Child rearing methods used in African American homes have been the subject of much commentary among social scientists, child welfare, and legal personnel. Much of the deliberation has centered on firm disciplinary techniques used by African American mothers. However, few studies have included the perspectives of African American fathers. This study investigated the differences between African American mothers' and fathers' responses in relation to child misbehavior. Several significant differences were found with mothers utilizing more intense disciplinary methods than African American fathers. Results of this investigation underscored the importance of obtaining the viewpoints of African American fathers as well as mothers in understanding parenting in African American homes.Key Points for the Family Court Community:African American mothers and fathers use a variety of disciplinary methods to address misbehavior in their children.When social scientists are preoccupied with African Americans spanking or "whuppin" their children, it becomes easier for researchers to deny African American parents their intentional (e.g., explained behavioral expectations to child) and strategic (e.g., hierarchical in nature in that second disciplinary response to misbehavior is more severe than the first) child-rearing qualities that are associated with being a competent parent. Helping professionals are reluctant to broach the discussion of child discipline with African American parents. There is a significant gender effect in the intensity of disciplinary practices among African American parents in that mothers tend to use more severe disciplinary practices than fathers. Disciplinary Best Practice Questions can be a way of uniformly assessing disciplinary tactics and making a decision about when discipline crosses the line to abuse. They could focus investigators, therapists, and judges away from inherent biases and on to the facts of a case.
Parents from all backgrounds often grapple with child-rearing issues when their children reach adolescent age. For African American families, the task of addressing problematic adolescent behaviors is complicated by their interaction with external systems (e.g., agencies, schools, legal systems) whose workers often struggle to meet the mental health and social service needs of an increasingly diverse society. Clinical mental health counselors are ethically bound to be knowledgeable about the cultural diversity of individuals and families and about changes in cultural expectations and values. The primary focus of this article is to lay the foundation for a psychoeducational approach to addressing child discipline with African American parents who have adolescent children living at home. A five-week psychoeducational model is presented to inform African American parents of current research and discussions on African American child disciplinary methods.
Parent training programs have been deemed the gold standard for addressing child misbehavior in families. Recent investigations on parent education have placed an emphasis on developing culturally responsive programming in which evidence‐based parenting interventions are adopted to focus on racial, ethnic, and cultural issues. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of group counseling sessions, as measured from pre‐ to postintervention, on how African‐American parents respond to adolescent misbehavior. The results provide evidence that group counseling does have an overall effect on the intensity of disciplinary practices among African‐American parents. Irrespective of the child's age, the effect appears to be more prevalent in cases of mild misbehavior than those of severe misbehavior. Implications for culturally responsive counseling practice are also discussed.
Now there is always something in this country, of course, one cannot think about -the Negro. This may seem like a very subtle argument, but I don't think so. Time will prove the connection between the level of the lives we lead and the extraordinary endeavor to avoid Black men. It shows in our public life.James Baldwin (2014)
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