Child development in the context of the Black extended family.

Wilson, Melvin N.

doi:10.1037/0003-066x.44.2.380

Cited by 178 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…African Americans and Hispanics, particularly those from impoverished backgrounds, have strong linkages with their extended family (Hirsch, Mickus, & Boerger, in press;Martin & Martin, 1978;Stack, 1996;Taylor, 1996;Valenzuela & Dornbusch, 1994;Wilson, 1989). Ties to kin provide important sources of social support and are a prominent feature of the social ecology.…”

Section: Place Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inner-City Youth Development Organizations:

Hirsch¹,

Roffman²,

Deutsch³

et al. 2000

The Journal of Early Adolescence

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The challenges of early adolescence are intensified for girls of color who live in disadvantaged urban communities. One response to the needs of these girls comes from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a youth development organization that has a long-standing presence in innercity neighborhoods. A gender equity initiative designed to strengthen programming for minority girls at a BGCA affiliate in a major urban center was examined. Drawing on initial qualitative findings, a conceptual framework is presented for understanding the ways in which the clubs can affect urban early adolescent girls' self-esteem. Several strategic choices confronting this initiative then are considered. The authors emphasize the creation of a "home place" that enables the development of self via organizational responsiveness to girls' voices, strong bonds between girls and staff, adaptive peer friendship cliques, and the development of programs that fuse the interests of girls and adult staff.Factors associated with poverty, minority status, and inner-city life make early adolescence an especially challenging period for many urban girls. Developmental needs must be addressed in an environment often characterized by prejudice, poor schools, limited future job prospects, violence, stressful family life, and fewer positive adult role models

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Section: Place Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inner-City Youth Development Organizations:

Hirsch¹,

Roffman²,

Deutsch³

et al. 2000

The Journal of Early Adolescence

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show abstract

“…because positive outcomes in African-American youth across a variety of domains (e.g., academic, behavioral, health-related, social) have been shown to be influenced not only by extended family networks, 5,6,11 but by peer relationships 7,10 and a combination of both, 8,9 the influence of both parent and peer factors on adolescent health behaviors is examined in this study. Just as with parents, peer social support has been found to be a strong predictor of PA in inner-city African-American adolescents 7 and a predictor of dietary fat and fiber intake in ethnically diverse sixth graders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

George

Wilson

2012

Childhood Obesity

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Background: Given the cultural and developmental relevance of family members and peers in the lives of African-American adolescents, the present study used a bioecological framework to qualitatively explore the parenting context as well as specific family factors (support, rules, monitoring) and peer factors (support) related to weight status, physical activity (PA), and healthy eating in low-income African-American boys versus girls.Methods: Qualitative data were obtained from African-American adolescents through focus groups. Adolescents (n = 45, 100% African American, 51% girls, 12.6 ± 1.2 years, 51% overweight/obese) were from two underserved communities in South Carolina (median income ≈$17,000-$22,000, high crime levels). Sessions were audiotaped, transcribed, and coded by independent pairs of raters (r = 0.75). QSR NVivo 8 was used to analyze data, and themes were categorized separately for boys and girls.Results: Adolescents reported themes of family warmth and control practices consistent with an authoritative style of parenting. Although adolescents wanted increased autonomy, they viewed parental monitoring as a favorable part of their relationship. boys reported receiving more constructive feedback from parents about weight status and greater overall support for PA and diet than did girls. Girls reported more honest feedback from peers about weight status than did boys. Overall, adolescents acknowledged the unique opportunities of parents and peers in improving their health behaviors.Conclusions: Findings suggest parents and peers interact in different ways with African-American boys and girls regarding their weight status and health behaviors. Future obesity prevention efforts in minority youth may need to target parenting skills that provide greater support to African-American girls. in addition, given peers influence PA and diet differently in boys and girls, interventions should strategically include parenting strategies that involve monitoring peer-adolescent interactions.

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“…A more androgynous orientation toward male-female relationships (Hill, 1972) could result in fewer gender differences in adolescent romantic relationships. Furthermore, the greater involvement of Blacks with extended family adults (Stack, 1996;Taylor & Roberts, 1995;Wilson, 1989) may provide more opportunities to learn how to transfer same-gender relationship skills to cross-gender ties. Thus, it is possible that greater support for the congruence model may be found among Black than White adolescents.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Friendships and Romantic Relationships of Black and White Adolescents

Pagano

Hirsch

2006

J Child Fam Stud

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Prior research on adolescent peer relationships has focused on interpersonal dimensions of friendships but not of romantic relationships, and has rarely examined minority groups. We used a random sample of 122 adolescents to examine race and gender differences in friendships, romantic relationships, and the congruence between closest friendship and romantic relationship on five interpersonal domains: mutual support, self-disclosure, hurtful conflict, fear of betrayal, and interpersonal sensitivity. Significant race by gender differences in the difference between relationship type for both positive and negative dimensions of relationships were found. White girls reported significantly higher levels of self-disclosure in their friendship ties in comparison to romantic relationship, whereas white boys reported nearly equivalent levels. In comparison to white adolescents, Black adolescent girls and boys had similar levels of self-disclosure in their romantic relationships as their same-sex friendships. With regards to negative elements of relationships, girls reported more hurtful conflict in romance than friendship, whereas boys reported an opposite pattern. Results highlight the importance of consideration of race and gender influences on youth interpersonal skills within peer and romantic relationships. KeywordsFriendship; Romance; Adolescents; Race; Gender Peer relationships play a critical role in the lives of adolescents, facilitating their exploration of social identities, individuation from the family, and tolerance of stress (Harter, 1999;Hirsch & DuBois, 1992;Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Most studies on peer ties have examined friendships (Brown, 2004); only recently have empirical investigations of precollege romantic relationships begun in earnest (Bouchey & Furman, 2003; Florsheim, 2003).Prior studies in these areas have typically examined White, suburban populations. The lack of comparative research among diverse demographic groups has several drawbacks (Giordano, 2003;McLoyd, 1990 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript differences in friendship. Second, our understanding of minority youth is incomplete, and perhaps biased, given the focus on problematic sexual behavior and the inattention to core interpersonal relationship dimensions.Adolescents experience both closeness and conflict in close peer relationships. Selfdisclosure and the provision of mutual support play important roles in the development of intimacy (Connolly, Furman, & Konarski, 2000;Savin-William & Berndt, 1990;Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Conflict can lead to closer ties and new understandings of others (Youniss & Smollar, 1985) or to fear of betrayal and interpersonal sensitivity (Downey, Bonica, & Rincón, 1999;Way, 1998).Gender differences have been consistently found in research on friendships among White adolescents, with higher levels of intimacy in friendships between girls in comparison to boys (Brown & Klute, 2003;Giordano, 2003). Whereas the majority of girls appear to have close friends...

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Child development in the context of the Black extended family.

Cited by 178 publications

References 67 publications

Inner-City Youth Development Organizations:

Inner-City Youth Development Organizations:

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

Friendships and Romantic Relationships of Black and White Adolescents

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