Correlates of adverse childhood experiences and secondary traumatic stress in school personnel.

While previous research has noted the large numbers of school personnel with exposure to potentially traumatic experiences and its relation to secondary traumatic stress, it is unclear how different patterns of adverse childhood experiences influence secondary traumatic stress. As such, the present study employed latent profile analysis to examine natural groups of adverse childhood experience (ACE) history in 218 school mental health professionals (65% female; 55% White, 17.9% Black; 39% early career, 34% midcareer, and 28% late career; Mage = 32.91) and 348 teachers (80% female; 80.5% White, 6.3% Black; 16% early career, 14% midcareer, and 70% late career; Mage = 41.03) to examine the magnitude of secondary traumatic stress. The present study also examined the moderating effect of trauma-informed practice efficacy on the relationship between ACE history latent profiles and secondary traumatic stress. Four latent profiles were revealed among school personnel: (a) low ACEs, (b) average ACEs (c) neglected, and (d) high ACEs. Additionally, trauma-informed practice efficacy did not moderate the relationship between ACEs history profiles and secondary traumatic stress. Implications include targeted approaches for helping school personnel decrease secondary traumatic stress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Honoring foundational Black psychologists' contributions to research on Black fathers.

Much of the early psychological research on Black fathers and families employed a deficit lens, pathologizing Black fathers as absent and uninvolved contributors to their children's development. As a response, several Black psychologists articulated the need to move away from deficit-based approaches and employ strengths-based and adaptive frameworks to examine the social experiences of Black fathers and their contributions to child development. This transformative work was not only central to advancing research on Black fathers but also a cornerstone in the broader fathering literature. Though the list of foundational architects of Black fatherhood scholarship spans disciplines, we center this article around the contributions of eight Black psychologists-Drs. Phillip Bowman, Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Anderson J. Franklin, Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Vivian Gadsden, Harriette Pipes McAdoo, John L. McAdoo, and Melvin Wilson. Their collective works and scientific contributions provided a critical lens and articulated a vision for research on Black fathers. In highlighting their contributions, we focus on six thematic areas: (a) conceptual and theoretical advancements, (b) research methods and designs that centered Black fathers, (c) description and contextualization, (d) children's development and well-being, (e) theory to practice and intervention, and (f) scientific cross-pollination and collaborative ethos. Last, we review and highlight research branches and extensions of these foundational roots. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Multidimensional social support and parenting among Black fathers: A profile-oriented approach.

Though studies have examined the role of social support in the lives of Black men, less is known about the role and function of multi-domain social support as they navigate fatherhood. This investigation utilizes a profile-oriented approach to identify patterns of general and parenting-specific social support (i.e., family; peers; community) among a sample of 759 Black American fathers. Additionally, this study examines how identified support profiles are associated with Black fathers' parenting outcomes (i.e., stress, satisfaction, self-efficacy, and involvement). Latent class analyses identified 10 distinct social support profiles among Black fathers. Results also indicated that there was some profile variation in levels parenting outcomes. Findings suggest variation in the availability and utilization of general and parenting support among Black fathers.

Let's talk: The impact of gendered racial socialization on Black adolescent girls' mental health.

OBJECTIVE: For Black adolescent girls to develop a healthy sense of self, families must prepare them to cope with the realities of experiencing oppression at the nexus of racism and sexism. In this study, we examined the associations of positive and negative gendered racial socialization with mental health outcomes for Black adolescent girls. METHOD: To test the hypothesis that socialization messages of gendered racial pride and empowerment (GRPE) moderate the relationship between messages of internalized gendered racial oppression (IGRO) and indicators of psychological well-being (i.e., depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms), a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted based on the experiences of 282 Black adolescent girls (Mage = 15.40). RESULTS: Findings show that more frequent messages of IGRO were associated with more depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms in Black girls. Findings also suggest that more frequent messages of GRPE reduce the negative associations between messages of IGRO and Black adolescent girls' mental health symptoms to attenuation. CONCLUSIONS: Mental health symptoms in Black girls are able to be moderated by parents' intentional messaging of GRPE. These findings may provide a strategy to protect Black youth from the deleterious consequences of negative messages around race and gender. Future studies may wish to examine the impact of socialization messages of GRPE and IGRO on Black boys' mental health symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental influence on sexual intentions of Black adolescent girls: Examining the role of gendered-racial socialization.

