African-American

Hestick, H., S. C. Perrino, W. A. Rhodes, and K. D. Sydnor. 2024. "Trial and Lifetime Smoking Risks among African American College Students." Journal of American College Health vol. 49, pp. 213-219.
Abstract: The authors surveyed 614 African American university students to determine the magnitude of cigarette use, identify risk factors, and develop models to predict smoking. More than half (58.3%) of the participants had smoked at least once, and 9.3% of that group were lifetime smokers. Among the lifetime smokers, 71.3% had smoked during the 30 days preceding the survey. More women (66.8%) than men (56.1%) had tried smoking and were classed as lifetime smokers. Residence, parental, and peer smoking (current and childhood) were associated with trying smoking; age, race/ethnicity, and marital status were additional factors for becoming a lifetime smoker. The risk of being a lifetime smoker was reduced when neither friends nor parents of the student smoked and the student viewed spirituality as important. The results of this study add to the growing understanding of health risk behaviors among African Americans and can be useful in reducing smoking. [Source: ML]

Kurtz, M. E., J. C. Kurtz, S. M. Johnson, and W. Cooper. 2024. "Sources of Information on the Health Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke among African-American Children and Adolescents." Journal of Adolescent Health vol. 28, pp. 458-464.
Abstract: PURPOSE: To determine the common sources of information regarding the effects of smoking on health and their relationship to knowledge, attitudes, and preventative efforts regarding exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) among urban African-American children and adolescents. METHODS: All students who were enrolled in Grades 5-12 in an urban public school district located in the greater metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan were surveyed using a structured, written questionnaire that assessed sources of information on the health effects of smoking, as well as knowledge, attitudes, and preventive efforts with respect to exposure to ETS. The primary analytic procedures utilized in the study were correlation analysis and analysis of variance. RESULTS: The African-American students surveyed in this study received information regarding the health effects of smoking from many sources, most notably television, family, and teachers. Second, students who received information on the effects of smoking on health from family and external sources (teacher, parent's friend, and religious leader) had higher overall knowledge, attitude, and preventive efforts scores than students who received information from other sources (friends, electronic media, and printed media). Finally, family influence was greater when parents were not smokers, and influenced elementary students more than middle school or high school students. CONCLUSIONS: The active involvement of teachers, religious leaders, parents, and other influential adults should be elicited in tobacco education and prevention efforts to maximize their effectiveness. [Source: ML]

Mattis, J. S. and R. J. Jagers. 2024. "A Relational Framework for the Study of Religiosity and Spirituality in the Lives of African Americans." Journal of Community Psychology vol. 29, pp. 519-539.
Abstract: Religiosity and spirituality are defining features of African American life. However, within psychology, research on African American religiosity and spirituality has proceeded without benefit of a conceptual framework. This paper labors toward a framework that examines the roles of religion and spirituality in the development and maintenance of social relationships. We review empirical research on the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of African Americans with an eye toward illuminating the affective, cognitive, and behavioral mechanisms through which religion and spirituality shape individual, family, and communal relationships across the developmental span. Future directions for quantitative and qualitative research on African American religious and spiritual life are suggested. [Source: SC]

Rucibwa, Naphtal Kaberege. 2024. "Family and Peer Influences on Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors in Black and Hispanic Adolescent Males." Dr.P.H. Thesis, Loma Linda University.
Abstract: In California, pregnancy is one of the most important social problems in adolescence. Although, the teenage pregnancy rate has been decreasing since 1991, the number of babies fathered by males younger than 20 years remains high due to frequent sexual involvement, particularly in Black and Hispanic youths. A total of 178 adolescent males, 88 Blacks and 90 Hispanics, aged 13 to 19 years were selected from a database of a 1996 Youth Survey conducted as part of the local needs assessment in neighborhoods with high rates of teen pregnancy in San Bernardino County, California. The purpose of this study was to assess the sexual attitudes and behaviors, and to investigate the relationships of family and peer factors and the dimensions of the expanded Health Belief Model with sexual involvement in the study population. Nearly 67% of the sample were sexually experienced. Of them, 71% were Blacks and 63% were Hispanics. Approximately, 36% of Blacks and 33% of Hispanics reported being sexually experienced by age 13 years. Almost 43% of Blacks and 40% of Hispanics reported that they had sexual intercourse during the month preceding the survey. Both Black and Hispanic adolescent males who had been sexually experienced reported a strong belief that sexual intercourse validates masculinity and increases a closeness to a girlfriend. Findings from the multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that, as exposure to the family and peer risk factors increases, so does the likelihood of sexual involvement in both Black and Hispanic respondents. Black adolescent males were more likely to be influenced by having a father who had been a teen dad (OR = 2.8), whereas Hispanics were more likely to be influenced by having a sibling who had been a teen parent (OR = 9.8). Black and Hispanic respondents who perceived peer pressure as a reason to engage in sexual behaviors were twice as likely to engage in sexual behavior themselves, when compared with those who were not influenced by their peers. Two dimensions of the expanded Health Belief Model, perceived benefits of sexual intercourse and perceived self-efficacy of refusing sexual intercourse predicted sexual involvement in both ethnic groups. Results of this study can be used to design comprehensive health education and social programs that involve parents, youths, siblings, peers, church leaders, community groups, and school teachers. These programs should be culturally appropriate in order to help Black and Hispanic teens take control over their sexual behaviors. Recommendations include a longitudinal design to explore the factors that influence some adolescent males abstain from engaging in sexual behaviors until a later age. [Source: DA]

Sharpe, T. T. 2024. "Sex-for-Crack-Cocaine Exchange, Poor Black Women, and Pregnancy." Qualitative Health Research vol. 11, pp. 612-630.
Abstract: A sample of 34 poor Black women who exchanged sex for crack was screened to discover if sex-for-crack exchanges resulted in pregnancies. Ethnographic interviews were conducted with women who became pregnant this way. Out of the 34 women, 18 reported sex-for-crack pregnancies, and more than half of that number became pregnant this way more than once. Twenty-nine pregnancies were reported. Only 2 women chose to have abortions. Interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative data analytical procedures. The following three issues shaped the women's responses to sex-for-crack pregnancies: (a) severity of crack use, (b) religious beliefs, and (c) social organization patterns within poor Black communities. The findings have implications for drug treatment and child welfare policy. [Source: SC]

Anonymous. 2024. "Innovative HIV Prevention Campaigns Focus on High-Risk Youth, Minorities: Black Ministers Step into HIV Testing Limelight, Sending Message Home." AIDS Alert vol. 15, pp. 85-88.

Belgrave, F. Z., B. Van Oss Marin, and D. B. Chambers. 2024. "Cultural, Contextual, and Intrapersonal Predictors of Risky Sexual Attitudes among Urban African American Girls in Early Adolescence." Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology vol. 6, pp. 309-322.
Abstract: The role of cultural factors in explaining sexual attitudes among African American urban girls, aged 10-13 years, was investigated in this study. The authors predicted that girls with higher school interest, family cohesion, religiosity, and behavioral self-esteem would endorse less risky sexual attitudes. Also, older girls were expected to have more risky sexual attitudes than younger girls, and girls from 1- rather than 2-parent households were expected to have more risky sexual attitudes. The authors hypothesized that ethnic identity and gender role orientations would contribute to explaining variability in sexual attitudes after controlling for contextual and intrapersonal variables. A questionnaire containing measures of the study constructs was administered to 214 girls who were participants in a substance abuse prevention program. Pretest data were used in analyses. A final regression model accounted for 23% of the variance in sexual attitudes. Age and behavioral self-esteem were significant predictors, with younger teens and teens with higher behavioral self-esteem having less risky sexual attitudes. Cultural variables contributed to explaining variation in sexual attitudes after other variables were controlled for. Higher levels of ethnic identity were associated with less risky sexual attitudes. A masculine gender role orientation was associated with more risky sexual attitudes. [Source: ML]

Brown, Lance A. 2024. "The Resocialization of African-American Male Youth through Afrocentric-Based Rites of Passage Programming: The Need for Adequate and Accurate Assessment." Ph.D. Thesis, Temple University.
Abstract: Educators, mental health professionals and religious and community leaders struggle arduously to find solutions to the problems facing today's African-American male adolescent--high homicide, suicide, dropout and unemployment rates as well as increased drug use and disproportionate involvement within the criminal justice system. The use of rites of passage programs has gained distinction as a vehicle of positive change. Little empirical evidence existed, however, to substantiate the efficacy of such programs. The purpose of this study was to create a standardized, objective measure to assess the efficacy of Afrocentric-based rites of passage programs. A 68-item assessment tool was developed based on the principles of the Nguzo Saba. The instrument was designed to measure changes within six constructs: (a) social responsibility; (b) ethnic attitudes concerning oneself; (c) ethnic attitudes concerning others; (d) gender-role expansion; (e) caring; and (f) self-reported behavior change. The newly created instrument was then used in conjunction with the Black Manhood Rites of Passage Training program to verify its ability to measure changes along these domains. Results showed that, while the ROPES instrument was judged to be highly reliable, it was largely ineffective in distinguishing between participants and non-participants of the BMT program. [Source: DA]

Cook, K. V. 2024. ""You Have to Have Somebody Watching Your Back, and If That's God, Then That's Mighty Big": The Church's Role in the Resilience of Inner-City Youth." Adolescence vol. 35, pp. 717-730.
Abstract: This study was designed to explore Freeman's (1986) finding that the institution that made the greatest contribution to male African-American youths' socioeconomic success was the church. Thirty-two African-American, Haitian-American, and Latino male and female teenagers - 16 drawn from inner-city Protestant churches and 16 comparison teenagers from the same communities - were interviewed. The interviews revealed that churched teenagers were less stressed and less likely to have psychological problems than were teenagers in the comparison group. They also appeared more likely to be living with both biological parents, less likely to have a family member on welfare, and more likely to have a job when compared with the other teenagers. They described the church as being central to their lives and as having multiple functions, many of which have been identified in the resilience literature as contributing to positive developmental outcomes. Results are interpreted in light of the transactional model, and recommendations are made, such as expanding the role of the church within these ethnic communities. [Source: SC]

Coyne, Beasley T. and V. J. Schoenbach. 2024. "The African-American Church: A Potential Forum for Adolescent Comprehensive Sexuality Education." Journal of Adolescent Health vol. 26, pp. 289-294.
Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the attitudes and beliefs of clergy from African-American churches towards sexuality education and the provision of sexuality education in their churches. METHODS: A pilot study was designed to survey a convenience sample of clergy leaders from African-American churches about their young adolescent members. The survey asked about priority health topics, prevalence of sexual and drug risk behavior and the clergy's desire for health education programs. The churches were located in a county (1990 population approximately 200,000, 40% African-American) in the southeastern United States. RESULTS: The respondents' highest priority issues were drugs, violence, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy and alcohol. Many (76%) had discussed one or more of these issues in church. All respondents wanted additional health seminars for their adolescents, though some clergy (30%) excluded some sexual topics (i.e., anal sex, bisexuality, homosexuality, masturbation, oral sex). Only 6% would make condoms available in their churches, but all would allow contraceptive education. CONCLUSIONS: Many African-American churches are open to including sexuality education among their health education offerings for young adolescents. The church should be considered as a potential forum for providing comprehensive sexuality education for African-American adolescents. [Source: ML]

DiIorio, C., K. Resnicow, W. N. Dudley, S. Thomas, D. T. Wang, D. F. Van Marter, B. Manteuffel, and J. Lipana. 2024. "Social Cognitive Factors Associated with Mother-Adolescent Communication About Sex." Journal of Health Communication vol. 5, pp. 41-51.
Abstract: To better understand why some mothers talk to their children about sex and others do not, we examined the role of two social cognitive variable-self-efficacy and outcome expectancies--in explaining sex-based communication. The present study was part of a larger study to test the efficacy of two HIV prevention programs for mothers and their adolescents. Mothers and their adolescents were recruited from a large community organization that serves youth who live in disadvantaged circumstances. The sample for the present study included 486 mothers who averaged 38.4 years of age (SD = 6.73). The majority were African American (97.7%), not married (66.7%), and had a high school degree (89.5%). Their adolescents ranged in age from II through 14 years of age and most were male (61.3%). The results of the analysis revealed that mothers who expressed higher levels of self-efficacy and more favorable outcomes associated with talking to their children about sex were more likely to do so. In a regression analysis, we learned that the mother's degree of efficacy beliefs, along with her expected outcomes associated with talking about sex, the importance of religious beliefs to her, and the age and sex of her adolescents were important factors associated with talking with them about sex. [Source: SC]

DiIorio, Colleen, Ken Resnicow, William N. Dudley, Stephen Thomas, Wang Dongqing Terry, Deborah F. Van Marter, Brigitte Manteuffel, and Jenny Lipana. 2024. "Social Cognitive Factors Associated with Mother--Adolescent Communication About Sex." Journal of Health Communication vol. 5, pp. 41-51.
Abstract: Examines the role of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies in explaining sex-based communication in the United States. Parental involvement in educating adolescents about sex; Important factors associated with sex communication between parents and children; Investigation of the affective component of sex-based communication. To better understand why some mothers talk to their children about sex and others do not, we examined the role of two social cognitive variables--self-efficacy and outcome expectancies--in explaining sex-based communication. The present study was part of a larger study to test the efficacy of two HI V prevention programs for mothers and their adolescents. Mothers and their adolescents were recruited from a large community organization that serves youth who live in disadvantaged circumstances. The sample for the present study included 486 mothers who averaged 38.4 years of age (SD = 6.73). The majority were African American (97.7%), not married (66.7%), and had a high school degree (89.5%). Their adolescents ranged in age from 11 through 14 years of age and most were male (61.3%). The results of the analysis revealed that mothers who expressed higher levels of self-efficacy and more favorable outcomes associated with talking to their children about sex were more likely to do so. In a regression analysis, we learned that the mother's degree of efficacy beliefs, along with her expected outcomes associated with talking about sex, the importance of religious beliefs to her, and the age and sex of her adolescents were important factors associated with talking with them about sex. [Source: AS]

Grant, K. E., J. H. O'Koon, T. H. Davis, N. A. Roache, L. M. Poindexter, M. L. Armstrong, J. A. Minden, and J. M. McIntosh. 2024. "Protective Factors Affecting Low-Income Urban African American Youth Exposed to Stress." Journal of Early Adolescence vol. 20, pp. 388-417.
Abstract: Individual (coping strategies), family (parent/child relationships), and community-based (religious involvement) variables were examined as potential protective factors for 224 low-income urban sixth- through eighth-grade African American adolescents. Each of those variables was examined as a moderator and analyses were conducted to determine whether the association between stress and psychological symptoms was attenuated for youth endorsing positive coping strategies, strong parent/child relationships, and religious involvement. Results indicated that positive relationships with father figures buffered the effects of stress on externalizing symptoms for boys and for girls; religious involvement was protective for girls but not for boys. The sole coping strategy to demonstrate a protective effect was avoidant coping, which attenuated the relation between stress and externalizing symptoms for boys. Supplemental analyses focusing on specific subsets of stressful experiences indicated that avoidant coping and social support-seeking coping accentuated the relation between daily hassles and internalizing symptoms for girls. [Source: SC]

Johnson, B. R., S. J. Jang, S. De Li, and D. Larson. 2024. "The 'Invisible Institution' and Black Youth Crime: The Church as an Agency of Local Social Control." Journal of Youth and Adolescence vol. 29, pp. 479-498.
Abstract: We examine the degree to which an individual's religious involvement significantly mediates and buffers the effects of neighborhood disorder on youth crime. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the fifth wave of data from the National Youth Survey, focusing on black respondents given the historical as well as contemporary significance of the African-American church for black Americans. Results front estimating a series of regression models indicated that (1) the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime among black youth are partly mediated by an individual's religious involvement (measured by the frequency of attending religious services) and (2) involvement of African-American youth in religious institutions significantly buffers or interacts with the effects of neighborhood disorder on crime and, in particular serious crime. Theoretical and methodological implications of the present findings are briefly discussed. [Source: SC]

Johnson, B. R., D. B. Larson, and S. De Li. 2024. "Escaping from the Crime of Inner Cities: Church Attendance and Religious Salience among Disadvantaged Youth." Justice Quarterly vol. 17, pp. 377-391.
Abstract: With the theoretical backdrop of social disorganization and "resilient youth" perspectives, we hypothesize that individual religiosity is protective in helping at-risk youths such as those living in poor inner-city areas to escape from drug use and other illegal activities. To test this hypothesis, we draw data from an interview survey of 2,358 youth black males from tracts in poverty in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia, conducted in 1979 and 1980. Results from a series of multilevel analyses indicate that church attendance (the frequency of attending religious services) has significant inverse effects on nondrug illegal activities, drug use, and drug selling among disadvantaged youths. Religious salience (the perceived importance of religion in one's life), however, is not significantly linked to reductions in juvenile delinquency. we discuss the implications of our findings, focusing on individual religiosity as a potentially important protective factor for disadvantaged youths. [Source: SC]

Johnson, Cureton Lee. 2024. "The Imani Project: Challenging Missionary Baptist Men to Mentor Adolescent African-American Males." D.Min. Thesis, Drew University.
Abstract: The Imani Project was a faith-based project that recruited African-American Missionary Baptist men to mentor African-American males ages 12 to 17. The project goals were to enhance discipline, self-image and achievement among the boys. Those who recruited black men as mentors used a variety of creative strategies to train and retain the men. African-American men were critical in the process of helping black male adolescents survive and thrive in a difficult environment. Educational consultant Jawanza Kunjufu describes image as "a likeness symbol, mental picture..." (Developing Positive Self-images and Discipline in Black Children). Self-image, in turn, became a powerful tool toward developing discipline and high expectations for achievement among the boys. Imani is a Swahili word for faith. Jesus Christ was Imani's supreme role model. Just as Jesus restored the sight of the blind man (Mark 8:22-26), He helped the men and boys to envision manhood positively. A spiritual restoration of hope took place in Imani. Christian men poured their lives into boys, thereby moving them toward authentic manhood. Imani produced significant positive transformation for the boys, the mentors, the parents/guardians and for the congregation. [Source: DA]

