Text in Development

-Text in Development -

Black Adolescence

By Stephanie Irby Coard, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

The Psychology Press | Taylor and Francis Group

Race, Ethnicity and Culture (REC) and Black Adolescence

REC play significant roles in the process of human maturation. However, there is very little indication that contemporary family/developmental theorists or practitioners have sought to explore the relationship between REC and adolescent experiences. Because adolescence represents a transitional phase in the process of human maturation, it is important that family and developmental specialists and scholars-in-training have some understanding of adolescent experiences as they exist in Black communities throughout America. According to recent National Adolescent Health Information Center data, the adolescent population (ages 10-19) is more racially/ethnically diverse than the overall population. The percentage of White-NHs in the adolescent population is projected to drop from 62.9% in 2000 to 55.8% in 2020. Despite this fact, human development and family research and educational programs that deal with the Black adolescent population are few in number.

The purpose of the proposed textbook is to shed light on the influence of context on individual behavior and to examine successful pathways through adolescence for Blacks. The book will describe and shed understanding on the influences of social context on the psychological determinants of behavioral choices and to illustrate unique developmental trajectories from middle childhood through adolescence and into young adulthood. The focus of this text is normative development among Black adolescents in this country.

This textwill present an overview of contemporary Black adolescents—from social, psychological, economic, educational, medical, historical, and comparative perspectives. The treatment is eclectic shares a perspective that emphasizes how race, socioeconomic status, and environmental forces shape this critical period in the development of Black youth. The text’s content is directed toward the inescapable conclusion that Black adolescents share common attributes with all adolescents but, because of life and environmental circumstances, also possess characteristics that are unique to them alone. It is hoped that this text will stimulate students, educators, researchers, and theoreticians, as the generation of knowledge and techniques for disseminating that knowledge should not be separate processes.

Why a Bookabout Black Adolescence?

Blacks represent the largest, nonwhite, ethnic minority group in American society, and a significant portion of this population could be labeled as adolescent. In spite of this fact, the attention devoted to the life experiences and needs of Black adolescents by educators and researchers has been grossly inadequate. The exclusion of literature concerned with Black adolescence from human development and family studies curricula can have a detrimental effect upon both the students and educators. This exclusion might imply to the student (both Black and White) that the Black adolescent experience is of lesser importance or inferior. Use of the proposed text to assist in incorporating Black adolescent experiences into the curriculum, the human development and family studies educator can help to:

1. Explode social stereotypes. For example, it is often assumed that Black adolescents are prone to juvenile delinquency and promiscuity merely because they are Black. The influence of social class and other variables are frequently overlooked or poorly explained in the research reported to the American public by social scholars (Staples, 1971).
2. Encourage students to investigate those aspects of Black adolescence which have been ignored by human development and family studies scholars and educators. For example, little is known about dating patterns and sex role development in Black communities.
3. Foster the development of a greater appreciation and awareness of the diversity and uniqueness that exists among Black adolescents. For example, students should be encouraged to compare and contrast Black adolescent subcultures with the adolescent subcultures of other groups e.g. Asian-Americans, White Americans, Hispanics. Such an examination would provide students with an excellent opportunity to analyze the role that cultural heritage can play in the process of socialization.

It is a fact that American society is a pluralistic system composed of various cultural groups. If helping students and educators with the skills to develop effective and positive helping relationships with minority groups are to be prepared, it is essential that Black experiences be incorporated into the human development and family studies curriculum. Given the demographic characteristics of the Black population that have been previously described, the area of Black adolescence is certainly an excellent place to begin a "blackwash" of human development and family studies education.

An Evaluation of the Research Literature

As an instructor for the HDFS core courses on adolescent development since being appointed to the UNCG faculty, I know first-hand how an instructor confronted with the challenge of teaching a course or unit on adolescence, is usually impressed by the wealth of research done on this particular stage of the life cycle. Yet when it comes to applying these research findings to all adolescent subgroupings, one finds that the research literature is heavily weighted in favor of White adolescents of all socioeconomic classes. In particular, valid information on Black adolescents is lacking, leading one to presume that present findings are applicable to this American subgrouping. But, can one really assume that Black adolescents have the same experiences as majority group adolescents?