Parents can promote the sexual health of adolescents in a number of well-established ways, such as through sexual communication and parental monitoring. Another unexplored avenue through which parents might influence sexual decision-making among Black girls is gendered-racial socialization-the process through which parents send messages to their Black daughters about what it means to be a Black girl, in part, to improve their self-esteem. In a national, U.S.-based sample of 287 Black girls (Mage = 15.4) and their parents (87.8% female), we examine how two dimensions of gendered-racial socialization (gendered-racial pride socialization; gendered-racial oppression socialization): (a) are related to adolescents' intentions to have early sex and (b) moderate the association of parental communication and monitoring with adolescents' intentions to have early sex. We found Black girls who are exposed to more empowering messages about Black girls and women are less likely to intend to have early sex. Additionally, gendered-racial pride socialization moderated the relationship between parental monitoring and intentions to have sex, such that more monitoring was associated with lower intentions to have early sex among girls low in gendered-racial pride socialization. For girls high in gendered-racial pride socialization, there was no relationship between parental monitoring and sexual intentions. Gendered-racial pride socialization is an important asset in Black families, which can be leveraged to improve the sexual health of Black girls. Future studies are needed to examine the causal, temporal pathways between gendered-racial socialization and sexual health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Black Girl Blues: The Roles of Racial Socialization, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Racial Identity on Depressive Symptoms among Black Girls.

Racial socialization is an important predictor of wellbeing among Black youth. Scholars have theorized that Black girls could benefit from gendered racial socialization or messages about being Black girls. However, this has not been examined empirically. The current study investigates the role of general and gendered racial socialization and racial identity attitudes on depressive symptoms among 287 Black girls between the ages of 13-17 (Mage = 15.4) in the U.S. Path analysis results demonstrated that general and gendered racial socialization about pride were directly associated with positive feelings about being Black which were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Oppressive messages about Black women were related to negative feelings about being Black and more depressive symptoms. The implications of general and gendered racial socialization on the psychological wellbeing of Black girls are discussed.

Race-related stress, racial identity, and activism among young Black men: A person-centered approach.

The current study examines how race-related stress, physiological and psychological anticipation of racism, relates to low-risk and high-risk activism orientations for Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men (N = 286). We investigate whether patterns of racial identity and age moderate those relationships. We found that physiological and psychological anticipation of racism were related to low-risk Black community activism orientation, and those relationships varied by age and racial identity. The relationship between physiological anticipation of racism and high-risk activism orientation was moderated by racial identity profiles. For Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men with racial identity profiles that support individual and communal value of Blackness, more physiological anticipation was related to a greater likelihood of engaging in risky activism in the future. Findings highlight the importance of understanding how stress responses to racism influence youth commitments to future activism. These findings also underscore heterogeneity of racial identity among Black adolescent boys and emerging adult men, and how patterns of racial identity and age differentially influence orientations toward activism against racial oppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Neighborhood cohesion and procedural justice in policing among Black adults: The moderating role of cultural race-related stress.

AIMS: This study explored how neighborhood cohesion is related to perceptions of procedural justice in policing, and the moderating role of cultural race-related stress among Black adults. METHODS: We conducted hierarchical regression analyses of a US sample of Black adults (N = 604) to examine if neighborhood cohesion and cultural race-related stress relate to global procedural justice in policing and procedural justice during a critical police stop. Moderation analyses were conducted to determine if cultural race-related stress strengthens or weakens the relationship between neighborhood cohesion and procedural justice in policing. RESULTS: Neighborhood cohesion was positively related to procedural justice at critical stops. For participants with above average stress from cultural racism, positive neighborhood cohesion was related to greater global perceptions of procedural justice in policing. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, these findings highlight how structural and local environmental factors can influence perceptions of police among Black adults in the US.

Paternal Caregivers' Parenting Practices and Psychological Functioning among African American Youth Living in Urban Public Housing.