McClure, Regina M. 2024. "Attitudinal Correlates of Abortion among Female Adolescent Offenders." Ph.D. Thesis, Fuller Theological Seminary School of Psychology.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was twofold, to examine: (a) the association between age and the percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion, and (b) the relationships between abortion attitudes, and religious participation and unwanted sexual experiences. This study is important in that it utilized a nonclinical, at-risk sample of Black and Latina female adolescents and measured a large, diverse group of demographic and risk variables. One hundred female adolescent offenders were administered a questionnaire to assess (a) number of pregnancies, (b) number of abortions, (c) abortion attitudes, and (d) frequency of religious participation. The Sexual Abuse Exposure Questionnaire measured exposure to unwanted sexual experiences. A correlational approach produced inconclusive results; however, demographic characteristics identified for this at-risk group can inform pregnancy prevention and options counseling. [Source: DA]

Miller, Jamie L. 2024. "Understanding Achievement Attribution and Achievement Motivation among African-American Youth: Racism, Racial Socialization, and Spirituality." Ph.D. Thesis, California School of Professional Psychology - Los Angeles.
Abstract: High school dropout rates among ethnic minority youth remain disproportionately high. Researchers indicated that less education is associated with poorer health outcomes, alienation, powerlessness and poorer occupational functioning later in life, specifically among historically oppressed groups. The purpose of this study was to examine ecological and cultural factors such as, experiences of racism, racial socialization and spirituality on achievement attribution and general achievement motivation among African-American youth. The participants were African-American students (N = 101) that attended high school in South Los Angeles. The sample reportedly came from working and middle class families. Fifty-four percent were 14 or 15 years old. The participants and their families frequently attended church. The following measures were administered: The Personal and Group Racism Experiences scales of the Racism and Life Experiences Scales (RaLES; Harrell, 1996); a modified version of the Teenager Experience of Racial Socialization Scale (TERS; Stevenson, 1996); the Spirituality Scale (SS; Jagers 1996); the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire (IAR; Crandall, Katkovsky & Crandall, 1965), and the General Achievement Motivation Scale (GAM; Miller 1996). An eight-item background questionnaire was also administered to participants. The predictions in this study were partially confirmed. Racism, racial socialization, and spirituality significantly related to achievement attribution and achievement motivation in different ways. As predicted, when racism increased, internal attribution for success and failure, and general achievement motivation decreased. Proactive racial socialization was a positive predictor of internal attribution for success and general achievement motivation. Contrary to the direction predicted, proactive messages were inversely related to internal attribution for failure. Further, as reactive racial socialization increased, internal attribution for success decreased, which was also contrary to the direction predicted. Spirituality was positively related to internal attribution for success and failure but not to general achievement motivation. In addition, other notable findings emerged among achievement attribution, racial socialization, and worship variables. The findings suggest that ecological and cultural aspects of academic achievement among some African-American youth should not be ignored. Further, intervention programs aimed to improve academic achievement and attribution issues among African-American youth should incorporate proactive racial socialization messages and spirituality discussions. Recommendations for future research are suggested. [Source: DA]

Miller, K. S., R. Forehand, and B. A. Kotchick. 2024. "Adolescent Sexual Behavior in Two Ethnic Minority Groups: A Multisystem Perspective." Adolescence vol. 35, pp. 313-333.
Abstract: Adolescents are at high risk for a number of negative health consequences associated with early and unsafe sexual activity, such as infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as unintended pregnancy. In the present study, a multisystem model was applied to one adolescent sexual behavior, penile-vaginal intercourse. Nine hundred seven Black and Hispanic adolescents (aged 14 to 17 years) and their mothers were interviewed. Factors from three systems (self, family, and extrafamilial) that are influential in the lives of adolescents were evaluated using four outcome measures. Factors from most or all systems emerged as predictors of each outcome measure. A cumulative risk index suggested a linear relationship between the number of systems identified as being at risk and indicators of adolescent sexual behavior. The implications for prevention are discussed. [Source: ML]

Parker, Shandowyn L. 2024. "Family Environment and Sexual Risk Behaviors among African American Adolescent Females." Ph.D. Thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Abstract: Many interventions have addressed risk-taking behavior as they pertain to sexual risk behaviors. Such interventions have mainly addressed the influence of peers and the environment in adolescent risk-taking behavior. Few studies have addressed the role of family environment in adolescent risk-taking behavior. The aims of the study were to develop a measure to assess family environment, to evaluate the psychometric properties of the family environment measure, and to assess associations between family environment constructs and outcome variables, such as condom use, sexually transmitted diseases history, drug use history, and parental communication. The study assessed 4 constructs of family environment: family cohesion, family conflict, family expressiveness, and family moral religious emphasis. The findings from this study showed that family cohesion was a significant predictor of healthy behaviors among African American adolescent females 14-18 years old residing in Jefferson County, Alabama. [Source: DA]

Rivers, Monica Corbitt. 2024. "Resisting Risk: The Protective Roles of Family Environment and Personal Resilience among African-American Adolescent Girls Living in Low-Income Neighborhoods." Ph.D. Thesis, Vanderbilt University.
Abstract: Personal resilience was examined as a mediator of the influence of specific family environment variables (cohesion, control, achievement-orientation, moral-religious emphasis, and conflict) on selected developmental outcomes (academic achievement, alcohol and tobacco use, sexual behavior, and delinquent behavior) in African-American early adolescent girls. The sample included 106 10 to 12 year old African-American girls living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Findings provided no evidence of a direct effect of family environment on developmental outcomes; therefore, the hypothesized mediational model could not be tested. Additional analyses, however, revealed significant direct effects of personal resilience on two developmental outcomes under investigation, alcohol and tobacco use and delinquent behavior. Possible explanations for the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. [Source: DA]

Rotheram-Borus, M. J. 2024. "Expanding the Range of Interventions to Reduce HIV among Adolescents." AIDS vol. 14, pp. S33-S40.
Abstract: Objective: Structural interventions are identified to reduce adolescents' HIV risk. Method: The goals, strategies, approaches, and delivery sites of adolescent HIV prevention programs are reviewed. Results: In addition to reducing sexual activity and substance use, HIV prevention programs may also reduce adolescents' HIV risk by: decreasing poverty; ensuring access to HIV testing, healthcare, general social skills training, and employment opportunities; and requiring community service for students. Adolescent HIV prevention programs do not currently utilize diverse modalities (computers, videotapes, television, telephone groups, computerized telephones) or sites (parents' workplaces, religious organizations, self-help networks, primary healthcare clinics) for delivering interventions. Diversifying current approaches to HIV prevention include: economic development programs; mandating delivery of programs at key developmental milestones (e.g, childbirth, marriage) and settings (school-based clinics, condom availability programs); securing changes in legislative and funding policies through ballot initiatives or lawsuits; and privatizing prevention activities. Conclusions: To implement structural HIV interventions for adolescents requires researchers to shift their community norms regarding the value of innovation, adopt designs other than randomized controlled trials, expand their theoretical models, and adopt strategies used by lawyers, private enterprise, and lobbyists. [Source: SC]

Sanders, Mavis G. and Jerald R. Herting. 2024. "Gender and the Effects of School, Family, and Church Support on the Academic Achievement of African-American Urban Adolescents." Pp. 141-161 in Schooling Students Placed at Risk: Research, Policy, and Practice in the Education of Poor and Minority Adolescents., edited by Mavis G. Sanders. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Abstract: This study examines the effects of gender on the relationships between institutional support, school-related attitudes and behaviors, and academic achievement for 826 African-American adolescents in an urban school district in the southeastern US. The results of regression and interview analyses suggest that the school, family, and church simultaneously influence academic achievement through their effects on academic self-concept and school behavior, even when controlling on background characteristics of students. Differences between the male and female populations exist. These differences appear to be related primarily to the attributes female African-American adolescents bring to school relative to males (e.g., more parental support or more church involvement), as opposed to strong differences in the effects of these attributes on the attitudinal and behavioral variables tested, and their relationship to academic achievement. This study's findings are discussed relative to improving the educational experience of male and female African-American urban youth through school, family, and community partnerships. [Source: PI]

Smetana, J. G. 2024. "Middle-Class African American Adolescents' and Parents' Conceptions of Parental Authority and Parenting Practices: A Longitudinal Investigation." Child Development vol. 71, pp. 1672-1686.
Abstract: Conceptions of parental authority and ratings of parental rules and decision making were examined longitudinally among 82 middle-class African American adolescents and their parents (82 mothers and 52 fathers), who were divided into two groups according to family income. Adolescents were, on average, 13.14 years of age at Time 1 and 15.05 years of age at Time 2. Nearly all adolescents and parents affirmed parents' legitimate authority to regulate (and children's obligation to comply with) rules regarding moral, conventional, prudential, friendship, and multifaceted issues, but they were more equivocal in their judgments regarding personal issues. With age, adolescents increasingly judged personal issues to be beyond the bounds of legitimate parental authority, but judgments differed by family income. Adolescents from upper income families rejected parents' legitimate authority to regulate personal issues more at Time 1 than did adolescents from middle income families, but no differences were found at Time 2. Authority to regulate adolescents' behavior did not extend to other adults or to schools, churches, and the law. With adolescents' increasing age, African American families became less restrictive in regulating prudential, friendship, multifaceted, and personal issues. Adolescents', mothers', and fathers' judgments demonstrated significant continuity over time, but few cross- or within-generation associations in judgments were found. Conceptions of legitimate parental authority at Time 1 were found to predict family rules at Time 2. [Source: ML]

Smith, Tamie L. 2024. "Pre-Teen and Early Adolescent African American Girls' Attitudes toward Teen Sexual Behavior and Pregnancy." Ph.D. Thesis, Howard University.
Abstract: Within the body of literature on the attitudes and perceptions of teenage sexual behavior and pregnancy, there is a paucity of empirical data on pre-teen and early adolescent African American girls from high risk communities. This study contributed to closing the gap by providing both quantitative and qualitative data on a sample of girls' sexual attitudes and perceptions as they relate to a variety of factors. A survey method was used for the quantitative portion of the study which consisted of 197 pre-teenaged African American girls from a socially and economically disadvantaged community in Washington, D.C. Step-wise regression analyses were used to build a model from four variables, family closeness, degree of peer pressure and peer intimacy, and frequency of church attendance in order to predict the age the girls perceived acceptable for becoming sexually active and the age perceived acceptable for bearing a child. Partial support of the hypothesized model was found. The outcome variables frequency of church attendance, and peer intimacy in an inverse direction, were the only variables that predicted the age the girls' perceived acceptable for becoming sexually active. Peer intimacy alone inversely predicted the age perceived acceptable to have a baby. A logistic regression analysis was applied to the four predictor variables to determine their relationship to persons whom girls would involve in determining their readiness to become sexually active. Family closeness was unexpectedly found to predict the boyfriend as the person who would be involved in the determination of the girls' sexual readiness. Frequency data were reported from other single item questions that elicited the girls' attitudes and opinions on a variety of issues related to teen sexual behavior and pregnancy. The qualitative data were collected from interviews of a sample of 23 girls who participated in the quantitative study. The interviews elicited the girls' attitudes, beliefs and perceptions about a variety of topics and themes related to teenage sexual dynamics, pregnancy and contraception. Related topics were reported including the quality of life in the girls' communities, their attitudes toward school, the nature and quality of family and peer relationships, and the role of religion in their lives. Three theoretical frameworks were utilized in this study: (1) family systems, (2) the relational model of female development, and (3) Erikson's (1963) theory of psychosocial development. Implications for professional practice and education are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered. [Source: DA]

Whitaker, D. J., K. S. Miller, and L. F. Clark. 2024. "Reconceptualizing Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Beyond Did They or Didn't They?" Family Planning Perspectives vol. 32, pp. 111-117.
Abstract: Context: Adolescent sexual behavior is typically studied as a dichotomy: Adolescents have had sex or they have not. Broadening this view would lead to a greater understanding of teenagers' sexual behavior. Methods: Interview data from 907 high school students in Alabama, New York and Puerto Rico were used to examine the relationships between sexual experience and a variety of social, psychological and behavioral variables. Four groups of teenagers are compared: those who did not anticipate initiating sex in the next year (delayers), those who anticipated initiating sex in the next year (anticipators), those who had had one sexual partner (singles) and those who had had two or more partners (multiples). Results: Compared with delayers, anticipators reported more alcohol use and marijuana use; poorer psychological health; riskier peer behaviors; and looser ties to family, school and church. Similarly, multiples reported more alcohol and marijuana use, riskier peer behaviors and looser ties to family and school than singles. Risk behaviors, peer behaviors, family variables, and school and church involvement showed a linear trend across the four categories of sexual behavior. Conclusions: The traditional sex-no sex dichotomy obscures differences among sexually inexperienced teenagers and among adolescents who have had sex. Prevention efforts must be tailored to the specific needs of teenagers with differing sexual experiences and expectations, and must address the social and psychological context in which sexual experiences occur. [Source: SC]

Wyatt, Shelby Thomas. 2024. "Measuring the Effectiveness of an Afrocentric Male Mentoring Program with Adolescent African American Males." Ed.D. Thesis, Northern Illinois University.
Abstract: The adolescent African American male is an entity that is fertile ground for research on the social, cultural, spiritual, psychological, and personal factors that comprise their existence. These factors can have a positive or negative effect on the developmental process of this group. These effects are evident in the educational accomplishments and criminal and mortality rates of young Black males. Research on the influences of male mentoring with young Black males suggests that an Afrocentric approach works better with this population. This study explored the effectiveness of an Afrocentric male mentoring program with adolescent African American males. This quantitative research study measured the treatment effect of an Afrocentric male mentoring program on the self-concept, communal responsibility, and academic progress of adolescent African American males. Participants were upper elementary and high school students of the Chicago Public School System. The study occurred over a six-month period. Two Afrocentric Based instruments and one general measure of self-concept were used to analyze the data. Recommendations are provided for future research of this topic. The literature is limited on reporting the outcome effects of an Afrocentric male mentoring program and the effectiveness of Black psychology. One rationale for conducting this research study is to promote quantifiable data regarding the effects of male mentoring with adolescent African American males. This study sought to provide data to prove that male mentoring utilizing the principles of the Nguzo Saba will be effective in assisting adolescent African American males with their transition to adulthood. In addition to providing more data on the phenomenon of Afrocentric male mentoring programs, this research study provided an opportunity for the tenets of the Nguzo Saba to be explored. The Nguzo Saba is Kiswahili for the seven moral principles that serve as the foundation of Black psychology. It was developed by Dr. Maulana Karenga. in response to a need expressed by some Black psychologists to create psychological techniques and understandings that are supportive to the needs of people in the African diaspora. Some significance was found in the area of self-concept. This significance suggests that the intervention of adult Black male mentoring had an effect on the self-concept of adolescent African American males. The collection of data will provide an opportunity for statistical credibility to be established regarding Black psychological therapies, which are often considered controversial by mainstream therapists. [Source: DA]

Barbarin, Oscar A. 1999. "Do Parental Coping, Involvement, Religiosity, and Racial Identity Mediate Children's Psychological Adjustment to Sickle Cell Disease?" Journal of Black Psychology vol. 25, pp. 391-426.
Abstract: Many African Americans with sickle cell disease (SCD) also experience significant economic hardship. Yet, few studies of the psychosocial effects of SCD employ designs robust enough to control socioeconomic factors. This study compares the functioning of families with SCD to that of healthy controls matched for race and SES. Child Ss (aged 5-18 yrs) included 77 children with SCD, 28 siblings of children with SCD, and 74 children who had neither an illness nor siblings with an illness. A total of 71 parents of SCD children and 50 control parents also participated in the study. Results show that in general, functioning within SCD and control families did not differ. However parents granted less autonomy to, and were less involved in the schooling of children with SCD. Overall, SCD had a greater impact on children's social and academic competence than on their emotional functioning. However adolescents with SCD and their siblings were at greater risk for mental health difficulties than were controls. The more SCD interfered with living normally, the greater the risk of psychological dysfunction. Importantly, emotional well-being in parents moderated the adverse effects of SCD on children. Similarly, racial consciousness, religiosity, and emotional support enhanced parental coping. [Source: PI]

Brega, Angela G. and Lerita M. Coleman. 1999. "Effects of Religiosity and Racial Socialization on Subjective Stigmatization in African-American Adolescents." Journal of Adolescence vol. 22, pp. 223-242.
Abstract: The direct effects of religiosity and racial socialization on subjective stigmatization among 50 African-American adolescents were investigated. A stigma is a characteristic about which others hold negative attitudes and stereotypes. Subjective stigmatization measures the degree to which an individual internalizes such negative attitudes and stereotypes toward a social group of which he or she is a member. Participants who showed strong commitment to the church were more destigmatized than were participants who did not. Further, participants who received racial socialization messages stemming from a single "primary" category were more destigmatized than those who did not. Unexpectedly, the more racial socialization messages participants received, the more self-stigmatized they were. The importance of religiosity and racial socialization in the lives of African-American adolescents are discussed. [Source: SS]

Brunswick, Ann F. 1999. "Structural Strain: An Ecological Paradigm for Studying African American Drug Use." Drugs and Society vol. 14, pp. 5-19.
Abstract: Suggests that drug involvement differences in the African American community are best explained by heterogeneity in degrees of success in & attachment to mainstream social institutions (family, church, schools, workplaces). These considerations predominate in structural strain theory. Here, an ecological model is used to operationalize the theory & posit three different interlinking levels of social influence on individual drug use behavior: social structural, institutional, & interpersonal networks (representing macro-, exo-, & microsystem, respectively). Findings are presented from a 25-year study conducted with one community-representative cohort of African American youth in Harlem, New York City, that supports the importance of the structural strain premise in explaining African American drug use patterns. An example of study measures, arrayed according to the ecological paradigm, is provided, & its utility is demonstrated in enumerating sources of error that have led to incomplete & sometimes contradictory findings regarding African American drug use. [Source: SA]