According to Erikson (1968), the primary developmental task of adolescence is the acquisition of an identity, and this identity is the result of experiences of frustration and conflict. While all adolescents may experience frustration and conflict to one degree or another, the experiences producing such frustration and conflict are not the same. Billingsley (1968) contends that the researcher can only study Black families in the social context of both Black cultures and communities to arrive at any meaningful interpretation. Within such a framework, one would have to gain an understanding of the manner in which culture affects the maturation process of the individual, in order to comprehend the experiences and problems of Black adolescents. The models of identification available to Black and White adolescents are by no means similar. While White adolescents daily confront White models of success and achievement in the home, community, and the mass media, such experiences are often denied Black adolescents because of the institutional bias that is common in the American social order. The exclusion of Blacks from important sectors of the work force and the mass media can have debilitating effect upon the self-concepts of Black adolescents.

Scholarship has largely ignored the relevance of racial, ethnic, and cultural nuances and competencies, particularly as they relate to resilience and strength of African American youth. The field of psychology’s preoccupation with disparity data in terms of economic conditions, mother-headed households, academic underachievement, and involvement with the criminal justice system fails to inform about attitudes, behaviors, and processes that contribute to the strength and resilience of African American children and adolescents. Seldom is one confronted with research evidence of obvious Black strengths that yield positive, healthy self-concepts in most Black adolescents. In order to meaningfully consider resilience among African American youth, it is important to consider their cultural integrity as well as their unique experience as an involuntary ethnic minority in the United States. Continued cultural oppression places all African American youth, including well-resourced youth, at some degree of risk from pervasive, yet subtle, forms of racialized discrimination and oppression. Understanding resilience among African American youth requires acknowledging their experience in the United States and appreciating the continuing legacy of oppression and discrimination that affects their daily lives.

Incorporating Black Adolescent Experiences

The proposed text attends to several practical concerns that must be considered when incorporating Black adolescents' experiences into human development and family studies curricula. These concerns relate to the need of students to deal with firmly entrenched cultural stereo-types, to deal with their own values, and to gain some practical information. In order to fulfill the needs of the student and human development and family studies educator, the proposed text will avoid several tendencies:

1. The use of labels such as culturally deprived or disadvantaged to refer to Black adolescents. Such labels have negative connotations. Terms such as culturally different will be used, as Black adolescents do have a viable culture.
2. The inclusion of material on Black adolescence under social problems topics only. Juvenile delinquency and illegitimacy are not the only human phenomena that relate to Black adolescence. The full range of the adolescent experience will be explored; e.g. notions of love and dating in the Black community.
3. The failure to examine the influence of Black culture upon the socialization process in the Black community. It is pointless to discuss any aspect of Black life without giving some attention to race, ethnicity and cultureand related constructs (racial identity, racial socialization)
4. The lumping together of all Black adolescentsand treating Black adolescents as a monolithic group. There exist some commonalities in the life experiences of Black Americans; however, there also exists a tremendous amount of diversity. While not the ‘final word’ on Black adolescence, this text will serve as instrumental tool in promoting an atmosphere wherein the diversity within the Black community can be fully explored. Anything less implies to the student that this aspect of the Black experience is simple and uncomplicated.

Additional Pedagogy

Designed to fulfill the needs of the students. These strategies are of a varied nature, many involving "out of the class" activities, as the experiential component of education is important to the learning process. Those techniques that might be utilized in teaching about Black adolescence include: Role-playing and simulation; use of Black literature and music; case studies and ethnographic studies; use of images in the mass media to analyze the relationship between how Black adolescents are depicted in television and film and how they are in real life; examination of the goals and objectives of agencies charged with the task of aiding the Black adolescent population (e.g., Neighborhood Youth Corps, Boys Club, YMCA, and YWCA); and adolescent and adult guest speakers from the community; examination of various forms of cultural expression. These are but a few of the many strategies that will be included in the text.

Course Market

There are a number of course markets for the sale and use of the proposed text. They include but are not limited to the following departments of higher learning: Human Development and Family Studies,

Psychology, African and African American Studies, Social Work, Education, Public Health,Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations, Clinical and Counseling. The proposed text would be designed to be used as either a main text or supplementary text for adolescent development related courses either at the undergraduate/graduation levels and lecture and/or seminar formats. Target users would be: Professors/Instructors, undergraduate and graduate students, mental health professionals serving African American youth in (1) public or private schools and (2) public or private community mental health care settings.

