This study examined the effects of marital status, family income, and family functioning on African American adolescents' self-esteem. One hundred sixteen adolescents participated, 64% of whom were female. Compared with boys with nonmarried parents, boys with married parents had higher overall self-esteem, even when family income and family functioning were controlled. Parental marital status had no effect on girls' self-esteem. Family functioning was a very strong predictor of self-esteem for both sexes. However, family relational factors were more important to girls' self-esteem, whereas structural and growth factors were more important for boys. It was concluded that African American adolescent boys with nonmarried parents are at risk for developing low self-esteem compared with other African American adolescents, but a more controlled and structured environment may buffer the effects of having nonmarried parents.

This study empirically identified types of African American families. Adolescents (N ϭ 111) were assessed on family functioning. With cluster analytic methods, 3 types of families were identified. The cohesive-authoritative type was above average on parental education and income, averaged about 2 children, exhibited a high quality of family functioning and high self-esteem in adolescents. The conflictive-authoritarian type had average parental education and income, an average of 2.7 children, exhibited controlling and rigid discipline, and placed a high emphasis on achievement. The defensive-neglectful type was predominately headed by single mothers with below average education and income and averaged about 3 children. Such families displayed chaotic family processes, and adolescents tended to suffer from low self-esteem. The typology exhibited good reliability. The implications of the typology are discussed.

Gender role development was assessed in 52 father-absent and 54 father-present African American adolescents. Father-present boys, especially those from lower-income backgrounds, had higher perceptions of their masculinity than did father-absent boys. Lower income father-absent girls perceived themselves to be higher in masculinity than did all other girls. Consequently, father-present adolescents tended to have more traditional gender role orientations than did those in father-absent homes. It is argued that mothers' and fathers' different socializing strategies balance out in two-parent homes. However, in father-absent homes, mothers' tendency to rely on and pressure their daughters fosters relatively more masculine girls, whereas a lack of father socialization fosters less masculine boys. Implications for theory and future research are also discussed.

The purposes of this study were to conduct afactor analysis of Baldwin and Bell's African Self-Consciousness (ASC) Scale, evaluate the effect of demographic variables on one's African self-consciousness, and relate the ASC Scale scores to criterion behaviors in a non-Southern and noncollege population. The scale was administered to 147AfricanAmericans residing in three Southern California cities. The ASC Scale's reliability, factor structure, and construct validity were examined. The scale had a Cronbach's alpha of .78. Principal axesfactoranalysis foundfourfactors, and it is suggested that 32 out of 42 items be retained to formulate the revised subscale dimensions identified as Personal Identification With the Group, Self-ReinforcementAgainstRacism, Racial and Cultural Awareness, and Value for African Culture. The ASC Scale appears to be a viable instrument for use in research investigating African Americans.

African American mother-child dyads (N = 99) were observed interacting on a collaborative puzzle exercise. Raters blind to the purpose of the study rated the dyads on several mother and child behaviors. Mothers of daughters were rated as more empathetic, encouraging, warm, and accepting and less negative than mothers of sons. Male children were more challenging and less happy, relaxed, and engaged. Mediation analyses found that the differences in mother-child relationships explained the gender differences in child behavior. These patterns

The present study identified predictors of African American adolescent sexual activity. An ecological model of personal, familial, and extrafamilial risk factors was proposed. Forty-eight female and 53 male African American adolescents participated. Hierarchical logistic regression and structural equation modeling found some support for the model. Risk factors were found at each level of the adolescents'social ecology and explained over 80% of the variance in sexual activity. Being older, male, having low parental monitoring, using drugs, and having friends that used drugs decreased the probability of being a virgin. Virgins also expected to live 10 years longer than nonvirgins. It was suggested that fathers and community members should take a more active role in adolescents' lives to curb the threat of HIV/AIDS and other STDs in the African American community.

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This study expands on John Darley and Paget Gross's 1983 research examining the process leading to the confirmation of a perceiver's expectancies about a target individual when the social label that created the expectancy provides poor or tentative evidence about the target's true dispositions or capabilities. In line with previous findings, stereotype information in the no-performance condition did not produce differential estimates of the child's achievement ability, but stereotype information did affect estimates of the child in the performance condition. Thus individuals found evidence in the ambiguous performance sequence congruent with the race, class, and gender stereotypes. The combination of race, class, and gender resulted in more extreme expectancy confirmation for the Black, lower class, male child than for the other race, class, and gender combinations. Thefindings are discussed with respect to implicationsfor teacher education.