Epstein, J. A., C. Williams, G. J. Botvin, T. Diaz, and M. Ifill-Williams. 1999. "Psychosocial Predictors of Cigarette Smoking among Adolescents Living in Public Housing Developments." Tobacco Control vol. 8, pp. 45-52.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Adolescents residing in low-income public housing developments in inner-city regions may be particularly vulnerable to a variety of risk factors associated with cigarette smoking. OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the aetiology of cigarette smoking among adolescents living in public housing developments. DESIGN, SETTING, AND SUBJECTS: We examined predictors of smoking from four domains: background characteristics, social influences, behavioural control, and psychosocial characteristics using a sample of seventh graders (mean age 12.9 years) who reside in public housing developments in New York City (n = 624). The addresses of participants in a larger investigation of the aetiology and prevention of smoking were checked to determine if they lived in one of 335 public housing developments in New York City. All participants living in public housing developments were included in the current study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: African-American and Hispanic students completed questionnaires about their cigarette use, social pressures to smoke, smoking attitudes, smoking knowledge, and smoking resistance skills. Students also provided information on demographic and behavioural control (such as church and school attendance). RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from friends and family members predicted smoking. Psychosocial characteristics such as advertising resistance skills, anti-smoking attitudes, and refusal skills lowered the odds of smoking. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that smoking prevention approaches targeted at these young people should increase their awareness of social pressures to smoke, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of smoking among friends, and teach relevant psychosocial skills. [Source: ML]

Fortson, Darryl L. 1999. "Stemming the Tide of Teen Suicides." Emerge vol. 10.
Abstract: Fortson comments on the problem of suicide among black teens and discusses the nature of teen suicide. He links suicide to depression, dependency deprivation, and household guns. He suggests that parents talk to teens about disappointments in their lives, and the pain that suicide inflicts on parents. He also suggests leading children to follow some religion. [Source: BS]

McCoy Harrison, Carmen Jernell. 1999. "The Black Church: A Support for African-American Teenage Girls." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Iowa.
Abstract: This study examined the value of the Black church in supporting and nurturing African-American teenage girls. Specifically, two research questions were addressed: (1) What messages do African-American girls receive from their church regarding the value of education? (2) What is the nature of support African-American girls draw from their church involvement that contributes to their school experiences? Through the use of a qualitative case study methodology and participant observations, five African-American girls who were members of a Midwestern Black church were interviewed on two separate occasions. I spent one full day at their schools, attended regular Sunday morning worship services, Sunday school classes, youth Bible studies, and other church events for a period of seven months. I also conducted interviews with church staff, mothers, and teachers. Results of the study suggest that African-American girls receive positive and supportive messages regarding the value of education, and this support comes in the form of Sunday school and Bible study, the concept of church as family, and the girls' personal relationship with God. This study found that girls who attend church regularly relied on their spiritual teachings to help them make important decisions, study for exams, and maintain Christian attitudes during challenging situations. [Source: DA]

Reddick-Gibson, Franki Louise. 1999. "An Evaluation of the B.U.I.L.D. Rites of Passage Program on the Attitudes and Behaviors of Adolescent African-American Males." Thesis, University of Sarasota, Sarasota.
Abstract: Historically, African-American males have had no organized system in place to mark the passing from adolescence to adulthood. The absence of this system has often resulted in a lack of historical knowledge, cultural pride and spiritual direction, which may manifest itself as an increase in participation in self-destructive behaviors, such as truancy and poor school performance. The Birth of Unique Individuals Lessens Delinquency (B.U.I.L.D.) Rites of Passage Program has been designed to provide a systematic, comprehensive, three-phase, prevention/intervention program that will utilize a holistic, Afrocentric foundation to instill a sense of God, self, history, and community. B.U.I.L.D. will stress a three-fold goal. The immediate goal will be an increase in information that will result in positive attitude and behavior changes. The intermediate goal will be an application of information that results in a mindset change. The ultimate goal will be a knowledge base that results in permanent conduct change. The evaluation sample consisted of 37 African-American males between the ages of 8 and 14 years, in school grades 2 through 10, who live in inner-city Philadelphia neighborhoods. After piloting the surveys on a similar sample, each boy was given the pre-test survey, and 1 week later, the post-test survey. Changes were documented in the areas of cultural pride, spiritual commitment, knowledge of African history, and school attendance and performance. The boys' growth and development was also assessed based on a personal interview, as well as structured interviews, with teacher-mentors, parents, siblings, and peers. Quantitative methods were employed to describe the data from the pre- and post-tests, and qualitative methods were used to describe the data derived from the interviews and observations. The findings suggested overall improvements in the areas of cultural pride, personal spiritual commitment, knowledge of African history, and school attendance and performance for the participants who completed the B.U.I.L.D. Rites of Passage Program. [Source: PI]

Smiley, Rosalie. 1999. "A Study of the Factors Influencing the Use of Drugs and Alcohol by African-American Adolescent Females." Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.
Abstract: Adolescents are currently using licit and illicit drugs at an increasing rate and are beginning at a younger age. Adolescents are also often using multiple drugs simultaneously. Although a number of studies have addressed adolescent substance abuse and its consequences, there is a paucity of research that has investigated the substance usage of African-American teenaged women. This study of the adolescent experiences of fifty-one African-American women in recovery investigated five general areas: (1) What factors contributed to the respondents' ongoing drug and alcohol use during adolescence? (2) What could have prevented or inhibited their ongoing drug and alcohol use when they were teens? (3) What led the respondents to enter treatment? What aspects of treatment were most helpful? Least helpful? (4) What could prevent African American adolescent females from initiating drug and alcohol use? From becoming involved in ongoing drug and alcohol use? (5) What would be most effective in getting African-American adolescent females to enter treatment? What services should be provided to them? The non-randomly selected respondents were interviewed using an instrument containing open- and closed-ended items, developed by the researcher. The findings from this study present a complex picture of the life experiences of these respondents. The women interviewed identified a number of factors as contributing to their initial and ongoing drug and alcohol use, including families' drug and alcohol use; peers' use of drugs and alcohol; lack of connection to social institutions, especially the church; and the availability and accessibility of drug and alcohol in their homes, school and communities. Basing their recommendations on what they perceived to be the unique vulnerabilities of African American adolescent females, respondents suggested various actions that families, schools, and communities could take to deter adolescent substance involvement. [Source: DA]

Brown, Lee R. 1998. "Formulating Self-Esteem through God in African-American Male Youth." Thesis, United Theological Seminary, Dayton.
Abstract: This project was designed to address the need of establishing self motivation in African-American Male Youth in Springdale Baptist Church and the surrounding area in Memphis, Tennessee. Six sessions of learning experiences were developed and implemented with a group of men and boys to enable the men to lead discussions on spiritual formation, family responsibility, conflict resolution, and leadership development. The total training model included discussion groups, lectures, and field trips. Results of the model were evaluated by pre- and post test questionnaires which showed positive development in youth images of themselves. [Source: PI]

Conley, O. Stephen. 1998. "Early Sexual Onset: A Study of the Relationship between Social and Psychological Factors in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health." Ph.D. Thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to utilize the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Wave I) to develop models to predict the onset of sexual intercourse before the age of 16, the experience of forced sexual intercourse for females and the choice to have multiple sexual partners with both genders. One cross-sectional wave of the public use dataset from this large nationally representative study (Add Health) was analyzed. Social and psychological variables were tested through logistic regressions and descriptive statistics. Findings demonstrated that 41.5% of male adolescents and 37.3% of female adolescents in the sample had experienced sexual intercourse. More than half of the nonvirgin subjects (53.1%) reported beginning sexual intercourse by the age of 16. Initial predictive models found that black males who report having trouble with teachers ($p < .01$), early dating onset ($p < .05$) and use cigarettes ($p < .05$) are more likely to experience sexual intercourse prior to the age of 16 (N = 563). A second model found black males more likely to experience intercourse prior to age 16 if they report having trouble with teachers ($p < .01$), early dating onset ($p < .05$), use cigarettes ($p < .05$), see religion as very important in their lives ($p < .05$), have a mother who has received welfare payments ($p < .05$), and began early use of marijuana ($p < .05$).When all races and genders were assessed in model predicting sexual intercourse before age 16, ($N = 5,702$) several factors showed significance at the $p < .01$ level. These included early dating onset, failure of one or more of four core subjects, being African American, using cigarettes, having a mother who has received welfare, having been expelled from school, females experiencing forced sexual intercourse, father's attitude that is accepting of adolescents having sex with a steady girlfriend or boyfriend, use of alcohol outside of the family, early marijuana use, trouble with teachers and not feeling loved and wanted. African American youth were more than three times as likely as other races to experience sexual intercourse under age 16. Young women who had been forced to have sexual intercourse were more than three times as likely as those who had not been forced to experience sexual intercourse under age 16. A model (N = 3,080) predicting females who are forced to have sexual intercourse found significance at the $p < .01$ level for the following factors: early dating onset, African American, no residential father in the home, cigarette use, being expelled from school, use of alcohol outside of the family, and not feeling loved and wanted. Conversely, a model predicting males who force females to have intercourse found highest significance if there was no father in the home, the mother had received welfare, and parents were accepting of adolescent sexual intercourse with a steady girlfriend. Multiple partners were predicted in the final logistic regression model (N = 1,400) if the subject was male, had friends who used cigarettes, used alcohol outside of the family, had been dishonest with parents about whereabouts and for females, if they had experienced forced sexual intercourse. Implications of the findings for program and policy development are discussed, and recommendations are made for additional research with the Add Health public use dataset. [Source: DA]

Frison, S. L., J. L. Wallander, and D. Browne. 1998. "Cultural Factors Enhancing Resilience and Protecting against Maladjustment in African American Adolescents with Mild Mental Retardation." American Journal of Mental Retardation vol. 102, pp. 613-626.
Abstract: Researchers have found elevated risk for maladjustment associated with being an African American adolescent in an urban environment as well as being an individual with mental retardation. The culturally relevant factors of ethnic identification, intergenerational support, and church support were investigated in relation to high risk exposure on maladjustment in 147 urban African American adolescents enrolled in EMR special education classes. Maladjustment was measured with both self- and parent-report. Risk exposure was measured in the personal, social, and community domains. Results indicate that presence of cultural factors were associated with better adjustment generally. Furthermore, ethnic identification appeared to protect adolescents exposed to high-risk conditions against experiencing significantly elevated maladjustment. Implications of culture on intervention and prevention were discussed. [Source: ML]

Henderson, Joyce T. 1998. Why African American Youth Are Attracted to Non-Christian/Non- Traditional Religions & Sects. Bloomington: 1st Books Library.

Mason, Henry L. 1998. "A Counseling Intervention Model for Ministry to African American Male Juvenile Offenders: Ages 10-17." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project proposes and designs a model of counseling ministry for African American juvenile offenders, testing it with 12 young people between the ages of 10 and 17. Through biblical teaching, counseling, and prayer, these young people experience rehabilitation and healing on different levels. Future efforts will involve family members with the juveniles enrolled in the program. [Source: RI]

McCubbin, Hamilton I., Wm Michael Fleming, Anne I. Thompson, Paul Neitman, Kelly M. Elver, and Sue Ann Savas. 1998. "Resiliency and Coping in "at Risk" African-American Youth and Their Families." Pp. 287-328 in Resiliency in African-American Families. Resiliency in Families Series, Vol. 3, edited by Hamilton I. McCubbin and Elizabeth A. Thompson. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
Abstract: (from the chapter) Examined the relative importance of both youth coping and family coping repertoires as predictors of youth offenders' ability to recover from adversity. 821 African-American youth (abused, neglected, or adjudicated delinquents) in Boysville of Michigan completed a youth coping index and their parents completed a family coping index. It is noted that positive changes in youth coping efforts directed at spiritual and personal development and negative changes (reduction) in youth coping efforts directed at incendiary communication play an important part in predicting successful completion of the Boysville program and successful post-treatment adaptation 12 mo later. When both changes in youth and family coping are considered, the highest accuracy in predicting successful and unsuccessful program completion, post-program adaptation at 3 mo, and post-program adaptation at 12 mo. [Source: PI]

McDuffie, Kathleen Yvette. 1998. "Social Support, Community Involvement, and Ethnic Identity Development in African-American Adolescents with Mild Cognitive Disabilities." Thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Abstract: This study examined influences of ethnic identity development in a sample of 188 African American adolescents (14-17 years). Recruited from Educable Mentally Retarded (EMR) special education programs, the boys and girls provided information about ethnic identity and social support from parents and peers. In addition, the children were administered the Information subscale of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition (WISC-III), to assess cognitive ability. Their parents provided information concerning church support and involvement, as well as demographic information. The primary hypothesis was that there would be differences in ethnic identity development related to general development (i.e., cognitive and chronological). It was expected that more developed adolescents would have greater ethnic identity development. The research also evaluated gender differences with respect to ethnic identity. Based on past research, gender differences were not expected. Finally, a relationship between social support (i.e., parent, peer, and church) and church involvement and ethnic identity development was expected, in that adolescents with more social support would have greater ethnic identity development. The results indicate that cognitive ability predicted one component of ethnic identity, namely, affirmation-belonging. However, chronological age did not predict ethnic identity development. There were gender differences in ethnic identity development. Boys reported higher on all ethnic identity domains. Finally, parental support predicted overall ethnic identity, affirmation-belonging, and ethnic identity achievement. Peer support only predicted overall ethnic identity. Church support and involvement did not predict ethnic identity development. These findings add to the existing literature addressing influences of ethnic identity development in general and are ground breaking in the study of ethnic identity development in children with disabilities. [Source: PI]

Mitchell, David D. 1998. Black Theology and Youth at Risk. New York: P. Lang.

Smith, James Garfield, III. 1998. "Reversing an Environment of Mistrust: Urban Church Ministries Which Create Positive Relationships between Police and African American Youth." D.Min. Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project was designed with the aim of creating positive relationships between the police of Easton, Maryland and African American youths (ages 10-16) who attend Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC), Easton, Maryland. The goals were met through four sermons, four teaching sessions, and the use of mentors. The preaching, teaching, and mentoring focused on providing the youth with the skills that would enable them to protect themselves against violent crimes and acts of police brutality. The model was evaluated through the use of a questionnaire, and the results show that the youth developed positive relationships with the African American police. [Source: DA]

Ark, Pamela Dale. 1997. "Health Risk Behaviors and Coping Strategies of African- American Sixth Graders." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Tennessee Center For the Health Sciences, Memphis.
Abstract: Children, eleven to fourteen years, experience times of lifestyle change. Children can develop health behaviors that could result in illness and premature death. The reduction of risk behaviors among children, addressed in the Healthy People 2024 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990) goals, recommended education regarding injury prevention, physical activity. and healthy nutritional choices. Study purposes included: examine height, weight, and blood pressure measurements; investigate health risk behaviors and coping strategies; and determine relationships among physiological variables, health behaviors, and coping strategies. Health behaviors were measured by a version of 1995 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a 70 item survey on unintentional injuries; tobacco, alcohol, and drug use; dietary behavior; and physical activity. Coping strategies were measured by Ryan-Wenger's Schoolagers Coping Strategies Inventory (SCSI), a 26 item survey on frequency and effectiveness of coping strategies. The conceptual framework guiding the study was Neuman's Systems Model (1995). Client variables included: physiological: height, weight, and blood pressure measurements; psychological: coping strategies; sociocultural: living in proximity to inner city school; developmental: age and gender; and spiritual: prayer as a coping strategy. The sample was 173 African American sixth graders, ages 11 to 14, females (n = 98) and males (n = 75), from five inner city schools with written parental consent. There was no statistical difference by gender in body mass index. Statistical differences were found by gender with more males than females reporting physical fighting. Older males than females, ages 12 and 13, reported tobacco and marijuana use. There was zero reported use of cocaine and no statistical differences by gender on alcohol, dietary behaviors, or physical activity. Coping strategies (sample mean was 19.4) reported more often were prayer (75 percent) and watch television or listen to music (75 percent). Multiple regression showed interaction effects of unintentional injuries with gender and SCSI effectiveness scale. There were statistical differences in means between females and males, ages 12 and 13, suggesting need for further investigation of coping strategies. Further investigation of coping strategies among sixth graders and their family in relationship with the environment is recommended to determine coping strategies of the family unit. [Source: DA]

August Prudhomme, Nellie R. 1997. "The Relationship between Family Functioning and Female Adolescent Sexual Behavior." D.N.S. Thesis, Louisiana State University Medical Ctr. in New Orleans S. of Nursing.
Abstract: A descriptive exploratory design was used to examine the relationship of sociodemographic characteristics, family functioning levels, family and community socioeconomic status, and peer relationships to adolescent sexual behavior. Four questionnaires (Demographic Profile, Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale, Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale, and an Index of Peer Relations) were administered to 101 African American female adolescent volunteers. Means, standard deviations, and frequency distributions were used to describe sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects, and frequency distributions were used to describe the sexual activity of the subjects. The associations between the dependent and independent variables were examined, using the Chi-Square statistic, Fisher's Exact test, and t-tests. Results indicated an association between age, neighborhood socioeconomic status, church attendance, grade point average, educational aspirations, and family cohesion levels and sexual activity status among the subjects. Although the differences fell short of statistical significance, trends related to parent's home ownership, family types, parent-adolescent communication, and single-parent household structures were consistent with those of earlier investigations. Implications for nursing include assessing family functioning and the interrelationships of family members and the adolescent in the family setting. The results of this assessment can be used to guide clinical programs for counseling and strengthening families with adolescents. [Source: DA]

Belgrave, Faye Z., Tiffany G. Townsend, Valerie R. Cherry, and Dellena M. Cunningham. 1997. "The Influence of an Africentric Worldview and Demographic Variables on Drug Knowledge, Attitudes, and Use among African American Youth." Journal of Community Psychology vol. 25, pp. 421-433.
Abstract: Examined the influence of Africentric values, spirituality, and demographic variables on drug knowledge, attitudes, and use. Participants were 189 4th- and 5th-graders (83 males and 106 females; aged 8.5-13 yrs) attending public schools. Measures of Africentric values (i.e., Collective Work/Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, and Self-Determination), spirituality, age, and whether or not the child resided in a 2- or 1-parent household were obtained. The results of regression analyses indicated that Collective Work/Responsibility and Cooperative Economics were significant predictors of attitudes toward drugs. Collective Work/Responsibility and spirituality were significant predictors of perceived drug harmfulness. Age and spirituality were significant predictors of drug usage. Age was the only significant predictor of drug knowledge. The Collective Work/Responsibility subscale was the strongest predictor of drug outcomes. The implications for using Africentric prevention approaches for decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors for drug use among African American youth are discussed. [Source: PI]

