and they can avoid perceived danger. However, social connections can also tie youth to violence and victimization, which threatens their perception of safety. This more nuanced understanding of youth perceptions of safety has implications for the ways in which neighborhoods affect adolescents and the role of housing policy in improving the well-being of low-income youth.


2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhonda Lewis-Moss ◽  
Chakema Carmack ◽  
Jamilia Sly ◽  
Shani Roberts

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dexter R Voisin ◽  
Dong Ha Kim

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.


Author(s):  
P. Sevostianov

 The article is devoted to the substructures of the personal component of individual experience research. In the framework of theoretical analysis, the structural organization of individual experience is reviewed. The author's position consists in sticking to the O.M. Laktionov three-component model of the experience. During the theoretical analysis contemporary studies devoted to the study of individual experience are reviewed. Several substructures of the personal component of individual experience, that require attentive study, are defined. The self-concept notion is analyzed. For the first time, an analysis of the features of relationship between the feeling of self-concept well-being and the personal experience substructures are presented. The analysis, described in this article, is a continuation of the research, which devoted to the study of self-concept in the framework of the structure of the students` personal component of individual experience, during which on the basis of analysis the substructures of personal experience formation features the self-concept profiles were received. Four self-concept profiles were taken into consideration out of the results of the study: the "Conflict profile": persons for whom the simultaneous inclusion of the prosperous and problematic types of self-perception is inherent; "Prosperous profile": persons for whom the prosperous self-concept perception, that combines with low level of problem self-concept perception, is inherent; "Tendency to well-being": persons who are characterized by the tendency to decrease the negative evaluation of their self-concept, having the average indicators of their self-concept well-being; "Tendency to conflict": individuals, who are characterized by average indicators of their self-concept perception in a problematic context in a tendency to decrease the assessment of their self-concept well-being. Directly in the course of the work, described in the article, a comparative analysis of students with different profiles was performed, that was based on the degree of representation of individual experience personal component substructures. The comparison was made using the rank criterion of Kruskal-Wallis. During the comparison, the following results were obtained: for the students with different self-concept profiles was not revealed any differences in the indicators of self-esteem, neuroticism, extraversion, cooperation, conscientiousness, planning self-regulation, self-regulation flexibility, goal purpose in life orientation, and such values as conformance, traditions, kindness, universality and security. Openness to experience, modeling, results estimation, independence, general level of self-regulation, process and result orientation, locus of control myself, general life meaningfulness and independence as a value were the most expressive for students with a prosperous self-concept profile, and the least expressive – for students with a conflict profile and profile with a tendency to conflict. Programming, as well as the stimulation, achievement and power values were the most expressive for the students with a tendency to a prosperous self-perception. The locus of life control and hedonism as the value was found the most expressive among the students with a tendency to a conflict in their own self-perception; the least expressive it was for students with a prosperous profile.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 1286-1321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara M. DiClemente ◽  
Catherine M. Rice ◽  
Dakari Quimby ◽  
Maryse H. Richards ◽  
Cordelia T. Grimes ◽  
...  

Exposure to violence (ETV) poses a serious threat to adolescents’ safety and well-being; however, some adolescents who grow up in such toxic environments are able to thrive due to a combination of internal and external characteristics. The current study examines the role of cohesion across contexts (i.e., family, school, and community) as moderating the relation between ETV and positive internal outcomes characteristic of resilient youth (i.e., ethnic identity, positive affect, and self-esteem) in a sample of low-income, urban, African American adolescents ( N = 269, 60% female) from seventh grade to eighth grade. Results indicated that greater cohesion in each context was directly related to more positive outcomes. Family and neighborhood cohesion additionally served as protective enhancing factors for males exposed to high levels of violence. These findings expand the current research on positive youth development and help locate potential environmental targets for prevention and intervention research.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aashir Nasim ◽  
Faye Z. Belgrave ◽  
Robert J. Jagers ◽  
Karen D. Wilson ◽  
Kristal Owens

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.


1992 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula C Wood ◽  
Stephen B. Hillman ◽  
Shlomo S. Sawilowsky

Self-concepts of 196 African-American adolescents examined here were higher than the norms despite their being at-risk and academic underachievers.


2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla A. Gibson ◽  
Justine Nelson Christinedaughter ◽  
Harold D. Grotevant ◽  
Hee-Kyung Kwon

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