Aggression and Paternal Absence: Racial-Ethnic Differences among Inner-City Boys

Abstract

Aggression scores were obtained for 132 preadolescent inner-city males to test the hypothesis that paternal absence may differentially influence aggressive behavior. A statistically significant, two-way race by paternal absence interaction (p less than .01) indicated that, when compared to their racial-ethnic counterparts living with both parents, father-absent Puerto Ricans were equally as aggressive, father-absent blacks were less aggressive, and father-absent whites were more aggressive. Tentative interpretations of these findings were developed with a view to the demographic realities of an American inner-city.

Drawing Back the Lens on Play: A Frame Analysis of Young Children's Play in Puerto Rico

“…Previous research suggests that rough play is more common and accepted among children and families of African, African American, Latino, and Polynesian backgrounds (Bloch, 1989;Martini, 1994;Montare & Boone, 1980;Whiting & Edwards, 1988;Yawkey & Alvarez-Dominques, 1984). Like humor/friendly teasing, rough play ap-558 TRAWICK-SMITH peared to provide practice at regulating emotions and controlling anger.…”

A Prospective Study of the Effects of Marital Status and Family Relations on Young Children's Adjustment among African American and European American Families

“…Many researchers have reported that relations between family structure and children's adjustment have been less consistent among African American than European American families. Typically, investigators have found that European American children from single-mother homes are at risk for behavior problems, most notably delinquent behavior (Offord, Sullivan, Allen, & Abrams, 1979); however, findings have been mixed for African Americans, with some investigators reporting significant positive associations between single-mother family structure and children's externalizing problems (Dornbusch et al, 1985), others reporting no significant relations (Zimmerman, Salem, & Maton, 1995), and some reporting significantly lower rates of conduct difficulties among single-mother African American families (Farnworth, 1984;Montare & Boone, 1980). One possible explanation for the more consistent findings observed among European American families concerns the extent to which a two-parent, biologic family structure typifies the family unit among European Americans and African Americans.…”

Ethnisch-nationale Zugehörigkeit und Aggressivität - „Matched-pair”-Untersuchung an einer akutpsychiatrischen Inanspruchnahmepopulation

“…B. die Einstellung gegenüber anderen Mitgliedern der Sozietät, der jeweilige Nutzen von Verhalten und die damit verbundene Verstärkung, die Selbstdefinition, die Art der Konfliktlösungsstrategien, die Stabilität der Familienstrukturen, die Ausprägung von Hilfsbereitschaft. Für die Möglichkeit, dass die normative Bewertung aggressiver Handlungen von der ethnisch-nationalen Zuge- hörigkeit abhängig sein kann, spricht ferner die Untersuchung von Montare u. Boone (1980) [26], bei der die Intensität aggressiven Verhaltens männlicher Adoleszenter, die ohne Vater aufgewachsen waren, abhängig von deren ethnisch-nationalen Zugehörigkeit gegenüber mit dem Vater aufgewachsenen Jugendlichen signifikant variierte: Je nach ethnisch-nationaler Zugehörigkeit verhielten sich die ohne Vater aufgewachsenen Jugendlichen gleich, vermehrt oder vermindert aggressiv im Vergleich zu den mit Vater aufgewachsenen Pendants. Hieraus lässt sich schlieûen, dass eine Interaktion zwischen der ethnisch-nationalen Zugehörigkeit und dem ¹Verhaltensvorbildª Einfluss auf die Verhaltensnormen zumindest männlicher Heranwachsender hat.…”