Calvert, W. J. 1997. "Protective Factors within the Family, and Their Role in Fostering Resiliency in African American Adolescents." Journal of Cultural Diversity vol. 4, pp. 110-117.
Abstract: Violence has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with African American males residing in urban areas bearing the brunt of this epidemic. The violence permeating our society emanates from a variety of societal ills, including poverty, racism, substance abuse and exposure to violence. Traditionally, methods of research on adolescent violence have focused on an identification of associated risk factors. The majority of African American adolescents living in communities with widespread and chronic violence grow up to be law-abiding citizens. The reason for this may be due to resiliency within these adolescents. Resiliency has been defined as the ability to experience adverse circumstances and successfully overcome them. Resiliency is enhanced through three mechanisms identified as protective factors: individual characteristics/traits; familial traits; and extrafamilial relationships. The risks faced may be altered, and even ameliorated, through the presence of these protective factors. The purpose of this paper is to identify protective factors within the family that foster resiliency. Protective factors within they family may be categorized as having three broad characteristics: caring and support, high expectations, and encouragement of participation and involvement for the adolescent. [Source: CI]

Cooper, Jewell Egerton. 1997. ""I Want to Be Like Me": An Ethnographic Study of Factors Affecting Ethnic Identity Development in Contemporary African-American Adolescents." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of North Carolina At Greensboro.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe sociocultural and pedagogical factors affecting ethnic identity development in contemporary African American adolescents. Identity formation should include personal identity and ethnic group identity. As adolescents seek to know themselves and their places in the world, their cultures help to shape who they are. School and home-community cultures play significant roles in not only personal identity, but also in ethnic group identity as well. Ethnographic research methodology was used to collect informants' accounts. Several data collection methods were used, including audiotaped ethnographic interviews, audiotaped semi-structured interviews, participant observations and observing participant observations. A microlevel analysis was conducted for each informant. A macrolevel analysis was conducted for the collective accounts of the informants. Macrocultural themes evolved as factors affecting the informants' ethnic identity development. Among the school and home-community cultural scenes, macrocultural themes revealed that though school created dissonance with their home-community cultures, the informants were motivated and challenged to prove themselves to people whom they felt doubted their abilities. The home-community cultures, through responsible parenting, religion, the challenges of and responses to being Black, and their determination to succeed strengthened informants' resolves to be productive and successful members of their ethnic group. Implications for teacher education based on the results in this study include: (1) the need for curriculum reform with the implementation of a multicultural, education curriculum; (2) the need for teacher education programs to include belief exploration; (3) the placement of practicum students and student teachers in schools with culturally diverse students and teachers; (4) the continued need for reflective inquiry; (5) the need for greater knowledge of students by teachers; and (6) the need for the ongoing use of different models of teaching and learning styles. Based on the results of this study, recommendations for further research in teacher education include: (1) more ethnographic studies of the relationship between culture and school successes; (2) ethnographic research with other ethnic minority students; (3) continued research in belief exploration of preservice and inservice teachers; (4) more studies investigating identity formation of nonmainstream adolescent groups and the relationship between identity formation and school success; and (5) longitudinal research studies investigating the effect of multicultural education curricula on teaching and learning. [Source: DA]

Franklin, Robert Michael. 1997. Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Gibbs, J. T. 1997. "African-American Suicide: A Cultural Paradox." Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior vol. 27, pp. 68-79.
Abstract: African-American suicide rates have traditionally been lower than White rates despite a legacy of racial discrimination, persistent poverty, social isolation, and lack of community resources. This paper focuses on four issues: (1)patterns and trends of Black suicide across the lifespan; (2) risk and protective factors in subgroups of Blacks; (3) the influence of cultural factors on suicide patterns of Blacks; and (4) implications of these patterns for prevention and early intervention of suicidal behavior among African Americans. Risk factors for Black suicide include: male sex, early adulthood, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, family or interpersonal conflict, antisocial behavior, and homosexuality. Protective factors that mitigate the risks of suicide include religiosity, older age, southern residence, and social support. Implications for preventive policies and programs are discussed to counter the recent trend of rising suicide rates among adolescents and very elderly Blacks. [Source: SC]

Gilfort, April Jackson. 1997. "The Relationship of Cultural Theme Discussion to Engagement with Acting out, African-American Male Adolescents in Family Therapy." Ph.D. Thesis, Temple University.
Abstract: The following study examines the relationship between cultural theme discussion within the therapy session and adolescent behaviors that characterize engagement and disengagement (i.e. therapeutic relationship, patient participation, exploration, and negativity). Discussion of nine cultural themes (trust/mistrust, anger/rage, alienation, respect/disrespect, spirituality, the journey from boyhood to manhood, issues of racial identity and socialization, racism, and hopelessness) with substance using, conduct disordered, African American male adolescents in family therapy was examined as a way to enhance the therapy engagement of these adolescents within Multidimensional Family Therapy. During sessions when these adolescents were judged to be the most engaged, when they were rated to have the highest level of collaboration with their therapist, and when they were judged to be exploring their feelings and emotions to the highest level, it was found that these young, African American men discussed their Journey from Boyhood to Manhood in the very next session. Additionally, it was found that when adolescents and their therapists spend more time discussing the themes of anger/rage, alienation, and Journey from Boyhood to Manhood they show more behaviors characterizing engagement and less behaviors which characterize disengagement in the same session and in the session following their highest level of discussion. [Source: DA]

Hill, Dartanya G., Sr. 1997. "Kwanzaa: Youth Crime and Violence Prevention and Treatment Program." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project proposes, implements, and evaluates a pilot program to reduce and reverse youth crime and violence, enlisting 10 young people referred by courts in mentoring, biblical instruction, counseling, and restitution through community service. Mentoring is valuable in reversing behavior associated with fatherlessness. Occupying the time of troubled youth and offering them a sense of belonging through youth-specific activities can be effective in promoting socially appropriate values. Participants in the pilot program do not return to court, and several of them find employment, accept personal responsibility for shared community living, and exhibit improved attitudes. [Source: RI]

Jagers, Robert J., Paula Smith, Lynne Owens Mock, and Ebony Dill. 1997. "An Afrocultural Social Ethos: Component Orientations and Some Social Implications." Journal of Black Psychology vol. 23, pp. 328-343.
Abstract: Discusses the results of two studies exploring the component orientations of spirituality, affect, & communalism in an Afrocultural social ethos & their connections with pyschosocial functioning in inner-city African-American youth. In both studies, positive endorsement & moderate positive correlations among the orientations are expressed. Study 1 questionnaire data (N = 84 students in grades 5-6) indicate that an Afrocultural social ethos is predictive of more cooperative & competitive academic attitudes & lower levels of Machiavellianism. Spirituality emerges as a positive predictor of two academic attitudes. Study 2 questionnaire data (N = 77 students in grades 6-7) indicate that an Afrocultural ethos is predictive of empathy & a more altruistic view of human nature. At the level of orientations, affect is a unique predictor of these variables. Gender, rather than cultural ethos or orientations, is predictive of peer-rated prosocial behaviors. Discussion focuses on implications for future research on culture & the social development of African-American youth. [Source: SA]

Johnson, Lou. 1997. "Christian Rites of Passage for African-American Youth." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project was designed to empower and equip African-American sixteen and seventeen-year-old male and female youth for passage into adulthood. The project was successfully implemented at the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Vallejo, California. A 'Christian Rites of Passage Curriculum Guide' was developed for the growth of these youth in: (1) Christian consciousness and commitment; and (2) Afrocentric cultural history, heritage, and identity; the product of which is self esteem. The project is tautological and relevant for Church leaders and parents as a teaching guide for youth preparing for twenty-first century living. [Source: PI]

Lewis, Averetta Elizabeth. 1997. "The Relationship of Age, Religiosity, and Depression on Risk-Related Behaviors among African-American Mothers." Ph.D. Thesis, Michigan State University.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship of age, religiosity, and depression on risk related behaviors among African-American mothers. An aspect of risk behaviors that has gained increased attention is sexual risk behavior. The rise of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), human immunovirus (HIV), and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are rising in the African-American female population. However, missing in the literature are studies that correlate the risk related behaviors, religiosity, and depression in adolescent and adult African-American mothers. An integrated framework derived from the Health Belief Model and the Social Control Theory was used to guide the study. It is believed that adult mothers being more mature, are less likely to engage in risk related behaviors than are adolescent mothers. In a retrospective, exploratory study, using secondary analysis of data, a data set of 127, (78 adolescent African-American mothers--ages 12-17) and (49 adult African-American mothers ages 18 and older) was analyzed. This data set was obtained from the Ethnic Families Research Project (EFRP) of H. P. McAdoo, PhD conducted in 1994-1997. Three areas were examined: First, age, as it relates to risky behaviors, is explored using five risk-related indicators: (a) the inconsistent or lack of use of birth control; (b) the non use of condoms or abstinence (as compared to all of those not using birth control other than condoms and all of those who are not using birth control); (c) experienced an unwanted pregnancy and birth; (d) experienced an unwanted miscarriage or abortion; and (e) the use of illicit drugs. Second, the relationship of depression to risky sexual behaviors is examined through the use of the five risk-related indicators and responses from the Beck Depression Index. Lastly, the relationship of religiosity to risky sexual behaviors is explored using the five risk-related indicators. The independent variables for this study were: age, religiosity, and depression. Dependent variables consisted of five risk-related indicators: (a) the inconsistent or lack of use of birth control; (b) the non use of condoms or abstinence as compared to all of those not using birth control other than condoms and all of those who are not using birth control; (c) experienced an unwanted pregnancy and birth; (d) experienced an unwanted miscarriage or abortion; and (e) the use of drugs. Findings revealed that there was no significant differences in the age of the mothers, level of religion, depression, and risky sexual behaviors. The practical and policy implications of this study were also examined. [Source: DA]

Mack, Sir Walter Lee, Jr. 1997. "The Use of Luke 15 to Empower Reconciliation among Male Juvenile Delinquents in the African-American Community." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project establishes mutual relationships between African-American juvenile delinquents and members of New Hope Granville Baptist Church (Oxford, NC), in order to help these young men become reconciled with God, themselves, and other human beings while changing their attitudes toward crime through spiritual, educational, and recreational activities. The parables of Luke 15 become the paradigm of reconciliation for the church and these troubled young men. [Source: RI]

Noell, Alice Alston. 1997. "Developing an Ecumenical Mentoring Ministry to African- American Males." D.Min. Thesis, Drew University.
Abstract: Mitchell Chapel Church is an African-American church located in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Mitchell, a divided church that had no sense of mission, became concerned about the plight of African-American males who did not have appropriate role models and decided to sponsor a mentoring project with a local middle school. Eighteen persons were given training. After the training sessions were completed, participants were each assigned one young African-American male student. At the end of the project, the youth showed improvement in areas of school attendance and school classwork, self- esteem, relationships and negative behavior. Mitchell Chapel embraced the gift of ministry, of nurturing others and acted out its servants role in the faith context of community. [Source: DA]

Redmond, Dyke Harold. 1997. "The Empowerment of Youth with Multimedia Production Skills for the African American Church Media Ministry." D.Min. Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project was designed to address the need for African American Churches to develop media ministries by empowering under-utilized youth with multimedia production skills. The goal of this project was to create a model for media ministry in the Black Church which will address the development of new and positive African American images, multimedia technology production skills training and spiritual growth. Results of this spiritually based project were evaluated by qualitative analysis instruments and shows that this model can serve as a prototype for multimedia ministry for the twenty-first century Church. [Source: DA]

Reid, Neil Waldemar. 1997. "Target Youth: Toward a New Paradigm to Nurture Holistically Black Urban Youth within the Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project proposes and implements a new model of youth ministry to nurture the personhood of urban young people between the ages of 15 and 21 in Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in New York's Harlem district. Senior youth leaders, parents, and church leaders design, implement, and evaluate 10 Bible-based lessons targeting mental, physical, and environmental issues for liberation of black youth in an urban context. The project leads to positive changes in comprehension, attitudes, and behaviors among participating young people. [Source: RI]

Smith, Fred Douglas, Jr. 1997. "Without a Vision: A Functional Theological Proposal for a Prophetic Christian Religious Education for Black Boys." Thesis, Emory University, Atlanta.
Abstract: This dissertation seeks to develop a response to the violence in the lives of contemporary African-American male youth. Violence is a public health issue because it is the leading cause of death and injury among African-American youth. It is a spiritual and religious issue because it originates in nihilism. The religious basis for violence is found in the myth of redemptive violence which claims that violence saves or at least works to solve most human problems. Four case studies trace the way in which this myth works in the lives of African-American young men. The question this study seeks to answer is what religious education praxis can make a difference in the lives of these young men? First, a narrative theological method is used to explore how meaning is made in the lives of these young men. Second, the sociological and psychological aspects of oppression are examined as obstacles to meaning for these young men. An answer is found in a prophetic Christian religious education in which Jesus Christ is presented as an alternative model of desire and human behavior. The theoretical work of Rene Girard, Walter Wink, Theophus Smith, and Robert Hamerton-Kelly on acquisitive mimetic desire provides the theoretical structure for exploring the dynamics of violence among African-American young men and the construction of a theory of Christian religious education to inform public health and religious communities which seek to correct the misdirected quest for transcendence in the violence in African-American youth culture. This dissertation is a functional theological exploration of human nature and history as it relates to the violent education of young African-American males over the last two hundred years. It explores this educational history by means of a metaphorical narrative theological method to undercover root metaphors that have violently shaped the lives of these young men over the centuries. It then develops a prophetic Christian religious education proposal. [Source: PI]

Stevenson, Howard C. 1997. "Managing Anger: Protective, Proactive, or Adaptive Racial Socialization Identity Profiles and African-American Manhood Development." Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community vol. 16, pp. 35-61.
Abstract: African-American male risk and resilience are viewed as two sides of the same coin in this study that investigates the stability of cluster profiles of racial socialization beliefs. Responses of 208 urban African-American adolescent males from three different samples were used to empirically derive factors of spiritual/ religious coping, extended family caring, cultural pride reinforcement, and racial awareness, which were then submitted to exploratory and confirmatory cluster analyses. Three reliable clusters were found across the samples and were identified as protective, proactive, and adaptive racial socialization beliefs. One-way ANOVAs were conducted on each sample separately and then combined with various psychosocial variables including anger expression, depression, religiosity, calamity fears, and kinship social support. The results supported the hypothesis that young males who hold an adaptive or proactive racial socialization identity tend to demonstrate more prosocial adjustment outcomes. The implications for prevention and community services are suggested. [Source: PI]

Sutherland, M. S., C. D. Hale, G. J. Harris, P. Stalls, and D. Foulk. 1997. "Strengthening Rural Youth Resiliency through the Church." Journal of Health Education vol. 28, pp. 205-218.
Abstract: A coalition of six African American churches in Jackson County, Florida was formed in the mid-1980s, first to provide prevention services to older church and community members. Alliance services were expanded later to include alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD) at risk youth. Project year one (1991) (or fiscal year 1991-92) served as the baseline comparison year. Each church was of a size where all participating youth could be identified and given the opportunity to contribute data. Accordingly, these same youth were surveyed both in project years one and four (fiscal year 1994-95). Data were gathered by trained interviewers using jury validated questionnaires. Self-reports of substance use have been found to be relatively stable across time. Significance was tested using the chi-square test for equality of proportions. There is strong indication of substantial behavior change. Fifteen of the 34 target attitudes and behaviors showed statistically significant changes. In general, most of the changes were positive. In 1994 (compared to 1991) children were more likely to avoid drinking alcohol, stay away from bad situations, count on their friends for help when confronting serious problems, less likely to participate when friends "get high," have healthier self-images, and perform better in school. Gender had no effect on responses. [Source: CI]

Thornton, James Arthur. 1997. "The Church Bridging the Gap between Community and Public Schools for Students of African Descent." D.Min. Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project was designed to bridge the gap between the community and the public schools. Its objective is to enhance the academic, social and cultural development of youth of African Descent. The project was undertaken in District 17 of the New York City Public School System, and the Salem Missionary Baptist Church, located in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Results of the model were measured by evaluating a subset of the students' report cards and by conducting interviews with teachers and parents regarding the overall development of each student. [Source: DA]

Turner, Reginald A. 1997. "An Examination of the Adolescent African American Male's Attitude Towards the Church and Pastoral Response." Thesis, Andover Newton Theological School.
Abstract: This project recognizes the distinctive religious tendencies of African Americans, manifest in the African American church as the community's longest surviving and most significant social institution. It is therefore useful to determine what contribution the church has made in shaping perceptions of the church among African American youth today and for tomorrow. The project investigates responses of churches and clergy to the growing number of single-parent families and the tensions between adolescent males and the church in the inner city. [Source: RI]

Albrecht, Stan L., Cheryl Amey, and Michael K. Miller. 1996. "Patterns of Substance Abuse among Rural Black Adolescents." Journal of Drug Issues vol. 26, pp. 751-781.
Abstract: Data from the most recent Monitoring the Future survey (N = 12,168 high school seniors) are used to examine the role of race & residence in substance abuse patterns. Consistent with previously reported research, residence differences are modest, & black youth are much less likely then whites to report drug use. In the bivariate analysis, major correlates of use include gender, family structure, religious attendance, grade point average (GPA), & availability of unearned income. In the multivariate analysis, race, family structure, religious attendance, GPA, & unearned income remain significant. The potential protective role played by family & church in drug use by rural, black adolescents is discussed. [Source: SA]

Brody, Gene H., Zolinda Stoneman, and Douglas Flor. 1996. "Parental Religiosity, Family Processes, and Youth Competence in Rural, Two-Parent African-American Families." Developmental Psychology vol. 32, pp. 696-706.
Abstract: A model that linked parental formal religiosity to children's academic competence and socioemotional adjustment during early adolescence was tested. The sample included 90 9- to 12-year-old African American youths and their married parents living in the rural South. The theoretical constructs in the model were measured through a multimethod, multi-informant design. Rural African American community members participated in the development of the self-report instruments and observational research methods. Greater parental religiosity led to more cohesive family relationships, lower levels of interparental conflict, and fewer externalizing and internalizing problems in the adolescents. Formal religiosity also indirectly influenced youth self-regulation through its positive relationship with family cohesion and negative relationship with interparental conflict. [Source: PI]

