Irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American middle school students who are academically at-risk

This article describes how rational emotive behavior therapy and other cognitive-behavioral therapies can be used to improve the achievement of academically at-risk African American students at the middle-school level. Definitions of at-risk and a review of relevant literature are provided. This article offers an outline of several main irrational beliefs that can lead to academic failure for African American students at the middle-school level. This author suggested that escalating preferences for justice, acceptance within the African American community, and acceptance by European Americans are at the core for causing academic failure for many of these students. The author describes empirical data which show that once these students learn a realistic philosophy of life—to be more rational, tolerant, nonutopian, and nondemanding—the students improve in their academic self-concept and achievement.     

The impact of the transition to high school on the self-system and perceived social context of poor urban youth

Examined the effects of the normative school transition to senior high school (n=330) on the self-system and perceived school and peer social contexts of poor, black (n=83), European American (n=115), Latino (n=105), and Asian American (n=27) youth in the public school systems of three Eastern urban cities. The only negative effect of the school transition on the self-system was a decline in grade point average (GPA). Concurrently, the school transition was perceived to be associated with changes in the school and peer contexts. Across the transition, students reported increased disengagement from school (i.e., increased social support and extracurricular involvement) and increased engagement with peers (i.e., decreased daily hassles and increased involvement). These changes in the school and peer microsystems, like the changes in the self-system, were also common across race/ethnicity and gender. In addition, transition-associated school changes, and in particular changes in daily academic demands/hassles and involvement in school activities, were associated with changes in the academic dimensions of the self-system (i.e., academic efficacy expectations and GPA). Results and implications for preventive intervention are discussed within a developmental mismatch framework. This research was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH43084) and the Carnegie Corporation (B4850) awarded to Edward Seidman, J. Lawrence Aber, LaRue Allen, and Christina Mitchell. We express our appreciation to the children and schools whose cooperation made this study possible.     

Family protective factors among urban African American youth.

Examined the relations among family protective factors, stressful events, and behavioral adjustment of 64 African American 6th graders. The youths reported on family stressors, father-figure involvement, and kin support. Their primary caregivers reported on parenting, father-figure involvement, and family stressors. Teachers reported on child social skill deficits, acting out, and shy or anxious behavior. Based on regression analyses, stress exposure associated positively with child social skill deficits, acting out, and shy or anxious behavior. Parental warmth was associated negatively with shy or anxious behavior. Parental use of corporal punishment was associated positively with child acting out. For youth exposed to high numbers of family stressors, parental demandingness was associated negatively with child acting out and kin support was associated negatively with acting out and shy or anxious behavior, suggesting that these family factors partially shield children from the negative effects of stress.     

Developing suicide prevention programs for African American youth in African American churches

Suicide prevention programs for African American youth in African American churches may have broad appeal because: (1) the Black Church has a strong history of helping community members, regardless of church membership; (2) African Americans have the highest level of public and private religiousness; and (3) the church can help shape religious and cultural norms about mental health and help-seeking. The proposed gatekeeper model trains lay helpers and clergy to recognize the risk and protective factors for depression and suicide, to make referrals to the appropriate community mental health resources, and to deliver a community education curriculum. Potential barriers and suggestions for how to overcome these barriers are discussed.     

Reasons for quitting smoking among low-income African American smokers.

The psychometric characteristics of the Reasons For Quitting scale (RFQ) were assessed among a sample of African American smokers with low income (N=487). The intrinsic and extrinsic scales and their respective subscales were replicated. As hypothesized, higher levels of motivation were associated significantly, in patterns that supported the measure's construct validity, with advanced stage of readiness to quit smoking, greater perceived vulnerability to health effects of smoking, and greater social support for cessation. On the basis of the present study, the RFQ might best predict short-term cessation among older and female smokers. Refinement of the RFQ is needed to assess intrinsic motivators other than health concerns and to identify salient motivators for young and male smokers.     

Social risk and protective factors for African American children's academic achievement and adjustment during the transition to middle school

The transition to middle school is often marked by decreased academic achievement and increased emotional stress, and African American children exposed to social risk may be especially vulnerable during this transition. To identify mediators and protective factors, the authors related severity and timing of risk exposure to academic achievement and adjustment between 4th and 6th grade in 74 African American children. Longitudinal analyses indicated that severity more than timing of risk exposure was negatively related to all outcomes and that language skills mediated the pathway from risk for most outcomes. Transition to middle school was related to lower math scores and to more externalizing problems when children experienced higher levels of social risk. Language skills and parenting served as protective factors, whereas expectations of racial discrimination was a vulnerability factor. Results imply that promoting parenting and, especially, language skills, and decreasing expectations of racial discrimination provide pathways to academic success for African American children during the transition from elementary to middle school, especially those exposed to adversity.     

