Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Black American Youth and Families: A Case Study from the EMBRace Intervention

Abstract

Black American youth are vulnerable to the consequences of repeated exposure to racial discrimination, particularly through hampered coping abilities and greater internalizing and externalizing problems. One way in which Black American parents have protected their children from these deleterious consequences is through racial socialization, or communication regarding aspects of racialized experiences and contexts. Less is known, however, about the potential therapeutic benefits of racial socialization via clinical intervention. The five-week Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race (EMBRace) racial socialization intervention was developed to enhance coping strategies for parents and adolescents and reduce adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. The purpose of this study is to describe a case study of one family through a mixed methods approach. Variables of interest included racial discrimination, racial socialization, coping, and psychological well-being. Quantitative and qualitative assessments were performed two weeks prior to and one week after the implementation of EMBRace, with qualitative data collected throughout the intervention. Results indicate a developing sense of coping for the adolescent and parent and reduced adolescent psychosocial problems despite increased racialized stress. Results will be used to further investigate the hypotheses proposed in the pilot with a powered sample, and future studies will explore how sociodemographic and biopsychosocial variables relate to policy recommendations, program implementation, and psychosocial outcomes.

EMBRace: Developing a Racial Socialization Intervention to Reduce Racial Stress and Enhance Racial Coping among Black Parents and Adolescents

“…Indeed, youth who report more frequent RS also indicate using more engaged coping strategies beyond that found solely from generalized coping socialization practices (Anderson, Jones et al, 2018). Thus, approach-oriented racial communication within families may be mutually beneficial for parents and adolescents hoping to alleviate the stress experienced from racial discrimination (Anderson, Jones, et al, 2018;Anderson, et al, 2018b;Anderson, McKenny, Mitchell, Koku, & Stevenson, 2018). As such, a second important question emerges: How can families improve their coping skills and socialization practices?…”

“…For preliminary feasibility and outcome data with coping responses, please refer to prior publications (Anderson, et al, 2018b;Anderson, et al, 2018c). By offering psychoeducation and enhanced coping methods, the developers seek to respect the autonomy of families in communication while also exploring in what ways RST contributes to RS strategies.…”

“…The desired outcome is healthy racial coping and families feeling more competent in their ability to engage in RS with their children. For preliminary feasibility and outcome data with coping responses, please refer to prior publications (Anderson, et al, 2018b;Anderson, et al, 2018c). We present a description of the development, training, and session components below.…”

What's Race Got to Do With It? Racial Socialization's Contribution to Black Adolescent Coping

“…As such, the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) posits that adolescents of color develop a growing awareness of racial discrimination that may impact their self‐concept (Spencer, Dupree, & Hartmann, ). Additionally, Black youth are overrepresented in low‐income families in the United States (Addy, Engelhardt, & Skinner, ), with such economic hardship relating to strained parent–child relationships among Black youth and their caregivers (Anderson, ). Finally, Black youth encounter higher rates of neighborhood violence (e.g., homicide; Voisin, ), which has been linked to psychological distress and posttraumatic stress syndrome in adolescents (Berton & Stabb, ; Kupersmidt, Shahinfar, & Voegler‐Lee, ).…”

“…Furthermore, youth may not be actively aware that they are stressed, yet multiple indicators (e.g., allostatic load, depression, and anxiety; Brody et al, 2014;Priest et al, 2013) may suggest otherwise. When parents are able to practice strategies with their children to help them prepare for discrimination, youth have reported feeling more efficacious and prepared to combat the negative consequences of racism (Anderson, Jones, et al, 2018;Anderson, McKenny, Mitchell, Koku, & Stevenson, 2018). If racial discrimination is an additional stressor faced by Black youth, RS may be conceptualized as a supplement to the general coping socialization practices for Black families (Stevenson, 2014).…”