Fang, X. Y., B. Stanton, X. M. Li, D. Romer, J. Galbraith, and S. Feigelman. 1996. "Similarity of Risk and Protective Behaviours among African- American Pre- and Early Adolescent Members of Naturally Occurring Friendship Groups." Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine vol. 73, pp. 285-300.
Abstract: To determine whether self-reported risk and protective behaviors, expectations, and attitudes are more similar among African-American early adolescents within a community-based friendship group than across groups, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 382 African-American youth 9 through 15 years of age forming 76 community-based groups of 3 through 10 same-gender friends. Each member of the friendship group reported his/her own past involvement in nine risk behaviors (sexual intercourse, substance abuse, drug-trafficking, and other delinquent activities) and two protective behaviors (high academic performance and regular church attendance) and their expectations and feelings regarding several of these behaviors. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated overall and by gender and age. Members were generally more similar within friendship groups than across groups with regard to several risk behaviors and expectations including sexual intercourse and drug-trafficking. Particularly striking was the similarity among members of ''junior'' friendship groups (e.g., median age of youth +ADw-11 years) of both risk and protective behaviors and expectations. The finding of enhanced similarity of risk behaviors and expectations among members within groups suggests that intervention delivery through community-based friendship groups may be a useful approach for risk prevention efforts targeting pre-adolescent African-American youth living in low- income settings. [Source: SC]

Jagers, Robert J. 1996. "Culture and Problem Behaviors among Inner-City African-American Youth: Further Explorations." Journal of Adolescence vol. 19, pp. 371-381.
Abstract: The relationship between cultural associations & problem behaviors among African-American inner-city children in a large midwestern US city was examined in a questionnaire survey examining the endorsement & impact of various cultural influences (N = 119 fifth & sixth graders). Drawing on A. W. Boykin's triple quandary framework (1983), it is argued that African-American children must negotiate between three primary cultural influences: Afrocultural, which emphasizes spirituality, affect, & communalism; Anglocultural, which endorses material well-being, effort optimism, individualism, & competition; & the minority marginalized realm, which is characterized by feelings of alienation & repression. Findings suggests that inner-city African Americans responded positively to all features of Afrocultural identity while also placing faith in the Anglocultural ideals of hard work & sacrifice. However, concern with material gain was correlated with school problems & involvement in gangs & street activity, & it is argued that the actual experiences of the more troubled adolescents evidenced the abandonment of communalism in favor of predatory individualism & objectification of others. Further, strong endorsement of Afrocultural ideals was associated with fewer aggressive & delinquent behaviors. Directions for future research are briefly discussed. [Source: SA]

Johnson, D. Maurice. 1996. "The Teen Connection Ministry: The African-American Church and Youth Peer Counseling." Thesis, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: The Teen Connection project proposes that a peer counseling ministry can help to meet social, emotional, and spiritual needs of youth in the African American church. The project employs a pro-active research method to study the practice of peer counseling with African American youth. The Teen Connection project found that African American youth desire help from others, are receptive to help from peers, and are willing to be trained to help peers. Teen Connection peer counselors demonstrated their capability and willingness to become involved in responsible and challenging Christian service that ministered to the needs of their peers. Peer counselors report positive response from peer counselees and parents, and most of them claimed that the process helped them to address their own personal needs. [Source: RI]

Jones Harris, Jewel L. 1996. "African-American Adolescent Parents: Their Perceptions of Sex, Love, Intimate Relationships, Pregnancy, and Parenting." Ph.D. Thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Abstract: This study examined the perceptions of twenty-two urban African American adolescent mothers and six adolescent fathers regarding their perceptions of sex, love, intimate relationships, pregnancy, and parenting. A structured interview methodology was used in combination with focus groups and academic records to determine the parents' perceptions, as well as their demographic and personal history information. An inductive data analysis using constant comparison methods was employed to identify patterns and themes evident within gender groups and between gender groups. The findings identified eight assumptions. The findings of this study indicate that: (1) The age of menses may have declined. (2) The age at first sexual intercourse does not necessarily lead to more sexual partners by first pregnancy. (3) The age of an adolescent mother's own mother when she had her first child may predict an early pregnancy for her daughter. (4) Adolescent parents did not necessarily equate love and intimate relationships with having sex. (5) Adolescent mothers did not necessarily consider their need to give or receive love as reasons for their pregnancy. (6) Adolescent parents may be deficient in their knowledge of child development. (7) Adolescent parents are not necessarily abusive parents. (8) Early parenthood may be a consequence of educational derailment. (9) Poverty may precede adolescent pregnancy. Implications of these findings include the need for intensive academic and vocational preparation programs for urban African American adolescents, more consistent, specific, and comprehensive sex education and family planning programs, and more business, community, and religion-driven mentoring programs for inner-city youth. Suggestions for future research were also addressed. [Source: DA]

Livingston, Bobby L., Sr. 1996. "The Faith Community Participating as an Advocate for Spiritual Construction and Reconstruction in an Urban Context." Thesis, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: This project seeks to eliminate use of illicit drugs by young black males in an urban context by using a pedagogic program/initiative in a faith community. The project found that the root cause of problems involving "crack" cocaine probably stems from economic inequality and the USA's unwillingness to promote fair employment treatment for all citizens. Interdiction by law enforcement agencies and community-based street patrols are among the failed efforts to eradicate the problem. Successful resolutions can occur by using biblical teachings, and through supporting and encouraging courageous mothers and parents who rear their children to understand the importance of respect for authority and love for God, for self, and for others. The project recommends a wholistic approach that involves every segment of our society to rectify the problem. [Source: RI]

Martin, Arrold Nunn. 1996. "Ministry to African-American Children in the Midst of Social Crisis through the Children's Church." Thesis, United Theological Seminary.
Abstract: This project demonstrates ministry to children in social crisis through six months of structured, age-appropriate activities for African-American children between the ages of 8 and 12 in First Baptist Church Capitol Hill (Nashville, Tenn). In teaching of Christian doctrine, discussion of values, and self-esteem adventure programs, the project builds a biblical foundation for these children while enhancing their self-esteem and addressing social challenges that affect their lives. These activities expand and improve the worship experience of the children. [Source: RI]

McCreary, Micah L., Lesley A. Slavin, and Eloise J. Berry. 1996. "Predicting Problem Behavior and Self-Esteem among African-American Adolescents." Journal of Adolescent Research vol. 11, pp. 216-234.
Abstract: Investigates the utility of using stress, social support, & racial identity to predict problem behavior & self-esteem among African-American adolescents. Questionnaire data indicate that stressful life events & lack of perceived support from friends were predictive of problem behavior (eg, drug & alcohol use, delinquent acts) in a sample of 221 African-American high school students attending a Baptist church-sponsored weekend retreat in a southeastern state. Strong support from friends attenuated the effects of stress. Only one racial-identity variable - attitudes toward African-Americans - contributed to the prediction of problem behavior after other variables were entered into the regression equation. More positive attitudes predicted lower levels of problem behavior. Similar results were obtained in a regression analysis using self-esteem as the dependent variable. It is concluded that stress models are useful with African-Americans, particularly if a racial-identity variable is included. [Source: SA]

Murry, Velma McBride. 1996. "An Ecological Analysis of Coital Timing among Middle-Class African American Adolescent Females." Journal of Adolescent Research vol. 11, pp. 261-279.
Abstract: Using data from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth, variables discriminating between early & late coital initiation among middle-income African American adolescent females (N = 109) were examined. Discriminant function analysis indicates that family structure, adolescents' labor force participation, & religiosity were associated with late coital initiation. Those who lived in two-parent households, had engaged in conversations with parents about sexual issues, & had greater knowledge about sexual matters were more likely to delay age at first coitus until age 18+. The discriminant function classified correctly 94% of the overall grouped cases. Classification within each group resulted in 98% of early coital initiators & 79% of late coital initiators being classified correctly. Results provide support for using a systematic framework for examining the sexual activity patterns of middle-class African American adolescent females & offer suggestions for future research. [Source: SA]

Oler, Carlton Hugh. 1996. "Spirituality, Racial Identity, and Intentions to Use Alcohol and Other Drugs among African-American Youth." Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cincinnati.
Abstract: Two hundred and forty-nine African-American 4th, 5th, and 6th graders attending predominantly African-American secular and non-secular elementary schools participated in a study to investigate the relations of spirituality, racial identity, and intentions to use alcohol and other drugs. The students completed the (1) Children's Drug Use Survey (CDUS), Oetting et al., 1985); (2) Botvin Alcohol and Drug Attitude Scale (BADAS, Botvin et al., 1990); (3) Tentative Drug Use Scale (TDUS, Horan and Williams, 1975); (4) Age Universal Religious Orientation Scale-Revised (AUROS-R, Gorsuch and McPherson, 1989); (5) Religious Commitment Questionnaire (RCQ, Penneck and Epperson, 1985); (6) Banks Scale (BS, Banks, 1984); and a (7) Demographic Information Sheet. The results showed that (1) African-American students higher in spirituality and racial identity did have significantly stronger disapproving attitudes about the use of alcohol and other drugs than those students with lower levels, and that (2) African-American students higher in spirituality evinced greater intentions not to use alcohol and other drugs than those students with lower levels. Additionally, there were a number of significant differences relative to school-type, SES, and grade level. Some differences included that students in non-secular schools had a higher spirituality and racial identity, and engaged in less substance use than students in secular schools, and that students from lower SES backgrounds considered religion more important than students from higher SES backgrounds, although students from higher SES levels attended church more often. Based upon the results of the study, it was concluded that spirituality and racial identity, particularly spirituality, do predict African-American preadolescents' receptivity to the use of alcohol and other drugs, and that efforts should be made to strengthen students in these areas to buffer them from media and peer pressure to use. Limitations of the study and su [Source: PI]

Ramey, Timothy R. 1996. "The Development of a Mentor Ministry to Train the Brotherhood of the Barraque Street Missionary Baptist Church." Thesis, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City.
Abstract: This project proposes to combat the rising rate of violent crime and social disintegration among young Black males by preparing Christian men to serve as mentors to neighborhood youth. The project conducted three seminars for church leaders concerning child abuse and its effects, self-esteem among Black males, and substance abuse. These mentors were paired with seven first offenders referred by the juvenile court. Four of these young men significantly improved in academic performance, citizenship behavior, and family relationships. [Source: RI]

Sojourner, Jeannette Swoope. 1996. "Variables That Impact the Education of African-American Students: Parental Involvement, Religious Socialization, Socioeconomic Status, Self-Concept, and Gender." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Akron, Akron.
Abstract: Empirical studies investigating factors that promote academic achievement among African-American students are limited, more focus has been placed on academic failure and weaknesses. The purpose of this study was to examine school and nonschool factors related to educational attainment of African-American students. Several theories including Irvine's Process Model for Black Student Achievement, Gary and Booker's Empowerment of African-Americans, and the Comer Model suggested variables that were found to be important to the academic success of African-American children in public schools. Specifically, five predictors of mathematics and reading achievement among African-American youth were used in a multiple regression analysis. These variables were parental involvement, religious socialization, self-concept, socioeconomic status, and gender. The National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) of 1988: First Follow-up was used as the data source to examine these variables. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if a relationship existed between the five predictor variables and mathematics and reading achievement. In reading achievement, 17.43% of the variance was accounted for by the predictor variables. All five variables were identified as being statistically significant (p < .05). These results indicated that students with high socioeconomic status (SES) and high self-concept had the highest reading achievement. In mathematics achievement, 15.99% of the variance is accounted for by the predictor variables. The variables SES and self-concept were found to be statistically significant (p < .05). High socioeconomic status and high self-concept equals higher academic achievement. [Source: DA]

Stevenson, Howard C., Jocelyn Reed, and Preston Bodison. 1996. "Kinship Social Support and Adolescent Racial Socialization Beliefs: Extending the Self to Family." Journal of Black Psychology vol. 22, pp. 498-508.
Abstract: Explored the relationship between reports of the level of kinship support experienced as members of an extended family network and racial socialization beliefs. 229 African American adolescents were administered the Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A), the Kinship Social Support Scale (KSS), and a question regarding the amount of parental communication about racism. Results indicate significant differences between Ss with high, moderate, and low levels of kinship support across 3 of 4 SORS-A factors (i.e., spiritual and religious coping, extended family caring, and cultural pride reinforcement). These factors make up the proactive dimension of adolescent racial socialization beliefs. The protective dimension (i.e., racism awareness teaching) was nonsignificant in relationship to kinship support. [Source: PI]

Stroman, William B. 1996. "God Still Delivers." Thesis, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: This project proposes a different kind of Christian education, about practicing theology. It seeks to provide formation, freedom, identity, justice, and hope for African-American youth. In American cities, including Washington, D.C., these young people are caught up in an epidemic of killings, gangs, and crimes and tragedies related to drugs and alcohol. This project contends that these problems are spiritual as well as societal, making for a crisis of black faith as well as identity. For many African-Americans, hopelessness and despair have replaced faith. Asking what it means to be Black and Christian in contemporary North America, this project delivers a Black theology of liberation to young people of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Washington DC. [Source: RI]

Westmoreland, Cheri Lynn. 1996. "Faith in Action: A Descriptive Case Study of Project Impact, a Comprehensive Juvenile Diversion Program Sponsored by an African-American Church." Ed.D. Thesis, University of Cincinnati.
Abstract: Some African American congregations have established a Project IMPACT program, a comprehensive juvenile diversion program, to assist church and community youth experiencing discipline problems and low academic performance which has the potential to lead to dropping out of school. Project IMPACT Dayton works with the family to enhance youth development educational learning skills, parent effectiveness and provides incentives for the family to work towards strengthening the family unit and participation in the program. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the organizational mechanisms and the influences of the African American religious experiences and value system that were involved in the planning, development, and implementation of Project IMPACT Dayton by a single urban African American church. The study describes the perceptions of those involved with the project (students, parents, and staff) concerning the program's effectiveness in helping students perform academically and stay in school. A combination of methods were used to describe the comprehensive juvenile diversion program, Project IMPACT Dayton. In this study, the descriptive case study method included the use of participation, observation, interviews and document review as means of data collection. This case study provides certain aspects program evolution in the context of Christian values and mission service operating in this African American church. The case study involves the discussion of the history and mission of the Revival Center Ministries, the development of community outreach, the Project IMPACT program evolution and the values and religious experiences of the African American church that make this program effective. [Source: DA]

Ceballo, Rosario E. 1995. "Living in Dangerous Neighborhoods: The Effects on Poor, African American Single Mothers and Their Children." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Michigan.
Abstract: This dissertation investigated how families are affected by residing in dangerous, poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Specifically, the study explores the impact of neighborhood characteristics on the parenting behavior of single, African American mothers and on the academic values and socioemotional functioning of their adolescent children. Interview data from a sample of 262 poor, African American, single mothers and their seventh and eighth grade children was utilized. Assessments of neighborhood quality consisted of both subjective and objective measures. The objective neighborhood measures included police crime statistics and U.S. census data. In the first model, greater receipt of social support predicted higher levels of maternal nurturance and this positive relation between social support and nurturance was moderated by neighborhood conditions, for mothers of adolescent boys. As neighborhood conditions worsened, receipt of instrumental social support was no longer as strongly related to mothers' nurturant parenting. This finding was bolstered by its presence with four different indicators of neighborhood quality: mothers' subjective assessments of the neighborhood, rates of violent crime, neighborhood poverty rates, and percentage of female headed households in the neighborhood. More demonstrations of nurturant parenting were, in turn, related to healthy socioemotional functioning among adolescent males. An effect of neighborhood conditions on African American adolescents' educational values emerged in the second model after controlling for a host of family and school-related constructs. For African American female adolescents, those who resided in neighborhoods with lower median household incomes tended to view education as less important and less useful. Conversely, for adolescent males, neighborhood characteristics did not predict educational values. Additionally, twenty mothers participated in follow-up, qualitative interviews that further illuminated the quantitative results and provided detailed examples of how community violence strains family life. From these interviews, four strategies used by mothers to cope with pressing environmental dangers were identified: (1) withdrawal from the neighborhood, (2) vigilant parenting, (3) establishment of "open" relationships with their children, and (4) reliance on religious faith or beliefs. [Source: DA]

Corbitt, John H. 1995. Black Churches Reaching College Students. Nashville, Tenn.: Townsend Press/Sunday School Board.

Cull, V. V. 1995. "Exposure to Violence and Self-Care Practices of Adolescents." D.S.N. Thesis, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Abstract: Adolescents are capable of carrying out self-care practices, and there are many influences on the care that they carry out. Nursing literature is limited regarding the influence of adolescent risk factors including exposure to violence on their self-care practices. Therefore, the purpose of this descriptive study was primarily to examine the relationship between exposure to violence and the self-care practices of adolescents. Also, the relationship among exposure to violence, self-care practices, and selected conditioning factors was described. This study used a conceptual framework that combined Orem's Self-Care Model and Bronfenbrenner's Model of the Ecology of Human Development. The sample consisted of 161 Black 10-grade students. Three questionnaires were administered to the students: an investigator-adapted Violence Exposure Questionnaire, Denyes' Self-Care Practice Instrument, and an investigator-adapted Conditioning Factor Profile. Multiple regression analyses resulted in three significant variables (gender, presence of health problems, and church attendance) and three variables with substantive significance (family intactness, education of father, and being a victim of violence). The 12 variables in the final regression equation accounted for 21% of the variance in self-care of adolescents. Being a victim of violence was found to have a substantive negative influence on self-care practices of adolescents. Findings from this study supported the usefulness of Orem's and Bronfenbrenner's models for the study of factors influencing self-care practices of adolescents. Additional research regarding the influence of exposure to violence on adolescents was suggested. Also, recommendations for future research include replication of this study using a sample that is more heterogeneous, randomized, and stratified for different ages. [Source: CI]

Donahue, Michael J. 1995. "Religion and the Well-Being of Adolescents." Journal of Social Issues vol. 51, pp. 145-160.
Abstract: Reviews literature on the relation between religiousness (RLG) and adolescent well-being, and provides new analyses of data on this topic from 34,129 adolescents in the report Troubled Journey (P. L. Benson, 1993). It is found that the average level of RLG of US adolescents has not declined recently, although it does appear to decrease on average across the years of adolescence. African-Americans are more religious than Whites, and girls are more religious than boys. RLG is positively associated with prosocial values and behavior, and negatively related to suicide ideation and attempts, substance abuse, premature sexual involvement, and delinquency. RLG is unrelated to self-esteem. These results are robust after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. [Source: PI]

Dudley, Carl S. 1995. "Young-Adult Power in Afro-American Congregation." Christian Ministry vol. 26.

