Suchergebnisse

Introduction and overview / Dorothy Smith-Ruiz -- Collateral damage: the impact of the incarceration of African American men on the mothers and children they leave behind / Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery -- Examining fatherhood within the Black family / Jeffrey Shears and Joshua Kirven -- Grandparents' caregiving during the context of a natural disaster / Priscilla Gibson -- Mental and physical health disparities and older African Americans / Martha Crowther, Cassandra D. Ford, and Latrice Vinson -- The school-to-postsecondary pipeline: proposing proactive measures for African American youth's educational success / Chance W. Lewis, Marcia Watson, Tonya J. Rose -- Family matters: the role of familial support in the success of African American female STEM majors / Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Ashley Dawn Parker, Elizabeth Stearns, Melissa Dancey, and Stephanie Moller -- Home is where the wealth is: African Americans and the housing debacle / Sherri Lawson Clark -- Brew city bellwether: the changing landscape of the Black family in Milwaukee / Robert S. Smith and William I. Tchakirides -- The at-opportunity policy agenda: the Charlotte region's Black families, education, economics, and philanthropy / Patrick C. Graham -- "You must learn": how racial & ethnic socialization affirms Black identity among Black Americans and West Indians / Anthony Greene -- Black families today: the genius of Dr. Charles Vert Willie / Dorothy Smith-Ruiz -- Epilogue: the future of African American families / Dorothy Smith-Ruiz

Objective: This project tested the effectiveness of extended aftercare in an intensive family preservation program for African American families. Method: Service providers collected pretest and posttest data for 49 families who received intensive services only and 69 who received aftercare in addition to intensive services. Results: In the year following termination, nonrelative placements for the entire sample were reduced to 20.3% from 41.5% in the year prior to receiving services ( p < .01). Families receiving aftercare had a postservice placement rate of 13.0% (p < .05). Services were less effective with caregivers with criminal involvement or mental health issues. Discussion: Significant reductions in re-referrals for neglect (p < .01) and improvement in factors contributing to child well-being (p < .01) indicate that child safety was not compromised by providing in-home services as an alternative to placement.

Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model linking financial strain, neighborhood stress, parenting behavior, and adolescent adjustment. The sample consisted of 305 African American families living in inner city neighborhoods. Of the families, 40% were living at or below the U.S. poverty threshold. The primary caregiver and a focal adolescent (mean age 13.5 years) were interviewed separately in each family. The results indicated that the income‐to‐need ratio was significantly related to financial strain and neighborhood stress, both of which were positively associated with psychological distress in parents. Parent psychological distress was positively related to more negative and less positive parent–adolescent relations, which predicted a lower positive and higher negative adjustment in adolescents. The results extend previous findings by demonstrating that neighborhood characteristics are an important mediator between economic hardship and parent and adolescent behaviors.

A common conceptualization of family structure used in studies of low-income African Americans is a dichotomized construct that contrasts one- parent, female-headed households with two-parent family units. The consistent use of this conceptualization has impeded the exploration of the impact that dynamic dimensions of family structure have on family functioning. This paper outlines several fundamental dimensions of family structure that should be considered in studies of economically disadvantaged African American families. Using data from two qualitative community-based studies of African American families, we delineate four key dimensions of family structure—extended family networks; the socioeconomic structure of extended family networks; the pace of change in family structure; and the age structure of family members.

Although Americans are bombarded with the idea that we live in a "colorblind society," this article argues that the issue of race is still very pervasive in American society. This article highlights how African Americans are perceived by mainstream society and its effect on the overall mental, physical and emotional health of African Americans and their families. Historically, African Americans have been viewed as naturally deficient and pathological. The Moynihan report, Bill Moyers' awardwinning piece "The Vanishing Black Family," and other works contribute to the subjugation of African Americans. Few studies have examined how the legacy of slavery and continual institutional racism impact African Americans. The theory of mundane, extreme, environmental stress (MEES) offers this perspective. It describes the unique stress of African Americans who experience the dilemma of "being Black in White America." In addition, the MEES factor offers a fresh perspective to examining strategies to help African Americans manage and negotiate the system. The article concludes by calling for the creation of a new paradigm for policy creation and scholastic research that would include acknowledging the extreme stressors facing African Americans.

The Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 represents the most tangible legacy of the 104th Congress and the Republicans' 'Contract with America.' Though the act will have devastating consequences for all poor and working-class families, its effects on the African American community will be especially ominous. This is because African American families experience poverty at a greater rate than do European American and other families. More over, the feature of the act that reduces the amount of financial assistance to families when one of their members has been convicted of a drug-related felony will also endanger African American families since African Americans are most likely to be convicted of drug-related crimes. In the midst of these harsh outcomes, the feature of the act that allows states to establish contracts with religious organizations could bode well for aggrandizing the role the black church can play in providing social services and employment opportunities for African American families. This paper examines the paradoxes the act poses for African American families and offers suggestions to assist the African American community in meeting the challenges and exploiting the opportunities of a rapidly changing social service delivery system.

This article argues that African American families devised a unique method to educate their daughters so that they could stay in school and eventually work as teachers in black communities. Black women's accomplishments were honored as an adaptation to economic and social oppression and a definitive cultural value in the twentieth century.