Potential Undergraduate HDFS Courses

HDF 303 Adolescent Development: From Puberty to Young Adulthood

• An in-depth examination of adolescent development, behavior, and well-being with a special focus on context and ways in which family, peers, school, and the media shape development during this period.
• Distribution: Core HDF course and general elective
• Enrollment estimate:100-150

HDF 409 Family Diversity

• Study of the variation within and between families through an exploration of the similarities and differences according to culture, race, class, gender, family structure, and sexual orientation.
• Distribution: Core HDF course and general elective
• Enrollment estimate: 60

HDF321Issues in Parenting

• Examination of parent-child relationships and interactions from infancy through young adulthood. Explores issues relevant to lesbian/gay parents, divorced parents, and parents from diverse racial/ethnic groups.
• Distribution: Core HDF course and general elective
• Enrollment estimate:150-200

Potential Graduate HDFS Courses

HDF601: Race, Ethnicity and Culture in HDFS

Enrollment estimates: 15

HDF 668 Adolescent Development Seminar

Enrollment estimates: 15

Competing Texts

To my knowledge there aren’t any competing texts that exist.

About the Author

Stephanie Irby Coard, Ph.D.is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G). Prior to joining UNC-G in 2006, Dr. Coard held appointments at Duke University (2002-2006) in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Gender in the Social Sciences (REGSS), and the Sanford Institute of Public Policy. She is also a former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine, Child Study Center (1998-2002).

Dr. Coard earned a B.A. from North Carolina State University in both Psychology and Business Management; an M.S.Ed. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania; and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She completed a Pediatric Clinical Pre-Doctoral Internship in the Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, University of Maryland Medical Center and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center.

A psychologist and clinical researcher, Dr. Coard primarily conducts research on youth conduct problems, antisocial behavior and violence; racial, ethnic and cultural influences on child mental health treatment and prevention; and cultural adaptations of interventions and community dissemination. Her understanding of socio-cultural factors as they relate to the etiology, treatment and prevention of child mental health problems has informed her work on a number of federally funded studies (NIMH, NICHD). A primary focus of this research has been the development of culturally-relevant strategies to assist African American parents to prevent and manage common behavior problems of young children. This research has resulted in the development of an observational measure of racial socialization and a parenting curriculum and written materials. The Parent-Child Race-Related Observational Measure (PC-RROM) is a parent-child observational measure of the race-related communication and interaction. Black Parenting Strengths and Strategies(BPSS) is an evidence-based culturally relevant parenting program for use African American families for preventing and managing common childhood behavior problems. Black Parenting Strengths and Strategies – Child (BPSS-C) is a strengths- and culturally-based program that aims to promote cultural, social and emotional health and academic success within African American children. The BPSS programs have been developed to incorporate the most successful strategies used by parenting and child development specialists, while drawing on the strengths, unique parental strategies and processes inherent in Black families (e.g., racial socialization).

With close ties to African-American communities, Dr. Coard has always concerned herself with increasing awareness and sensitivity to how ethnicity and race impact the process and outcome of mental health treatment and in the implementation of evidence-based practices in communities of color. She has published original research in this area and regularly lectures at local and national professional meetings. She currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Applied Theories and Principles of Parenting, Adolescent Development, Race, Ethnicity and Culture, and Ethnicity and Context in Child and Family Policy in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of North Carolina - Greensboro.

Dr. Coard is a member of the American Psychological Association, Div.12 (Clinical), 53 (Clinical Child), 45 (Ethnic Minority Issues), Society for Prevention Research, Society for Research in Child Development, Society for Research on Adolescence, and The Association of Black Psychologists. She is former Chair, American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Resilience and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents.

References

Billingsley, A. (1970). Black families and white social science. Journal of Social Issues,26, 127-142.

Erikson, E. Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: W.W. Norton, 1968.

National Adolescent Health Information Center. (2003). Fact Sheet on Demographics: Adolescents. San Francisco, CA: Author, University of California, San Francisco.

Staples, R. The black family: Essays and studies. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1971.

Theoretical references most relevant to 4/6/15 presentation:

1) American Psychological Association, Task Force on Resilience and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents. (2008). Resilience in African American children and adolescents: A vision for optimal development. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from

2) Coard, S. & Sellers, R. African American families as a context for racial socialization. (2005) In V. McLoyd, N. Hill and K. Dodge, (eds.) Emerging Issues In African-American Family Life: Context, Adaptation, and Policy. New York: Guildford Press.

3) Stevenson, H., Winn, D.M., Walker-Barnes, C. & Coard, S. Style Matters: Towards a culturally relevant framework for interventions with African American families (2005) In V. McLoyd, N. Hill and K. Dodge,(eds.) Emerging Issues In African-American Family Life: Context, Adaptation, and Policy. New York: Guildford Press.

4) Coard, S., Wallace, S., Stevenson, H. & Miller Brotman, L. (2004). Towards culturally competent preventive interventions: The consideration of racial socialization in parent training with African American families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 13 (3) 277-293.

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