Duncan, Garrett Albert. 1995. "The Light before the Dawn: Toward a Critically Grounded Theory of Black Consciousness, Adolescent Development, and Schooling." Thesis, The Claremont Graduate School, Claremont.
Abstract: In this project, I draw upon conversations with twenty-one Black male and female teenagers to illustrate ways in which consciousness promotes emancipatory, reflective thinking processes. Consciousness is defined in this project as an awareness of and action toward changing one's reality. The idea of consciousness and development strongly implicates effects of power. Power, here, is defined as the ability of the dominant American society to generate consensus as to what constitutes reality. Toward this end, the Zone of Black Bodies is advanced in this study as a site of conceptual struggle where truth and knowledge are contested by Black youths, especially in the domains of education, religion, and cultural politics. Specifically, I argue, Black consciousness empowers Black youths to break the conceptual template of white supremacist discourse by naming those cultural artifacts in American culture that engender subjective and objective racist requirements in society. By explicating the roots of racist knowledge that generate the terms by which reality is comprehended, Black youths are enabled to assert powerful subjectivities as persons who exist in and with the world. Conscientization is fostered by contradictions inherent in the historical and contemporary white supremacist contexts of American society. Gulfs between social representations and realities create contradictions in the unified and unproblematic landscape of the United States culture. These rifts, in turn, prime Black teenagers, with the assistance of authority figures, to deconstruct the dynamics of power that engender social contradictions. Such activities foster the conditions for Black youths to name and recreate their realities. Patterns drawn from the narratives of the individuals in the present study indicate that differences between and contradictions within Black teenagers are the result of a combination of factors. These factors include personal histories and the cognitive profiles Black adol [Source: PI]

Gunn, Faye S. 1995. "Addressing Academic Failure and the Root of Its Cause: The Church Assisting African-American Youth." Thesis, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
Abstract: Church members in a tutorial ministry assisted African-American students experiencing academic failure. The program offered one-on-one academic tutoring, motivational seminars, group discussions, and devotions based on biblical and theological themes: human beings created in the image of God; the covenant community and its responsibility for mutual nurturing; and, the mission and ministry of the church. Pre- and post-intervention interviews were conducted. A literature review relates to academic failure of African-American students. This tutorial ministry empowered African-American youth to experience academic success. [Source: RI]

Hale, Janice E. 1995. "The Transmission of Faith to Young African-American Children." Pp. 193-207,245-247 in The Recovery of Black Presence, edited by R. Bailey. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Johnson, Ollie Williams. 1995. "The Relationship of Selected Personal Variables and Academic Achievement of Low Socioeconomic Status African-American Male Students." Ph.D. Thesis, Mississippi State University.
Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between the academic achievement of low socioeconomic status (SES) African-American male students and the personal variables of; (1) family structure, (2) number of siblings, (3) educational level of parents, (4) family meals eaten together, (5) clearly defined parent rules in the home, (6) school attendance, (7) number of hours per day spent reading other than school work, (8) number of hours per day spent watching television, (9) time spent home alone after school before parents arrive (latchkey), (10) church attendance, and (11) discipline history. This study is a sample of 200 subjects taken from a population of 400 eighth grade African-American male students from public schools located in an urban school district in Mississippi. A correlational research design was used for this study. This method analyzes research data and was useful in studying problems in education. Multiple regression was used to determine the correlation between the criterion variable of academic success and various combinations of predictor variables. The variables of (1) discipline history, (2) number of siblings, (3) birth order, and (4) school attendance accounted for most of the variance in the study. The findings of this study concluded that African-American male students who had regular school attendance, exhibited the least disruptive behavior, had the fewest number of siblings and had the earliest birth order experienced the greatest academic success. [Source: PI]

Lock, Sharon E. and Murray L. Vincent. 1995. "Sexual Decision-Making among Rural Adolescent Females." Health Values:The Journal of Health Behavior, Education and Promotion vol. 19, pp. 47-58.
Abstract: Analyzed data from the South Carolina School/Community Program for Sexual Risk Reduction Among Teens to determine direct and indirect effects of demographic and psychosocial factors on female adolescents' decisions to engage or not engage in premarital sexual intercourse. 564 predominantly Black adolescent girls (aged 12-29 yrs) completed the Adolescent Curriculum Evaluation Questionnaire. The Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior provided a framework to explain the interrelationships among the variables. Age, family structure, peer influence, commitment to partner, and sexual attitudes had direct effects on premarital sexual intercourse. Race, religiosity, sex role attitude, reproductive knowledge, and parent-adolescent communication had indirect effects on premarital sexual intercourse. [Source: PI]

Malinowski, Stuart. 1995. "Race, Resistance and Rap Music." M.Ed. Thesis, University of Alberta (Canada).
Abstract: The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the relationship between Black youth and rap music. In particular, the study examined whether rap fans were perceiving and/or using rap as a form of resistance. The study also recorded their attitude toward some of the most controversial themes in rap as identified in the literature, namely profanity, violence, misogyny, religion and drugs. The participants consisted of sixteen Black Canadian youths, nine males and seven females, ranging in age from fifteen to nineteen. Data were collected using semi- structured interviews. During an interview, I played and/or referred to a selection of message conscious rap and then investigated the nature and degree to which the participants listened to, comprehended and related the music to their everyday lives. The findings suggest that they do relate to the music as a form of resistance. However, this relationship is nor absolute nor complete. On the one hand, they appear to be drawing a great deal of pride, collective energy and critical awareness from the music. On the other hand, an underlying sense of alienation seems to prevent them from translating this awareness into any meaningful transformative action. Moreover, many participants criticize their peers for failing to penetrate beneath the surface of stylistic imitation. However, the findings do leave room for speculation that with time and the appropriate critical education, disaffected youth may emerge as viable agents of social change. [Source: DA]

Ransom, Elbert, Jr. 1995. "Developing a Mentorship Program Model for Black Males as a Prison Ministry in an Urban Congregation." Thesis, Wesley Theological Seminary.
Abstract: The mentorship program evolved from a need to provide a socio-religious support system for young Black males who are at risk with the law in the city of Alexandria, Virginia. Black males are fraught with negative societal perceptions in Alexandria and need support in positive self-esteem, moral, and spiritual persuasion. They are victimized by poor education, poor economics, and a shrinking labor market. Many young Black males are involved in a life of crime as the result of hopelessness. The Alfred Street Baptist Men's Department is responding to the need by providing a mentorship program, with its foundation in Matthew 25:31-36. [Source: RI]

Romer, D. and S. Kim. 1995. "Health Interventions for African American and Latino Youth: The Potential Role of Mass Media." Health Education Quarterly vol. 22, pp. 172-189.
Abstract: Children in Latino and African American families are far more likely to live in urban, high-poverty settings that greatly increase risks to healthy development. During adolescence, these settings are particularly hazardous for their role in the social transmission of risk behavior. Community-wide health promotion using local mass media can counteract these influences by reaching preadolescents and adolescents, their parents, and other adults in urban communities with safe-behavior messages. These messages can be designed to make safer behavior more acceptable and normative in the community, to increase awareness of community resources for adolescents, and to reverse the stereotyping and disregard that characterize media content about impoverished communities. Evidence is reviewed that, despite their poverty status, African American and Latino communities have considerable social resources to which community-wide health promotion can appeal, including strong family bonds, religious attachment, and concern about the community. The influence of these resources is exemplified by relatively low rates of adolescent drug use. Health promotion conducted regularly through local mass media could be an effective strategy to improve the health of adolescents in urban communities. [Source: CI]

Sanders, Mavis Grovenia. 1995. "Breaking the Cycle of Reproduction: The Effect of Communities, Families and Schools on the Academic Achievement of Urban African-American Youth." Ph.D. Thesis, Stanford University, Palo Alto.
Abstract: A number of theorists have posited a direct relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. In so doing, they have failed to acknowledge the potential of students, teachers, parents, and community members to mediate this relationship. This failure is particularly noticeable in educational research focussed on African American urban youth, one of the populations at greatest risk for low academic achievement and school drop-out. To address this oversight, this study identifies social support factors within the African American community that can mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement through their influence on school related attitudes and behaviors. To achieve the study's objectives, approximately 800 African American eighth grade students in an urban school district in the south-eastern United States were surveyed to measure (1) the level of social and academic support received from family, church, teachers and peers, (2) school related attitudes and behaviors, i.e. academic self-concept, achievement ideology and in- school behavior, (3) socioeconomic status, and (4) academic achievement. The data was coded and examined using regression analysis. To aid in the interpretation of the quantitative data, five percent (5%) of the research population were interviewed. These interviews were face-to-face, semi-structured, and lasted approximately one hour each. The findings of this study indicate that socioeconomic status has an indirect influence on student academic achievement through its direct and indirect effects on student in-school behavior. The study's findings also indicate, however, that family, church, teachers and peers, through their influence on academic self-concept, achievement ideology and in-school behavior, can mitigate the influence of socioeconomic status on academic achievement. The implications of these findings are that individuals and institutions within the African American community can provide urban youth with the social support necessary for success in a variety of domains, including school. Thus innovative collaborations between schools, families and community institutions, such as the church, can serve to improve the educational experience of, and outcomes for, students placed at risk. [Source: DA]

1994. "Young Black Men and Church." Christian Century vol. 111, pp. 439-440.

Brody, G. H., Z. Stoneman, D. Flor, and C. McCrary. 1994. "Religion's Role in Organizing Family Relationships - Family Process in Rural, 2-Parent African-American Families." Journal of Marriage and the Family vol. 56, pp. 878-888.
Abstract: We proposed a family process model that links maternal and paternal formal religiosity to marital interaction quality, parental co-caregiver support and conflict, parent-youth relationship quality, and parental use of inconsistent/nattering parenting strategies. The sample included 90 African American youths and their married parents, who lived in the rural South. African-American community members participated in the development of the self-report instruments and observational research methods used to test the model. The results supported most of the hypotheses. Religiosity was linked with higher levels of marital interaction quality and co-caregiver support, and with lower levels of marital and co-caregiver conflict. The associations between religiosity and parent-youth relationship quality were mediated by the marital and co-caregiver relationships. [Source: SC]

Helm, Sharron. 1994. "The Relationship between Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, Spirituality, Personal Characteristics, and Academic Success of African American Young Adults." Ed.D. Thesis, The University of Michigan.
Abstract: Some African-American young adults in college have overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to become academically successful, while others are considered academically unsuccessful as a result of dropping out of school. This study attempted to compare the two groups to determine if internalized factors that influence academic success could be isolated. These internalized factors included general and social self-efficacy, locus of control, and spirituality. Students were compared on personal and family demographics. Successful African-American students were more likely to be single, with no children, and raised in an intact family. Their mothers and fathers had either completed high school or some college. The educational levels of parents of academically unsuccessful African-American tended to be somewhat higher than the academically successful young adults. The majority of academically successful students were in their sophomore years and were carrying 12 credit hours per semester. Their self-reported grade point averages ranged from 2.51 to 3.50 and they were pursuing degrees in business, engineering, or fine and performing arts. Findings of this study showed no relationship between general and social self-efficacy, locus of control, spirituality and selected demographic variables including educational level of mother and father, number of brothers and sisters, birth order of participants, number of credit hours taken in a semester, and course of study. When academically successful African-American young adults were compared with academically unsuccessful African-American young adults, a significant difference was found for general self- efficacy. The other variables were not found to be statistically significant, although the academically successful group appeared to be more internal, with higher levels of social self-efficacy. Spirituality did not differ between the two groups. Recommendations for further research were presented which included a reference to continue research in the area of successful African-American youth to determine patterns that could be extrapolated to younger African- Americans. [Source: DA]

Moeller, Robert L. 1994. "Teaching Manhood in the Urban Jungle." Christianity Today vol. 38, pp. 16-17.

Rubin, Roger H, Andrew Billingsley, and Cleopatra Caldwell Howard. 1994. "The Role of the Black Church in Working with Black Adolescents." Adolescence vol. 29, pp. 251-266.

Rubin, Roger H., Andrew Billingsley, and Cleopatra Howard Caldwell. 1994. "The Black Church and Adolescent Sexuality." National Journal of Sociology vol. 8, pp. 131-148.
Abstract: In the Black Church Family Project survey of 635 northern Black churches, 176 churches reported having at least 1 program directed at adolescent members of the community. Focus here is on problems related to adolescent sexuality, including pregnancy, out-of-wedlock births, homosexuality, & sexually transmitted diseases. Relatively few churches reported being actively engaged in these types of programs, due in part to the church's historical reticence regarding sexual issues. However, the omnipresence of the church, community linkages, its history of service, & the traditional religiosity of Black youth provide opportunities for the church to involve Black youth in programs that address sexual behavior. [Source: SA]

Smith, R. Drew. 1994. "Black Religion-Based Politics, Cultural Popularization, and Youth Allegiance." Western Journal of Black Studies vol. 18, pp. 115-120.
Abstract: Traditional political divisions within African-American religion among groups favoring either exclusionist cultural nationalism, direct-action racial protest, or electoral participation have recently been aggravated by class & generational antagonisms. Blacks in higher age & income brackets have focused on consolidating institutional gains while younger & poorer blacks have been more vocal & radical, gathering increased attention. However, communication barriers between these two groups reflect stylistic rather than ideological differences. Ways to achieve greater political cooperation between the two groups in terms of the development of a broader religion-based political culture are explored within this context. R. Jaramillo [Source: SA]

Stevenson, Howard C. 1994. "Validation of the Scale of Racial Socialization for African-American Adolescents: Steps toward Multidimensionality." Journal of Black Psychology vol. 20, pp. 445-468.
Abstract: Reports the development and validation of the Scale of Racial Socialization for Adolescents (SORS-A). A principal components analysis was conducted following administration of the SORS-A and measures of demographics, family communication about racism, and perception of skin color to 200 African-American urban teenagers (mean age 14.6 yrs). Four factors were found to be very meaningful and moderately reliable: spiritual and religious coping, extended family caring, cultural pride reinforcement, and racism awareness teaching. A 2nd-order factor analysis was conducted to identify underlying themes. Themes of protective and proactive racial socialization were found to be supportive of a theoretical framework for racial socialization that is multidimensional and inclusive of both socially oppressive and culturally empowering experiences. [Source: PI]

Sutherland, Mary S. and Gregory J. Harris. 1994. "Church-Based, Youth Drug Prevention Programs in African-American Communities." Wellness Perspectives vol. 10, p. 3.
Abstract: Describes the organizational, administrative and program activities of a drug prevention program conducted by African-American churches in the rural South. Church health committees as facilitators; Objective and activity areas; Indication that drug culture for respondents appears to be restricted to legal drugs; Vulnerability and potential of abuse of alcohol and other drugs. [Source: AS]

Brunson, Jesse. 1993. "Celebrating African-American History and Culture through Christian Education." D.Min. Thesis, Drew University, Madison.
Abstract: Celebrating African-American history and culture is an intentional study conducted by Wilson Temple United Methodist Church, Raleigh, North Carolina, teaching children ages five to eighteen, their history and culture in an attempt to motivate positive self-esteem. The project set forth to prove through, historical, biblical and psychological documentation that western history and basic Christian education has not given African-American children positive images of themselves. It was out of this premise that the whole project was developed and conducted. The organization phases of the project brought together strong leadership from both the community and the local church into a supportive team as an advisory committee. The committee functioned as both a support staff and a planning team for the project. Their leadership was also crucial in the development of curriculum design, teacher selection, and project and candidate evaluation. The main intent of the project was to teach children and youth historical information designed to expose them to a new dimension of the African-American story. Thus the goal was to lift up images that did not present the African-American as one with a worthless history and a doubtful future. Therefore, the essence of the project was a celebration of the African-American spirit, and an invitation to all to come share in our celebration of life. [Source: DA]

Fontaine, John S. 1993. "Young Adult Participation in the Afro-American Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia." Thesis, Boston University School of Theology.
Abstract: This thesis project investigates the Afro-American young adult attendance and participation in the Afro-American Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, over the past 20 years. Research for this project is generated from reference material and literature, interviews with religious leaders and other professionals, and questionnaires completed by young adult members of Baptist and non-denominational churches, and by young adults who no longer attend Baptist churches. The last two decades have seen an increase in young adult participation in the Afro-American Baptist Church due to active efforts by the church to provide young adults with incentives to maintain membership. [Source: RI]

Peacock, Myra Jean. 1993. "Development of the Black Family Process Q-Sort." Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Riverside, Riverside.
Abstract: Recent research has challenged social scientists to examine developmental, psychological, and environmental processes that impact minority youth, particularly processes that influence parenting. Indeed, an entire 1990 issue of Child Development, 61(2), represents a variety of responses to the challenge. To that end, this study is an initial step in a research program to examine the relationship among African- Americans' socialization strategies and various behavioral outcomes. This study reports the development of the Black Family Process Q-sort and explores the utility of the Q-sort procedure as a means to identify and to quantify African-Americans' socialization practices, including race socialization, discipline, communication, and value. Additional goals were to ascertain the nature of race socialization messages, to determine how racial group orientations influence the messages African-American parents employ, and to relate various orientations to specific psychological and behavioral outcomes among Black youth. It was determined that the Black Family Process Q-sort provides a viable mechanism to study family socialization practices. Important findings also include empirically derived racial (i.e., reference) group orientations which depart, somewhat, in number and content from those mentioned in the literature. In addition, it was found that racial group orientations predict differential race socialization messages, but not psychological well being. For example, church attendance may be an important empowering mediating variable for individuals not socialized to deal with racism. This study begins with with an overview of the theoretical concerns necessary to provide a contextual framework for this project. Chapter 2 outlines Q methodology and its relevance to this endeavor. Chapter 3 describes the procedures to identify, select, and refine Q-sort items. Chapter 4 describes the methods to flush out racial orientation protypes, while Chapter 5 deals with factor analyses of racial orientation data. Finally, Chapter 6 relates racial group orientations to specific outcomes, summarizes this study, and indicates areas of concern. [Source: DA]

