Challenges to the Study of African American Parenting: Conceptualization, Sampling, Research Approaches, Measurement, and Design

Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. The primary purpose of this review is to highlight methodological challenges to the study of African American parenting. Over the past two decades, research on African American parenting has burgeoned, and attempts have been made to address the shortcomings of prior work in this area. Recent studies have shed new light on the heterogeneity of African American parenting and help to identify promising directions for future research. Design. In this paper, we overview research on African American parenting, with emphasis on studies conducted over the past two decades. We discuss challenges, strengths, and gaps in the areas of conceptualization, sampling, research approaches, measurement, and design. Results and Conclusions. Great strides have been made in the methodological rigor of studies on African American parenting which have yielded a more complex understanding of parenting practices and outcomes in this population. Future research should attend to variation in the nature and influences of parenting across different subgroups of the African American population. Additionally, researchers should increasingly rely on multiple methodologies (e.g., surveys, observations, qualitative interviews); ground the measurement of parenting in the experiences of African American populations; and examine patterns within a developmental context. These research directions promise to yield new findings on processes that are unique to African American families, as well as highlight those that are common to parents across racial and ethnic groups.

A Qualitative Study for Understanding Family and Peer Influences on Obesity-Related Health Behaviors in Low-Income African-American Adolescents

“…31 still, inconsistencies in the literature suggest it is not yet clear as to which parenting style (authoritative versus authoritarian) yields the most positive overall outcomes for African-American youth specifically. [32][33][34][35] the present study expands on previous research by capturing various aspects of parent-adolescent interactions indicative of warmth (social support) and control (rules, monitoring) from the perspective of underserved African-American youth to better understand how parenting style influences the health behaviors of boys versus girls.…”

African American Families and the Role of Physical Discipline: Witnessing the Past in the Present

“…Tamis-Lemonda, Briggs, McClowry, and Snow (2008) caution the field to be discerning with the literature on African American parenting, citing challenges related to sampling procedures, variances in conceptualization of parenting frameworks, and approaches to measurement and overall design. Specific concerns include the frequency with which samples of lowincome African American families experiencing myriad risk factors are compared with middle-class families in the majority culture (Kelley et al, 1992;Tamis-Lemonda et al, 2008).…”

“…Tamis-Lemonda, Briggs, McClowry, and Snow (2008) caution the field to be discerning with the literature on African American parenting, citing challenges related to sampling procedures, variances in conceptualization of parenting frameworks, and approaches to measurement and overall design. Specific concerns include the frequency with which samples of lowincome African American families experiencing myriad risk factors are compared with middle-class families in the majority culture (Kelley et al, 1992;Tamis-Lemonda et al, 2008). Tamis-Lemonda et al and Korbin (2002) also note the lack of class distinction and acknowledgment of cultural subgroup differences in samples of African American families, noting that families have multiple factors and life experiences that influence their parenting practices.…”

Contemporary Research on Parenting: Conceptual, Methodological, and Translational Issues

“…This led to considerable research on parenting in AfricanAmerican families. 29 One finding to emerge from these studies is that authoritarian parenting, a style associated with negative child outcomes in middle class, EuropeanAmerican families, often is not associated with negative outcomes in low-income, African Americans. 30,31 Researchers are mixed on their interpretation of these findings.…”