Structural factors associated with public housing contribute to living environments that expose families to adverse life events that may in turn directly impact parenting and youth outcomes. However, despite the growth in research on fathers, research on families in public housing has practically excluded fathers and the role fathers play in the well-being of their adolescents. Using a sample of 660 African American adolescents recruited from public housing, we examined the relationship between paternal caregivers' (i.e., fathers' and father figures') parenting practices and adolescents' depressive symptoms, attitudes toward deviance, and self-efficacy. Using a latent profile analysis (LPA), we confirmed a four-class model of paternal parenting practices ranging from high to low levels of monitoring and encouragement. Results from a one-way ANOVA indicated that paternal caregivers with high (compared to moderate) levels of encouragement and monitoring were associated with youth who reported less depressive symptoms, higher levels of self-efficacy, and less favorable attitudes toward deviance. Discriminant analysis results indicated that approximately half of the sample were correctly classified into two paternal caregiver classes. The findings provide evidence that some of these caregivers engage in parenting practices that support youths' psychological functioning. More research is needed to determine what accounts for the variability in levels of paternal encouragement and supervision, including environmental influences, particularly for paternal caregivers exhibiting moderate-to-low levels of paternal encouragement and monitoring.

Father Involvement, Dating Violence, and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among a National Sample of Adolescent Females.

This study explored the relationship between the involvement of biological fathers and the sexual risk behaviors and dating violence/victimization and/or perpetration of adolescent girls. The data used in this cross-sectional analysis were drawn from the second wave of the public release of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Only adolescents who reported their biological sex as female, reported a history of being sexually active, and reported having a romantic partner in the previous 18 months were selected (N = 879). This study focused on overall positive sexual behaviors and use of contraception. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to best utilize capacity for dealing with latent variables and to test for possible mediation effects. The analysis demonstrated main effects of dating violence and father involvement on sexual behaviors. The more dating violence an adolescent girl experiences, the less likely she is to engage in healthy sexual behaviors. Likewise, the more involvement the biological father has in a woman's life, the more likely she is to engage in positive sexual behaviors. Perceived father involvement was associated with risky sexual behaviors among sexually experienced adolescent girls. Dating violence was directly associated with risky sexual behaviors among sexually experienced adolescent girls, particularly non-White girls. Future studies should use longitudinal models and test theoretically and empirically guided potential mediators. Future studies should also consider father figures such as step-fathers and grandfathers in addition to biological fathers, as having a father figure may be a stronger predictor of adolescent sexual behaviors than having a biological connection.

Unheard Voices: African American Fathers Speak about their Parenting Practices.

Researchers have called for qualitative investigations into African American fathers' parenting practices that consider their social context and identify specific practices. Such investigations can inform the way we conceptualize African American fathers' parenting practices, which can in turn contribute to prevention interventions with at-risk youth. We conducted semi-structured, qualitative interviews about parenting with 30 self-identified, African American, biological fathers of pre-adolescent sons at-risk for developing aggressive behaviors, depressive symptoms, or both. Fathers provided descriptions of their parenting practices, which were at times influenced by their environmental context, fathers' residential status, and masculine ideologies. Our systematic analysis revealed four related themes that emerged from the data: managing emotions, encouragement, discipline, and monitoring. Of particular note, fathers in the current sample emphasized the importance of teaching their sons to manage difficult emotions, largely utilized language consistent with male ideologies (i.e., encouragement rather than love or nurturance), and engaged in high levels of monitoring and discipline in response to perceived environmental challenges and the developmental needs of their sons. The findings provide deeper insight into the parenting practices of African American fathers who are largely understudied, and often misunderstood. Further, these findings highlight considerations that may have important implications for father-focused prevention interventions that support African American fathers, youth, and families.

Correlates of the sex trade among African-American youth living in urban public housing: assessing the role of parental incarceration and parental substance use.

African-American youth are disproportionately affected by parental incarceration and the consequences of parental substance use. Many adapt to the loss of their parents to prison or drug addiction by engaging in sex-risk behavior, particularly the sex trade. These youth may engage in this risky behavior for a number of reasons. Although previous research has examined this issue, most of these studies have focused on runaway or street youth or youth in international settings. Empirical evidence on correlates of trading sex for money among urban African-American youth is practically missing. Using a sample of 192 African-American youth living in urban public housing, this paper attempts to rectify this gap in knowledge by assessing how individual and parental factors are related to the likelihood of a youth trading sex for money. The sample for this study reported a mean age of 19; 28 % reported having traded sex for money; 30 % had a father currently in prison; and 7 % reported having a mother currently in prison. Maternal incarceration and paternal substance use were associated with a higher likelihood of trading sex for money. Given the potential health risks associated with trading sex for money, understanding correlates of this behavior has important implications for the health of this vulnerable population of youth and urban health in general.