Stevens, Joyce West. 1993. "The Negotiation of Adulthood Status among a Group of African-American Lower Class Pregnant and Nonpregnant Female Adolescents." Ph.D. Thesis, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago.
Abstract: This research study utilized quantitative and qualitative procedures to compare and contrast a random sample of pregnant and nonpregnant late age low income African-American adolescent females' perceptions about negotiating an adulthood status. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were utilized to collect demographic and qualitative data. The semi-structured schedule was a culturally sensitive protocol that elicited in depth narrative accounts about respondents common sense ways of knowing; and of understanding themselves, others, and the world around them. The study sought to explore how the two subsamples viewed pregnancy and motherhood as a means of achieving an adult identity. Overall, findings of the study generated knowledge about female adolescent development and the trajectory path toward adulthood. Study findings suggest that pregnancy, for a group of late age adolescent African American lower class females, served as a primary way of confirming existence and providing a sense of identity rather than the result of sexual acting out behavior. The personal-social identities of the research sample were negotiated, validated and affirmed within their proximal and distal environments. The study furnished evidence for the idea of the adolescent female's genuine connectedness and responsive engagement to others as providing a context for self development. Findings tended to support the view that the adolescent does not have to disconnect or separate from familial relationships for the development of self. The sample population demonstrated continuity in relational connectedness with their mothers and relational primacy in identification with them. They also showed continuity in relational connection with peers as well as loyalty and care toward them. Findings supported the hypothesis that nonpregnant girls were more likely to establish linkages beyond the immediacy of family and peers which were reflected in their engagement in church, community, work, and educational environments. Nonpregnant girls were more frequently invested in behaviors that reflected social mobility aspirations. Moreover, findings tended to suggest that the perception and development of opportunity mobility goals, for Black adolescent females, are likely to be enhanced by institutional community support systems while connective relationships, for self development, with family and peers are sustained. [Source: DA]

Watts, Roderick J. 1993. "Community Action through Manhood Development: A Look at Concepts and Concerns from the Frontline." American Journal of Community Psychology vol. 21, pp. 333-359.
Abstract: Community programs for young African-American men have proliferated in the last few years. Identified here are key themes in manhood development as understood by activists (N = 40 interview respondents [Rs]) who work with these young men, comparing them to the perspectives of African-Americans scholars & community psychology. Qualitative analysis reveals 6 themes: family, culture & race, community, behavior, psychosocial development, & spirituality. These themes generally matched those in the academic literature & some echoed ecological thinking in community psychology. However, respondent (R) notions of prevention & their emphasis on "giving back" to the community were distinctive. Rs also valued cultural socialization & spirituality as key elements of manhood development. [Source: SA]

Maton, Kenneth I. and Marc A. Zimmerman. 1992. "Psychosocial Predictors of Substance Use among Urban Black Male Adolescents." Drugs and Society vol. 6, pp. 79-113.
Abstract: Lifestyle, social support/stress, and well-being were used to predict frequency of alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use among 150 urban African-American male adolescents (aged 15-29 yrs). Ss, most of whom had dropped out of school, participated in an initial interview and a follow-up interview 6 mo later. Lifestyle was a significant predictor of marijuana and hard drug use at both measurement points, and a predictor of alcohol use at 1 measurement point. Support/stress explained significant variance in alcohol use at both measurement points, and in marijuana use at 1 measurement point. Independent variance in substance use was explained by in-school status, spirituality, and life event stress. Low self-esteem predicted increased marijuana use 6 mo later. [Source: PI]

McCray, Walter Arthur. 1992. Black Young Adults: How to Reach Them, What to Teach Them. Chicago, IL: Black Light Fellowship.

McElroy, Robert. 1992. "Gaining Insights into the African-American Youth World and Issues Utilizing Interview/Rap Sessions and Surveys for Planning Youth Ministries." Thesis, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist Univ.
Abstract: The African-American church is experiencing great difficulty in reaching and keeping its youth involved in the church. The purpose of this practicum/project was to gain insights into the world of African-American youths; to identify major problems, concerns and needs; and to determine whether ministry programs informed through dialogue with youth offer greater appeal and increased probabilities for reaching and keeping more of the youth population active in the church. Project participants consisted of African-American church and high school youths offering personal views of their world and issues of concern, utilizing open forums and survey forms. The revealing data offered and the high levels of interest displayed during the study revealed that they have many good ideas to share and desire greater dialogue with the church. These findings strongly suggest that including youth representatives in ministry planning could result in more appealing youth programs. [Source: RI]

Zimmerman, Marc A. and Kenneth I. Maton. 1992. "Life-Style and Substance Use among Male African-American Urban Adolescents: A Cluster Analytic Approach." American Journal of Community Psychology vol. 20, pp. 121-138.
Abstract: Cluster analyzed 4 variables (school attendance, employment, church attendance, and delinquency) to develop life-style profiles, using interview data from 218 African-American male adolescents (mean age 17 yrs). Five meaningful clusters were retained and subjected to criterion validity analyses using measures of spirituality, participation in a voluntary organization, self-esteem, and friend's substance use. The 5 clusters were then compared on cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, and hard drug use. Results suggest that a lifestyle that includes an adaptive compensatory behavior component may be more adaptive than a lifestyle that does not include compensatory behavior. For example, youths who left high school before graduation but were involved in church reported less alcohol and substance use than youths who left school and were not involved in any meaningful instrumental activity. [Source: PI]

Brown, Diane R. and Lawrence E. Gary. 1991. "Religious Socialization and Educational Attainment among African-Americans: An Empirical Assessment." Journal of Negro Education vol. 60, pp. 411-426.

Gill, Walter. 1991. "Jewish Day Schools and Afrocentric Programs as Models for Educating African American Youth." Journal of Negro Education vol. 60, pp. 566-580.
Abstract: Argues that the success of Jewish day schools and Afrocentric educational programs have implications for educators who wish to help African American students achieve positive self-concept development and academic success. These schools have a record of successful achievement in student cognition and continuity skills. Their emphasis on moral and spiritual development has enabled them to better inculcate positive self-concept behaviors and academic achievement among their students at a level exceeding that of public schools with regard to African American populations. The low incidence of behavioral problems in Jewish schools has been attributed to the ability of the teachers to establish self-discipline behaviors in their students. Responsibility is shifted to students by degrees as they show themselves capable of assuming it. [Source: PI]

Luck, Mary Ann. 1991. "Factors That Influence Black High School Graduates to Go to College." Ed.D. Thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Abstract: Problem. A declining percentage of Black high school graduates is going to college. If they do not gain access to higher education, their prospects for economic success and personal growth, as well as the economic and social health of America, are jeopardized. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the stated reasons of black high school graduates for going to college. The emphasis was on discovering factors that encourage college enrollment. Methodology. Thirty Black graduates of a California high school were interviewed. Fifteen were college-goers; 15 were not. They were asked about family, schooling, friends, activities, and personal beliefs about the benefits of a college education for them. To analyze responses, a frequency count and a chi square test for association were done. Similarities and differences between the two groups were identified. Findings. Factors that associated with college attendance included: parents who had attended college and who believed education was very important, encouragement by high school counselors, taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test, participation in extracurricular activities, and deciding early to attend college. Factors that did not associate included: number of parents and siblings in the home, encouragement by family to attend college, parents' income, parents' expectations about grades, number of schools attended, study time, athletics, the racial make-up and attitudes of close friends, being active in church, and the armed services. Conclusions. These subjects and their families valued higher education and believed Blacks benefit from it. Most planned to earn bachelor's and master's degrees. Parents expressed high expectations but did not enforce them. Parents provided little information about college. Subjects were influenced by educators, particularly high school counselors. Recommendations. (1) Begin elementary school counseling for students and parents about the value of a college education for them. (2) Encourage school counselors to discuss the college option with all students and to allow students to prove they are capable. (3) Establish a school club to encourage students to consider college. (4) Tutor at-risk students. (5) Teach study skills to students. (6) Affirm the Black student's belief that he or she can be successful in this society. (7) Research further the perceptions and beliefs of Black students. (8) Research further the impact of family encouragement on college attendance. [Source: DA]

Myers, William. 1991. Black and White Styles of Youth Ministry: Two Congregations in America. New York: Pilgrim Press.

O'Keefe, Joseph Michael. 1991. "Higher Achievement Scholars: A Study of the Experience of Minority and Low-Income Students." Ed.D. Thesis, Harvard University.
Abstract: This thesis explores the phenomenon of inclusion and exclusion of low-income students of color in two private, all-male, Catholic high schools in metropolitan New York. These men, called HAP Scholars, participated in the Higher Achievement Program (HAP), a six-week college preparatory summer session that brings together low-income students from a variety of backgrounds. This work includes a concise history of Catholic secondary education as well as an examination of its current status and a review of the literature about minority students in private non-Catholic schools. My own qualitative inquiry involved observation of the school environment, a survey questionnaire sent to all HAP Scholars, and extensive in-depth interviews with a representative sample. My research develops a synthesis of the literature about this phenomenon, my own observations of the minority perspective and experience within the school cultures, autobiographical reflections on my status as a Catholic priest and a White male, and an interpretation and analysis of the interview data. I found eight themes that convey the breadth of the experience HAP Scholar alumni faced in high school: the relationship between home and school; creation of a home base in the school setting; exclusion and inclusion in the curriculum, classroom interactions, and the wider school culture; interracial and intraracial friendship patterns; ethnic self-perception and the ability to pass as a member of the majority; social-class self-perception; the role of adults in schools; high school in relation to the wider phenomenon of formal education including elementary school, the summer HAP session, and college. Using these themes, the thesis closely examines the complex and deep ambivalence of low-income, minority youth in a middle-class setting and explores how a school with a shared religious purpose is likely to serve its students better than a school without that characteristic. A study of demographic trends points to the timeliness and significance of this type of inquiry which evokes within the reader a deeper understanding of the challenges, opportunities, and obstacles for low- income students of color through an understanding of their perceptions and experience. [Source: DA]

Lock, Sharon Estelle. 1990. "Factors Affecting Premarital Sexual Intercourse and Contraceptive Use among Rural Adolescent Females." Ph.D. Thesis, University of South Carolina.
Abstract: Many factors associated with female adolescent sexual decision-making are of interest to nursing and could be positively influenced by nursing strategies. Secondary analysis using structural equation modeling was used to determine the direct and indirect effects of selected demographic and psychosocial factors on female adolescents' decisions to: (1) engage or not engage in premarital sexual intercourse, and (2) use effective or ineffective contraception at most recent intercourse. Data were derived from responses to selected items from a questionnaire designed to evaluate the South Carolina School/Community Program for Sexual Risk Reduction Among Teens. In this program, one school district in a rural South Carolina county received an educational intervention and another school district in the same county served as the comparison group. Respondents consisted of 564 predominantly black females ages 12 to 19 years old who participated in the program in 1987. Cox's Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior provided a nursing framework to guide the study. Demographic and psychosocial factors included: town, age, race, religious affiliation, family structure, socioeconomic status, affordability and accessibility of contraception, religiosity, parent-adolescent communication, peer influence, commitment to partner, educational goals, reproductive and contraceptive knowledge, sex-role attitudes, sexual and contraceptive attitudes, decision-making ability, self-esteem, health locus of control, and personal responsibility. Multiple regression, logistic regression and LISREL VII were used to analyze the data. Findings indicated that town, age, family structure, peer influence, commitment to partner, and sexual attitudes had significant direct effects on premarital sexual intercourse. Birth control attitudes and parent-adolescent communication had significant direct effects on contraceptive use. LISREL analysis indicated that Cox's model fit the premarital sexual intercourse data poorly, whereas, the model fit the contraceptive use data reasonably well. Findings suggest that nursing strategies should focus on the development of peer counseling groups, promotion of positive attitudes toward sexuality and contraception, and development of parent support groups. [Source: DA]

Scotland, Robert M. 1990. "Developing a Model of Christian Education for Adolescents in Rural Black Baptists Churches." Thesis, Columbia Theological Seminary.
Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a model of Christian education for adolescents in rural Black Baptist churches. A study of developmental theories; an understanding of what adolescents perceive their needs to be; a demographic study of adolescents in Greenwood, South Carolina; a survey of rural Black Baptist churches; and the presentation of a theory are suggested which cover the areas of basic doctrines, Christian growth, Christian living, and relationships. [Source: RI]

Williams, Diane B. 1990. "Pregnancy Prevention among African-American Adolescent Boys: A Case Study." Thesis, Howard University School of Divinity.
Abstract: This project examines through the case study methodology one church's efforts to determine if positive intervention in the lives of African-American boys (ages 12-14) by the African-American church will prevent boys from participating in premature and irresponsible sexual activity. For this purpose the church established Project A Better Choice (Project ABC), a male mentored program designed to assist the boys in making life choices that will lead towards their becoming spiritually, physically, and mentally mature, self-sufficient, and socially-concerned men. [Source: RI]

Allen Meares, Paula. 1989. "Adolescent Sexuality and Premature Parenthood: Role of the Black Church in Prevention." Journal of Social Work and Human Sexuality vol. 8, pp. 133-142.
Abstract: Presents some of the consequences of adolescent sexual behaviors and premature parenthood, with a particular focus on Black adolescents. Historical issues unique to the Black experience in the US (e.g., fear of genocide) are identified, which operate as barriers to preventive efforts such as the use of family planning services. The present author advocates the role that the Black church can play in postponing adolescent sexual activity and parenthood. [Source: PI]

Carr, Mary Trout. 1989. "Adolescents and Factors Influencing Participation in Organized Religion: An Exploratory Study of Black Youth, Their Families and Pastors in an Urban Environment." Ph.D. Thesis, The Union For Experimenting Colleges and Universities.
Abstract: The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the Pentecostal church serving the Black Community (although youth and ministers from other denominations were interviewed). This work summarizes some of the difficulties of the Black church in reaching the youth, specifically in the Pentecostal church. Emphasis is placed on the disassociation of youth from the church, based on an examination of this institution and its relationship to young adults. Also, this study is about how these two entities (the youth and the church) can bridge the chasm that exists between them. Qualitative-quantitative and descriptive methodologies were employed in hopes of finding the missing factors that can bring the church and youth together. Finally, this study suggests that the church needs to do more to keep the attention of the youths by employing more resources outside of the church to reach them. The basic hypothesis purports that Black youth are leaving the church of their family origin at a high rate, and many of the churches in the Black communities fail to meet the needs of these youth. Sixteen pastors were interviewed from various mainline denominations as well as pastors from the Pentecostal church. An open-ended questionnaire was developed to do the field work. After interviewing twenty-nine churched and unchurched youth, male and female, ages thirteen to eighteen, it was revealed that most youth were disenchanted with the church. In addition, many youth in this study had low regard for some of the pastors because of their questionable behavior. The unchurched youth viewed these pastors as hypocritical and not living up the their "Call" as ministers. This work, however, is not to be understood as the ultimate answer to the problem of adolescents and the church, but this study will recommend some appropriate responses to these concerns. [Source: DA]

Gassaway, Jeanette Marie. 1989. "Adolescent Sexuality Education: A Survey within the Black Church." M.A. Thesis, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Abstract: This study assessed the informational interests of adolescents and their parents for sexuality education, adolescents' sexual knowledge and sexual concerns, adolescents' first, current, and preferred sources of information as indicated by adolescents and parents, and parent-child communication about sexuality. The results indicated that adolescents were marginally interested in obtaining more information about sexuality topics while parents were significantly more interested in their adolescents obtaining more information on sexuality topics. Adolescents were knowledgeable about sexual functioning, and were not greatly concerned about the sexual issues presented. Mother, school, and friends were both adolescents' first and current sources of sexuality information. They preferred mother, school, and church. Parents reported that mother, school, and father were adolescents' current sources of sexuality information. Parents preferred mother, church, and father. Parents reported discussing and wanting to discuss sexuality with their children and feeling comfortable in doing so significantly more than adolescents. [Source: DA]

McKaig, Charlene S. 1989. "The Relationships among Adolescent Future Time Perspective, Self-Esteem and Present Health Behavior." Ed.D. Thesis, State University of New York At Buffalo.
Abstract: The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship of adolescent health behavior to future time perspective, self-esteem, and the demographic characteristics of gender, race, age, grade in school, socioeconomic status, and religion. The health promotion model was used as the organizing framework. Four instruments were used to measure the variables: the Teen Wellness Check measured health behavior, the dependent variable; the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory; the Future Time Perspective Inventory; and a short questionnaire eliciting information about religion, church attendance, and parents' education and occupation. In addition, parent questionnaires were completed by 18 parents to compare their responses on selected health behavior items with their adolescents' responses. A sample of 303 adolescents were surveyed from three different high schools in one public city school system in the Southeastern United States. The majority (64.4%) of the sample was in middle adolescence, 15 and 16 years old and in the 9th grade (69.6%). More than half were female (59.7%). The adolescents were predominantly Black (95.7%) and came from families where the mothers (92.6%) and fathers (89.9%) had a high school education or less. Two hundred sixty-one subjects (86.7%) identified themselves as Protestants and 194 (64.7%) said they attended a church once a week or more. Multiple regression analyses resulted in three variables being mildly predictive (17.9% of the variance at p $leq$.05) of positive health behavior: high self-esteem, church attendance weekly or more often, and a father with less than a high school education. Self-esteem accounted for over one third (38.1%) of the variance. A longer future time perspective, although weakly correlated (r = $-$0.19), was not predictive of positive health behavior. Future recommendations include expanding the research to include a more heterogeneous sample, adolescents in each developmental category, and adolescents from a variety of identified family constellations. Another recommendation is to continue to evaluate instrumentation to gather data about the multiple factors that influence adolescent health behavior. [Source: DA]

Neal, Albert Aiken. 1988. "Religious Involvement and Practices Concerning the Use of Alcohol among Black Adolescents." Ed.D. Thesis, University of South Carolina.
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the Black male adolescent's use of alcohol and (1) his own church involvement, and (2) the church involvement of important others (father, mother, and best friend). The subjects of the investigation were 139 Black male adolescents age 12-15 in a southeastern state. All came from families meeting Federal guidelines for low income, and all claimed membership in or affiliation with the Baptist denomination. More than half the subjects (60.5%) reported attending church once a week or more, and 63.3% reported that they never drank alcohol beverages. The instrument used was a self-report questionnaire (Neal's Alcohol Attitudes Questionnaire) administered to the subjects. Items were designed to measure the adolescent's alcohol use, father's church attendance, mother church attendance, best friend's church attendance, attitude toward religion, attitude toward father, attitude toward mother, attitude toward alcohol, and the adolescent's use of alcohol. The findings were discussed in the light of previous research, including Fishbein's model of behavioral intentions, and were found to be in general agreement. Support was found for the importance of the father versus the mother as a role model for adolescent sons in Black families. The findings also indicate that the adolescent's own church attendance influences his decision on alcohol use more than the church attendance of parents or best friends. [Source: DA]

Rice, Gwendolyn. 1988. "Young Black Men, the Church and Our Future." Chicago Theological Seminary Register vol. 78, pp. 10-15.

