Religiosity, Spirituality, and the Subjective Quality of African American Men's Friendships: An Exploratory Study

The present study fills a crucial gap in literature surrounding the lives of African American men by exploring factors that shape the quality of these men's friendships. Drawing on data from a sample of 171 African American men, the study examines the relative utility of subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, advice exchange, and affective sharing as predictors of the level of perceived support from male and female friends. Findings reveal age differences in subjective religiosity, subjective spirituality, and in level of advice and affective exchange in men's same-sex as well as cross-sex friendships. Age differences emerged in men's perceptions of the supportiveness of their friendships with women but not with men. Age was not a predictor of perceived supportiveness of same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective religiosity did not predict support in same-sex or cross-sex friendships. Subjective spirituality positively predicted perceived support in men's same-sex friendships but not in cross-sex friendships. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Family,peer, and neighborhood influences on academic achievement among African-American adolescents: One-year prospective effects

Using a 1-year prospective design, this study examined the influence of family status variables (family income, parental education, family structure), parenting variables (maternal support and restrictive control), peer support, and neighborhood risk on the school performance of 120 African American junior high school students. In addition to main effects of these variables, neighborhood risk was examined as a moderator of the effects of parenting and peer support. Family status variables were not predictive of adolescent school performance as indexed by self-reported grade point average. Maternal support at Time 1 was prospectively related to adolescent grades at Time 2. Neighborhood risk was related to lower grades, while peer support predicted better grades in the prospective analyses. Neighborhood risk also moderated the effects of maternal restrictive control and peer support on adolescent grades in prospective analyses. These findings highlight the importance of an ecological approach to the problem of academic underachievement within the African American community.     

AFRICANA PHILOSOPHY

“Africana Philosophy” is a gathering notion used to cover collectively particular articulations, and traditions of particular articulations, of persons African and African-descended that are to be regarded as instances of philosophizing. (The notion is meant to cover, as well, the philosophizing efforts of persons not African or African-descended, efforts that are, nonetheless, contributions to the philosophizing endeavors that constitute Africana philosophy.) A central concern of the essay is the question whether there are characteristics of the philosophizing practices of persons identified as members of social groups thought to comprise a geographically and historically dispersed and ethnically diverse race that do, or should, distinguish the practices by virtue of being those of persons African and/or African-descended. Is there, can there be, should there be a properly determined field of philosophy that is constituted, first and foremost, by the efforts of persons of a particular race and its ethnic groups?     

Interpreting Heidegger Across Philosophical Traditions

Heidegger's philosophy has received radically different readings. These different approaches grow from philosophical differences rooted, at least to some extent, in national philosophical traditions. Although it is not possible any longer to draw strict boundaries between different philosophical traditions by reference to nationality or to language, there certainly are tendencies and points of emphasis that differ depending on the context in which Heidegger is read.
There are many different ways of reading Heidegger. I confine myself to two: the orthodox approach and the applicative pragmatist approach. As an example for these approaches I have taken Heidegger's controversial essay, "The Origin of the Work of Art."     

Extreme Social Isolation, Use of Community-Based Senior Support Services, and Mortality Among African American Elderly Women

The effect of extreme social isolation and use of community-based senior services on longevity was examined in a national sample of African American elderly women (ages 55–96). Consistent with previous research on the social integration/mortality link, African American elderly women who were extremely socially isolated were hypothesized to have a higher 5-year mortality rate. It was also hypothesized that use of community senior services would be negatively associated with 5-year mortality. Results of logistic regression analysis controlling for age, education, income, and health status found that extremely socially isolated African American elderly women were three times more likely than the nonisolated women to die within the 5-year period from the initial survey. Use of community senior services did not have a relationship on mortality. Results are discussed in terms of directions for future research and intervention.     

Jeopardy Not Bonus Status for African American Women in the Work Force: Why Does the Myth of Advantage Persist?

African American women in the United States have a long history of employment outside of their homes. Their experiences are unique from other groups of majority and minority men and women due to the interaction of race, gender, and class. Despite long-standing and continuing struggles against discrimination, harassment, low pay, tokenism, and stereotypes, a myth that African American women enjoy a bonus or advantaged status in the work force has developed and persisted. In this article, Black women's work force experiences are examined from a social constructionist framework, misperceptions of Black women are critiqued, explanations are developed that explain the unique status of African American women and recommendations are proposed to eradicate the discrimination and marginal status that Black women have endured in the work force.     

Mental health counselling in the Black American Church: reflections and recommendations from counsellors serving in a counselling ministry

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between “The Black Church”, the mental health needs of its members, and addressing those needs from the perspective of counsellors within the church. Four in-depth interviews were conducted with members of the mental health counselling team at one large, African American-serving church in the Midwest to explore their thoughts about their church pastor’s desire to expand their current ministry to a fully operating counselling centre. The findings suggest that “the Black Church” not only has a role and responsibility in addressing the mental health needs of African Americans within and outside of the church but can also use religiosity as a facilitator rather than a barrier to mental health service use among African Americans.     

Weight and health status of inner city African American children: Perceptions of children and their parents

Poor socioeconomic status and African American (AA) ethnicity contribute to an increased risk of obesity for many inner city children. One hundred and forty six AA children and 108 AA parents attending an inner city health fair completed surveys regarding perceptions of their own (or their child's) weight and the impact of weight on health. The children were measured and their body mass indexes were calculated. Thirty-seven percent of the child respondents (n = 52) were at risk of overweight or overweight; of these, 67% perceived themselves as normal weight, and 77% thought their weight was healthy. Weighing more was felt to be healthy by 17% of children and 29% of parents. Of 39 parents whose children were at risk of overweight or overweight, 68% felt their child's weight was normal and 80% thought it was healthy. These results suggest that inner city AA children and their parents often do not recognize being overweight or the health implications of being overweight.     

Psychological Trauma,Christ’s Passion,and the African American Faith Tradition

This article argues that Christ’s passion/crucifixion functioned within the African American psyche as a religious narrative and symbol that uniquely addressed the severe trauma they underwent during the Middle Passage and slavery by enabling them to experience the presence of God in the depths of extreme suffering. Christ’s passion/crucifixion mirrored their experience of racial oppression and, thereby, provided a critique of the system and actors that perpetuated it. The Spiritual “Were You There?” is interpreted in this light. This correspondence between the African American’s historical experience and the narrative symbol of Christ’s passion/crucifixion helps explain their conversion to Christianity.     

Factor Structure of the Parenting Scale in a Low-Income African American Sample

We evaluated the relative goodness-of-fit of two factor structures of the Parenting Scale (Arnold, O'Leary, Wolf, {&} Acker, 1993) among two samples of low-income African American families. Participants included 271 mother-child dyads from urban and rural areas in the southern and southeastern US, who completed the Parenting Scale along with other measures of parenting style and dyadic relationship. Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) indicated that a two-factor solution, comprising Laxness and Overreactivity dimensions, was the better fit to the data. Some direct evidence for convergent validity was provided by a correlation between the Laxness factor of the Parenting Scale and the Firm/Lax Control subscale of the Children's Report of Parenting Behavior Inventory (CRPBI). Results are discussed in term of Brody and Flor's (1998) “no nonsense” parenting style.