The present study examined discrimination attributions in the psychological well-being of Black adolescents. Findings are based on a representative sample of 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth, aged 13-17, who participated in the National Survey of American Life. Youth completed measures of perceived discrimination, discrimination…

Studies have documented a strong relationship between low birth-weight status and adverse child outcomes such as poor school performance and need for special education services. Following a cohort of more than 1,300 low-income and predominately African American children in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, the authors investigate whether birth…

This investigation identifies unique risk and protective factors for internalizing and externalizing problems among 8- to 12-year-old, low-income, African American children and tests cumulative risk and protective models. A total of 152 mother-child dyads complete questionnaires. Receipt of food stamps, mother's distress, and child maltreatment…

Increasing research documents the negative short- and long-term effects of relational aggression on children's behavior and social-emotional functioning. Although parents likely play an important role in the way children learn to cope with and attempt to resolve relational aggression, there is little research on this issue. The present study…

Purpose: This study examined past tense marking by African American English (AAE)-speaking children from low- and middle-income backgrounds to determine if poverty affects children's marking of past tense in ways that mirror the clinical condition of specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Participants were 15 AAE-speaking 6-year-olds from…

Previous research has demonstrated that African American children do not always relate to the literature available in their classrooms. The study examined fifth-grade students' responses to African American literature to determine the criteria students use to select books. Students' selection criteria were then compared with teachers' selection…

The historical tendency for educational institutions to symptomize behavior of African American children as dysfunctional or representative of mental disorder is well documented. However, recent scholarship illuminates the connection between oppression social injustice, racial trauma, and racial microaggressions as the core of stress, depression,…

This article calls for school social workers to work in schools to reform school systems that have historically failed and are currently failing African American children. While the hope of education is to assist students to realize their potential, school systems across the nation are not reaching this goal. School social work has a duty, a…

As the number of people choosing to marry has plunged during recent decades, the tally of children living with one parent and having limited or no contact with the other has soared. Attuned to the hazards that such separations impose upon children but also upon parents who, studies show, fare physically and emotionally better in a thriving…

A growing number of Black teens are becoming religiously involved. This undoubtedly intersects with another trend in Black communities, the changing structure of the Black family. Research has shown that school-related dialogue between parent and child is an important factor in educational outcomes. This study set out to determine if there might…

Poverty among individuals is an enduring condition in almost all societies. The responses by governments to poverty, however, have varied. In the United States, President Lyndon Johnson sought to address poverty through the creation of the Great Society programs in the 1960s. In effect, he declared a War on Poverty. Later, especially during the…

Objective:This report extends earlier accounts by addressing the effects of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program across 65 months. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Rural African American youths randomly assigned to participate in SAAF would demonstrate lower rates of alcohol use than would control youths more than 5 years later, and…

The current paper considers how children spend their time in state-funded pre-kindergarten programs and how time use relates to ethnicity, gender, and family income, based on the assumption that how time is spent in pre-kindergarten is relevant for the programs' success in narrowing achievement gaps. Classroom observations of 2061 children in 652…

The aim of this study was to identify classes of children at entry into first grade with different patterns of academic and behavior problems. A latent class analysis was conducted with a longitudinal community sample of 678 predominantly low-income African American children. Results identified multiple subclasses of children, including a class…

Purpose: This study aimed to show (a) whether the minimal competence core (MCC) of consonants used by African American preschoolers in I. Stockman (2006) can be observed in a larger group of children using shorter and more controlled speech samples and (b) whether the MCC pass/fail outcomes are differentially related to performance on selected…