Riggs, H. L. 1988. "Contributions of the Black Adolescent Mother and Her Newborn toward the Establishment of Dyadic Adaptation." Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Texas at Austin.
Abstract: A descriptive study of 51 black adolescent mother/neonate dyads explored the relationships of maternal/infant variables and dyadic adaptation. One observation of dyadic adaptative behaviors was made using the Nursing Child Assessment Feeding Scale (NCAFS) before hospital discharge. Maternal variables, self-esteem and social support, were measured by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale and the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors. Infant variables included size (small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA), and large for gestational age (LGA)) and internal organization represented by the constructs of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (BNBAS), habituation, orientation, motor performance, range of state, regulation of state, autonomic response, and reflexes. A significance level of p < 0.10 was justified with the small sample size. Data were collected over 10 months in a southwest medical center. The primiparous mothers between the ages of 14 and 18 had at least minimal prenatal care and delivered vaginally healthy, term infants who were bottle-fed. The average mother was 17 years old, single, Protestant and living with one or more siblings and her mother, the source of financial support. She completed 9th grade, entered prenatal care about the 4th month, and averaged seven visits. Forty-six (90.2%) of the 51 infants were AGA. The Pearson correlation coefficient yielded no significant relationship between maternal self-esteem and either dyadic adaptation (r =.02) or maternal social support (r =.03) nor between infant size and dyadic adaptation (r =.14). A significant relationship existed between maternal social support and dyadic adaptation (r =.35, p =.006). No significant relationships were identified by the regression analysis of infant internal organization constructs and dyadic adaptation, although motor performance appeared to be most predictive of adaptation (beta weight =.273; Multiple R =.237). In the regression analysis of infant size as the predictor variable of internal organization a significant relationship existed between size and the construct range of state at p =.09 (Multiple R =.237). Since findings represent one point in the adaptive process and cannot be generalized beyond the study sample, replication of the study with a larger sample size and longitudinal follow-up examinations are recommended. (Scientific symbols modified where possible in accordance with CINAHL policy.) [Source: CI]

Smith, Althea. 1988. "Responsibility of the African-American Church as a Source of Support for Adolescent Fathers." Urban League Review vol. 12, pp. 83-90.
Abstract: It is argued that the traditionally supportive role of the Afro-American church with regard to the family must be extended to adolescent fathers, & that its traditionally intolerant attitude toward early pregnancies has to change. Adolescent fathers have various concerns: their education/vocation; the health of the mother & baby; their future parenthood; & their relationship with their partner. The church today needs to create opportunities for the educational & professsional advancement of Afro-American youth by providing family & parenting services & education on sexuality & responsible sexual behavior. A. Devic [Source: SA]

Clark, Joyce Henrene. 1987. "An Investigation of the Relationship between Influences on Black Adolescent Sexual Decision-Making and Self-Concept, Family Structure, Socioeconomic Status, and Ethnicity." Ed.D. Thesis, Loyola University of Chicago.
Abstract: This study was designed (1) to investigate social and psychological factors identified by black adolescents as most influential in their decision-making about sexual behavior and (2) to analyze the relationship between these factors and self-concept, intactness of family structure, parental supervision of dating, ethnicity, religiosity, age, gender and socioeconomic status. The subjects of this study include 308 black high school students ranging in age from 12 to 19 years. The sample includes 142 males and 166 females from middle and lower socioeconomic levels. Instruments used in this study include the Juhasz-Schneider Sexual Decision-Making Questionnaire (1978), The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (Fitts, 1965), and the Black Power Ideology Scale II (Lessing, 1976). Data collected from subjects using the various research instruments were analyzed using a combination of principal component factor analysis. Eight major hypotheses were formulated and tested utilizing a discriminant analysis procedure where individual survey items to the JSSDMQ were used as the predictor variables and self-concept, family structure, ethnicity, religiosity, age, gender and socioeconomic status were used as the criterion variables. The results of the factor analysis yielded the following factors that seem to influence black adolescent sexual decision-making: (1) Adolescent Egocentrism emphasizes an attitude toward intercourse that is egocentric, impulse-oriented and manipulative; (2) Parenthood Competency focuses on desire and ability of the adolescent to assume the responsibilities of parenthood; (3) Consequences of Early Childbearing emphasizes the limitations and consequences of childbearing on education, career chances, social life and personal development of the adolescent; (4) Dyadic Interaction centers on the importance of intimacy, respect, commitment and quality in the romantic relationship; (5) Outer Directiveness, where Locus of Control is the focus, and the responsibility for sexual decisions relates to outer forces such as parents, peers and religion rather than to an inner personal responsibility; (6) Consequences of Early Marriage stresses the limitations and consequences of early marriage on educational plans, career chances, independence, social life and life style. The results of the study support the claim that a statistically significant relationship exists between factors which influence sexual decision-making and the hypothesized variables. [Source: DA]

Giles, Shewanna Lagale K. 1987. "The Sexual Attitudes of Black Adolescent Females." M.S.S.W. Thesis, The University of Texas, Arlington.
Abstract: An exploratory study of the sexual attitudes of Black adolescent females was conducted. A 54 pecent return rate was obtained. The study explores relationships among demographic factors and reported psychological variables regarding sexual security, sexual self image, and sexual autonomy. Data analysis involved the use of general frequencies, and Pearson's Correlation. Correlation analysis of the sample indicated a significant correlation between age, religion, family relationships relative to sexual attitudes and behaviors. The importance of this research lies in its contribution to understanding Black adolescent development, their attitude formation and the clarification of stereotypes regarding sexuality in Black adolescents. This is of fundamental importance in trying to combat the teenage pregnancy epidemic. [Source: DA]

Sweet, Loretta Elaine. 1987. "Sexual Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior among Black Male Adolescents." Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Abstract: This study examined the relationship of religiosity, perceived parental strictness, family structure, and socioeconomic status to sexual knowledge, attitudes, and behavior among Black male adolescents. Two hundred inner-city Black male junior and senior high school students between the ages of 11 and 19 years anonymously completed a 45-minute questionnaire containing all the measures. The data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. In these analyses, the relation of a particular independent variable was examined while the effects of the other independent variables were statistically controlled. In addition, the analyses statistically controlled for student's age. The results revealed that the sexual attitudes of the students who were higher in religiosity were both more moralistic and more responsible than were those of their peers. These students also used contraception more frequently when they had sexual intercourse. Students who perceived their parents as stricter were older when they first had sexual intercourse. Students who lived with both parents were less likely to have made someone pregnant and were more likely to have been in a steady relationship the first time they had sexual intercourse. Students with higher socioeconomic class were younger on their first date, when they had their first steady romantic relationship, and when they had sexual intercourse for the first time. As might be expected, there were a number of significant relations involving age, for instance, older students had more sexual knowledge and experience and used contraceptives more consistently during the past year. In general, the students in this sample engaged in sexual intercourse at an early age without using contraception. Their mean age at first intercourse was 11 years, and 78.3% of those who had intercourse did not use contraception on the first occasion. The results suggest the need for human sexuality programs which includes contraception for Black male adolescents aged 11 years and younger. Limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research on Black male adolescent sexuality are offered. [Source: DA]

Brantley, Lenore Spence. 1986. "Adolescent Moral Development and Religious Exposure in a Black Seventh-Day Adventist Parochial School." Ed.D. Thesis, Peabody College For Teachers of Vanderbilt University.
Abstract: This investigation was a pilot study which analyzed the relationship between adolescent moral development and religious exposure in a black Seventh-day Adventist parochial school. To date, little research has explored the area of moral development and black youth. The study was conducted at a small private Seventh-day Adventist school in Alabama and included 67 11th- and 12th-grade black students (27 males and 40 females) enrolled during the 1984-85 school year. Moral development is defined as one's developing ability to make decisions regarding right and wrong conduct. The Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1972) assessed the survey group's level or moral reasoning. This test is based on Kohlberg's six stage model of moral maturity. Religious exposure was measured by a Religious Exposure Checklist which elicited information on student involvement in religious activities. Seven hypotheses were used to assess the effect of religious exposure upon black youth. The step-wise multiple regression and the Pearson r correlation procedure were used to assess the relationship between variables. The findings tested at the .05 level of significance included the following. There is a significant relationship between the moral development of black 11th- and 12th-grade parochial school students and grades in Bible class, frequency of family worship, and grade level. Moral developmental scores were also significantly higher for one third of the survey group who regularly attended prayer meeting. There is a nonsignificant relationship between the moral development of black 11th- and 12th-grade parochial school students and number of years of formal religious education, Sabbath or Sunday School attendance, 11 o'clock church service attendance, and frequency of personal Bible study. It was further discovered that the moral development reasoning level of the survey group as measured by the Defining Issues Test was lower than the national high school sample. Such a finding may be attributed to (a) religious conservatism, (b) method of test analysis, and (c) test instrument bias against the survey group. Further research is recommended to ascertain more precise reasons for the findings of this study. [Source: DA]

Freeman, Richard B. 1986. "Who Escapes? The Relation of Churchgoing and Other Background Factors to the Socioeconomic Performance of Black Male Youths from Inner-City Tracts." Pp. 353-376 in The Black Youth Employment Crisis, edited by B. Freeman Richard and J. Holzer Harry. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McCray, Walter Arthur. 1986. Reaching and Teaching Black Young Adults: An Exposition toward Strengthening the Church through Ministry to Urban Black Young Adults. Chicago, Ill.: Black Light Fellowship.

Brown, Shirley Vining. 1985. "Premarital Sexual Permissiveness among Black Adolescent Females." Social Psychology Quarterly vol. 48, pp. 381-387.
Abstract: Tested the assumption of subcultural permissiveness among Blacks, using data on 702 15-29 yr old Black females from the 1976 National Survey of Young Women. Logit models were used to analyze differences in observed levels of permissiveness in relation to socioeconomic status (SES), religiosity, and close friends' sexual attitudes. The model of premarital permissiveness presented reveals that SES, as measured by family income, had no significant effect on levels of permissiveness. However, it was necessary to include frequency of church attendance and perception of close friends' permissiveness in order to explain Ss' attitudes toward premarital sex. Findings support the hypothesis that sexual standards among Blacks are not uniform and suggest that the influence of Black religious institutions on sexual permissiveness may be more important than previously assumed. [Source: PI]

Boyd, Mary Maxine. 1984. "The Religiosity of Black Youth in Transition." M.A. Thesis, California State University Dominguez Hills.

Hendricks, Leo E., Diane P. Robinson Brown, and Lawrence E. Gary. 1984. "Religiosity and Unmarried Black Adolescent Fatherhood." Adolescence vol. 19, pp. 417-424.
Abstract: 48 unmarried Black adolescent fathers and 50 unmarried Black adolescent nonfathers under age 21 yrs were interviewed with regard to their religious behavior and attitudes; social and demographic characteristics; sexual knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and problems and coping methods to examine the relationship between religiosity and unmarried adolescent fatherhood. Results indicate that fathers did not differ from nonfathers in the degree that they were religiously oriented but in the manner that they gave expression to their religious involvement. Fathers were more likely to be responsive to nongroup modes of institutionalized religion (i.e., media forms), whereas nonfathers' religious involvement was likely to be within institutionalized groups. Findings also suggest that unmarried Black adolescent fathers are more likely to be employed, drop out of school, and not to use contraceptives. Media forms are recommended to practitioners as useful ways of reaching out to young Black fathers. [Source: PI]

Hendricks, Leo E. and Robert E. Fullilove. 1983. "Locus of Control and the Use of Contraception among Unmarried Black Adolescent Fathers and Their Controls: A Preliminary Report." Journal of Youth and Adolescence vol. 12, pp. 225-233.
Abstract: Presents preliminary data from a study of 48 unmarried Black adolescent fathers and 50 matched controls who had never been fathers. The fathers were more likely to have an external locus of control, to be non-churchgoers, and not to believe in using birth control. Policy implications of this research indicate that unmarried Black adolescent fathers should be given birth control counseling and that if other forms of counseling are warranted, attention should be paid to issues of locus of control. [Source: PI]

Canson Pegues, Patricia. 1982. "The Sexual Attitudes of African-American Adolescent Females." Ph.D. Thesis, The Wright Institute.
Abstract: This study focuses on the sexual attitudes of Black adolescent females. It explores relationships among demographic factors (i.e., age and religion), family life variables (e.g., closeness of the family) and self reported psychological variables regarding sexual image, sexual autonomy, and sexual security. Thirty one 16, 17 and 18 year old Black female high school students recruited from urban high schools and youth centers served as subjects. Subjects completed a three part questionnaire based on items from the Offer Self Image Questionnaire which measured sexual self esteem, the Sorenson Survey of Sexual Attitudes which measured sexual autonomy and sexual security, and the Westside Health Survey which elicited demographic and sexual activity information. Data analysis involved exploration of the sample first as a whole and second by its dichotomization into sexually active and inactive subjects. Correlation analysis of the sample as a whole indicated that age and religion were not significantly related to the subjects sexual attitudes. Sexual autonomy, measured by high scores on items which reflected sexual control and choice, was positively related to the family life variable of family closeness, and to the future goal variable of career aspiration. Chi square comparisons between subjects who were more secure about how to handle sex (as indicated by high scores on sexual self image items) and subjects who were less secure, indicated that the latter group felt that they knew less about sexuality than their peers, and were highly ambivalent about whether to abort or keep unplanned pregnancies. When sexually active and inactive subjects (i.e., those who respectively have or have not experienced sexual intercourse) were compared, sexually active subjects described a closer relationship with their mothers, had generally closer family ties and in general did not require a commitment to a love relationship in order to be sexually active. Inactive girls, on the other hand, described their family relationships as less close, explained their lack of sexual activity as unreadiness for the responsibilities of intimacy or as an inability to find the right partner. The importance of this research lies in its contribution to understanding Black adolescent development, to the clarification of myths and stereotypes regarding sexuality in Black females and to the continuing search for understanding of human sexuality. [Source: DA]

Duvall, Henry. 1982. "Youth Demanding Change in the Black Church." The Crisis vol. 89, p. 11.

Fair, Frank T. 1977. Orita for Black Youth: An Initiation into Christian Adulthood. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.

Globetti, Gerald, Majeed Alsikafi, and Richard J. Morse. 1977. "Alcohol Use among Black Youth in a Rural Community." Drug and Alcohol Dependence vol. 2, pp. 255-260.
Abstract: Based on a study of 364 Black students in Grades 7-12, it is concluded that the circumstances which surround the act of drinking among Black students in an abstinence setting are somewhat different from those recorded elsewhere. Although fewer students drank, the drinking styles revealed several dimensions frequently associated with alcohol abuse. As a rule, users did not have parental permission to drink, and for the most part they identified with churches that condemned alcohol on moral grounds. Because many of the youth procured their beverages from illegal sources or in an illegal way, they tended to drink in a surrepetitious manner. This suggested that less drinking can be expected in abstinence settings but, among those young people who drink, problems may be more frequent. Drinking under these conditions may actually be an expression of a general test of the limits of the adult world or a symbol of rejection of adult standards. Subsequently, the abuse of alcohol may decrease with maturity. Regardless of their meaning, however, the findings do point to a need for education about alcohol at the school level. [Source: PI]

Roebuck, Julian and Marsha G. McGee. 1977. "Attitudes toward Premarital Sex and Sexual Behavior among Black High School Girls." Journal of Sex Research vol. 13, pp. 104-114.
Abstract: Examined the premarital sexual attitudes and sexual behavior of 242 Black high school females. It was hypothesized that sexual attitudes and behavior vary in relationship to family structure, social class, and religious participation. Results show that Black family structure appeared to have a significant influence on premarital sexual permissiveness of daughters, particularly in the matriarchal family. Social class appeared slightly to influence attitudes, but behavior between classes was similar. No relationship was found between religious participation and attitudes toward premarital sex and sexual behavior, although the more active religious girls were more permissive or as permissive toward premarital sex as the less active religious girls. [Source: PI]

Hunt, Larry L. and Janet G. Hunt. 1975. "A Religious Factor in Secular Achievement among Blacks: The Case of Catholicism." Social Forces vol. 53, pp. 595-605.
Abstract: Studied the relationship between religious affiliation and secular achievement among Blacks. Examining a sample of 412 urban Black adolescents, Protestant-Catholic differences in attitudes toward achievement and Black identity were examined. Results indicate a distinctive secular orientation among Black Catholics, combining higher educational and occupational aspirations and an attenuation of Black identity. This pattern was absent in the lower class but present in the working and middle classes and was most apparent when the strength of religious identification was high. Findings suggest that Catholicism may be consequential for status maintenance and moderate mobility among Blacks. Whether this interplay can be understood as the effect of a "religious factor" is also considered. [Source: PI]

Perkins, Benjamin Paul. 1972. Black Christians' Tragedies; an Analysis of Black Youth and Their Church. New York: Exposition Press.

Trobisch, Walter. 1962. "Attitudes of Some African Youth toward Sex and Marriage." Practical Anthropology vol. 9, pp. 9-14.

Lee, J. Oscar. 1950. "The Religious Life and Needs of Negro Youth." Journal of Negro Education vol. 19, pp. 298-309.
Abstract: To meet the religious needs of Negro youth a change in the content of preaching is needed as well as more participation by youth in the planning and execution of the program. Educational methods and more effective leadership are required. The church itself must give up its practice of segregation. [Source: PI]