A longitudinal study of school adjustment in urban,minority adolescents: Effects of a high school transition program

Described an intervention program designed to prepare elementary school (K-8) eighth-grade students for their transition to high school the following year. Participants in the study were 145, predominantly Hispanic, inner-city public school adolescents. The experimental group received an augmented condition, consisting of Education and Peer Support Components. The control group received a minimal condition consisting of only the Education Component. While no group effects were observed, time effects indicated experimental and control students' improved perceptions of school readiness, but deteriorated perceptions of support from both home and school and diminished grade-point averages and attendance. Time effects also revealed variable changes in school perceptions. Findings are discussed in terms of a developmental perspective of the school transition process. Implications for high school transition programming with the target population and directions for future research are also addressed.     

Suicidal behavior among urban,African American young adults

The objectives of the present study were four-fold. First, to determine the lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence and demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in a defined population of urban, African American young adults. Second, to determine the degree of mental health service utilization among attempters. Third, to study the comorbidity between mental disorders and suicidal behavior, along with the variation in the numbers and types of psychiatric disorders associated with attempts versus ideation only. Fourth, to examine gender differences in the psychiatric diagnoses associated with attempts and ideation. Data relevant to each of these objectives were gathered through structured interviews of 1,157 economically disadvantaged, African American young adults. Lifetime, last year, and 6-month prevalence rates for attempts were 5.3%, 1.2%, and 0.4%, respectively, whereas the lifetime and 6-month prevalence of ideation were 14% and 1.9%, respectively. Approximately two thirds of those who reported lifetime ideation, and a similar proportion of those who reported lifetime attempts, had a history of at least one lifetime psychiatric disorder. There were no gender differences in terms of the degree of risk for suicidal behavior (ideation or attempts) associated with any of the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses assessed. Despite the severity of most attempts, few attempters received mental health services in their lifetime or at the time of their most recent attempt.     

Relational factors and family treatment engagement among low-income,HIV-positive African American mothers

Clinically derived hypotheses regarding treatment engagement of families of low-income, HIV-positive, African American mothers are tested using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Predictors are baseline family relational factors (family support, mother's desire for involvement with family, and family hassles) and mother's history of substance dependence. The study examines a subsample of 49 mothers enrolled in a clinical trial testing the efficacy of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET). SET is a family-based intervention intended to relieve and prevent psychosocial distress associated with HIV/AIDS. Participants in the subsample were randomly assigned to SET and attended at least two therapy sessions. Findings reveal that family relational factors predicted family treatment engagement (family support, p < .004; mother's desire for involvement with family, p < .008; family hassles, p < .027). Family support predicted family treatment engagement beyond the prediction provided by the other relational factors and the mother's own treatment engagement (p < .016). History of substance dependence was neither associated with family treatment engagement nor family support. Post hoc analyses revealed that family hassles (p < .003) and mother's desire for involvement with family (p < .018) were differentially related to family treatment engagement in low- versus high-support families. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.     

Cognitive-cultural model of identity and violence prevention for African American youth

The author introduces a cognitive-cultural model of identity development to explain the elevated risk for violence among African American youth. The model is an extension of previous conceptual frameworks that address the dynamic interplay among cognition, culture, and self-systems. Specifically, the self is conceptualized as a cognitive structure known as schemata that contain individual and cultural elements corresponding to those aspects of identity. The model has three major components: the individual self, the cultural self, and social roles. The cognitive-cultural model posits that maladaptative behaviors such as violence are a consequence of underdevelopment or imbalance in some aspect of the self or the adoption of social roles that undermine integration of the individual self-schemata and cultural self-schemata. The implications of this cognitive-cultural model for prevention efforts, particularly Afrocentric socialization interventions targeting African American youth, are discussed.     

Substantive differences in the assertiveness of low-income African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women

A sample of 115 low-income African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women participated in 6 assertiveness role plays. A content analysis of their responses indicated that there are substantive differences in terms of what constitutes passive, assertive, and aggressive responses. The findings suggest that there are basic conceptual differences across the groups regarding connections and obligations to others. Differences in perceptions of assertiveness point to the culturally specific nature of assertiveness. Functionally, each group of women was able to stand up for themselves, yet boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate responding were placed somewhat differently across groups, depending on the situation.     

