Accumulating evidence suggests that African American men and women experience unique challenges in developing and maintaining stable, satisfying romantic relationships. Extant studies have linked relationship quality among African American couples to contemporaneous risk factors such as economic hardship and racial discrimination. Little research,…

While the link between parenting and delinquency is well established, there is less consensus among scholars with regards to the processes that account for this link. The current study had two objectives. The first was to disentangle the effects of African American parents' use of corporal punishment and verbal abuse on the conduct problems of…

Dominant theoretical explanations of racial disparities in criminal offending overlook a key risk factor associated with race: interpersonal racial discrimination. Building on recent studies that analyze race and crime at the micro-level, we specify a social psychological model linking personal experiences with racial discrimination to an…

This study investigated how early experience with racial discrimination affected the subsequent risky sexual behaviors of a diverse sample of African American youths (N = 745). The analyses focused on 3 risk-promoting factors thought to mediate the hypothesized discrimination--risky sex relation: negative affect, affiliation with deviant peers,…

Prior research demonstrates negative consequences of racism, however, little is known about community, parenting, and intrapersonal mechanisms that protect youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study illuminated linkages between positive and negative contextual influences on rural African American adolescent outcomes. Quantitative results…

This investigation of the effects of stressful life events on rural African American women's relationship well-being, psychological functioning, and parenting included 361 married or long-term cohabiting women. Associations among stressful events, socioeconomic status, perceived racial discrimination, coping strategies, psychological functioning,…

Collected data from 451 2-parent families to test model regarding direct and indirect effects of socialization and spousal attitudes upon supportive parenting and harsh discipline of husbands and wives. As hypothesized, quality of parenting received as child, satisfaction with parent-child relationship, education, and various parenting beliefs…

Describes investigation utilizing data from panel study of 332 midwestern families to examine impact of harsh corporal punishment and quality of parental involvement on adolescent outcomes of aggressiveness, delinquency, and psychological well-being. Suggests that corporal punishment was not related to adolescent outcomes when effect of parental…

Tested hypotheses regarding manner in which adolescents' beliefs concerning effective discipline and impact of parenting upon child development are associated with parenting beliefs and practices of their parents. Data from 451 2-parent families indicated that mothers and fathers conveyed parenting beliefs to their adolescent children via their…

This study will address the initial question: Are there ethnic differences in parenting that remain when contextual variables are controlled "and" are related to culture, focusing on two samples of rural African American families. This study is part of a series of coordinated studies presented in this special issue (Le et al., 2008).…

Studies have shown that exposure to discrimination increases the probability that African American adolescents will engage in delinquent behavior, especially acts of violence. The present study extended this research by examining the extent to which supportive parenting buffers a youth from these deleterious consequences of discrimination.…

A four-year study of children (N=306) utilized latent growth curve modeling to examine the quality of parenting as a mediator of the effect of childhood antisocial behavior on adolescent delinquency and friendship choices. No direct association was found between oppositional/defiant behavior during childhood and a trajectory of increasing…

This article uses hierarchical linear modeling with a sample of African American children and their primary caregivers to examine the association between various community factors and child conduct problems. The analysis revealed a rather strong inverse association between level of collective socialization and conduct problems. This relationship…

Hypothesized that parenting exhibits either a compensatory or buffering effect on age-related increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Collected data for five years from mothers, fathers, and adolescent children. Found significant gender differences in growth trajectories of externalizing and internalizing problems.…

Used panel data on 207 divorced women and their children to examine influence of mothers' parenting practice, involvement of nonresidential fathers, and parental conflict on adjustment of adolescents. Quality of parenting by nonresidential fathers and quality of mother's parenting both were related to externalizing problems for boys and girls.…