The prevalence of perceived discrimination among African American and Caribbean Black youth

The present study examined ethnic, gender, and age differences in perceived discrimination and the association between perceived discrimination and psychological well-being in a nationally representative sample of Black adolescents. Data are from the National Survey of African Life (NSAL), which includes 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth. Results indicate that the majority of Black youth perceived at least 1 discriminatory incident in the previous year. Adolescents at later stages of development perceived more discrimination than those at earlier stages, and African American and Caribbean Black males perceived more discrimination than their female counterparts. Perceptions of discrimination were positively linked to depressive symptoms and were negatively linked to self-esteem and life satisfaction, regardless of ethnicity. However, Caribbean Black youth appear to be more vulnerable when they perceive high levels of discrimination.     

Mothers’ physical interventions in toddler play in a low-income,African American sample

This mixed method study examined 28 low-income African American mothers’ physical interventions in their 14-month-old toddlers’ play. Inductive methods were used to identify six physical intervention behaviors, the affect accompanying physical interventions, and apparent reasons for intervening. Nonparametric statistical analyses determined that toddlers experienced physical intervention largely in the context of positive maternal affect. Mothers of boys expressed highly positive affect while physically intervening more than mothers of girls. Most physically intervening acts seemed to be motivated by maternal intent to show or tell children how to play or to correct play deemed incorrect. Neutral affect was the most common toddler affect type following physical intervention, but boys were more likely than girls to be upset immediately after physical interventions. Physical interventions intended to protect health and safety seemed the least likely to elicit toddler upset.     

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in low-income, African American suicide attempters

Cross-cultural examinations of the validity and reliability of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (Beck, Steer, Ball, & Ranieri, 1996) is essential for its use in assessment and monitoring of the effectiveness of suicide interventions across racial groups. We tested the fit of a second-order, two-factor model and the internal reliability of the BDI-II in a sample of 133 African Americans with a recent history of suicide attempts. Additionally, we examined the convergent validity with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Reynolds & Koback, 1995). The results indicate that the BDI-II is a reliable and valid measure of depressive symptoms for African American suicide attempters.     

Psychosocial outcomes of urban African American adolescents born to teenage mothers

This is a study of psychosocial outcomes of adolescents born to teenage mothers. Adolescents' problem behaviors, psychological well-being, social support, school variables, and sexual behaviors are compared across three groups—those born to mothers 17 or younger, mothers 18–19 years old, and mothers 20 or older. Analyses from two samples of African American adolescents from Maryland (n = 205) and Michigan (n = 570) are reported. The results from both samples indicate that mother's age at birth is unrelated to adolescents' psychosocial outcomes. These two studies add to the limited number of analyses that examine adolescent outcomes for children of teen mothers. The results suggest that efforts to understand social structural determinants of healthy and problematic adolescent development may be more informative than examining the effects of mother's age. They also suggest that teen pregnancy prevention programs may be more effective if they are part of a larger prevention strategy that incorporates social structural change efforts and not only a focus on individual level change.     

The relationship of social support to depressive symptoms during the transition to high school

The transition to high school is studied as a time when students may experience disruptions in their social support systems. Peer support, family support, and school belonging were hypothesized to be associated with adolescent adjustment, specifically depressive symptoms. Participants included 104 eighth graders and 101 ninth graders from a middle- to high-income, predominantly white community in southern Rhode Island. In year 2, 60 of the original 8th graders were surveyed as 9th graders. Three hypotheses were examined: Social support declines from 8th to 9th grade; depressive symptoms increase from 8th to 9th grade; and social support is significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The hypotheses were tested using cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Results indicated that 9th graders experienced more depressive symptoms and lower levels of school belonging as compared to the 8th graders. Changes in parent support and peer support were significantly associated with depressive symptoms in the transition to high school. Implications for increasing school belonging in the 9th grade are discussed.     

Behavioral risks during the transition from high school to college

The transition from high school to college is an important developmental milestone that holds the potential for personal growth and behavioral change. A cohort of 2,245 students was recruited during the summer before they matriculated into college and completed Internet-based surveys about their participation in a variety of behavioral risks during the last 3 months of high school and throughout the 1st year of college. Alcohol use, marijuana use, and sex with multiple partners increased during the transition from high school to college, whereas driving after drinking, aggression, and property crimes decreased. Those from rural high schools and those who elected to live in private dormitories in college were at highest risk for heavy drinking and driving after drinking.