Racial Discrimination, Protective Parenting, and Binge Drinking Among Emerging Adult Black Men

Parenting practices and trajectories of proactive coping assets among emerging adult Black men

Positive youth development (PYD) frameworks suggest that a critical response to investigating the challenges young Black men living in resource poor communities experience involves identifying contextual resources in young men's lives and personal assets that promote success. The following study examines heterogeneity in proactive coping assets trajectories, parental practices as predictors of developmental trajectories, and associated outcomes of each trajectory. The study sample consisted of Black emerging adult men living in rural Georgia (N = 504). At baseline, men were between the ages of 19 and 22 (Mage = 20.29; SD = 1.10). At wave four, the participants' mean age was 27.67 (SD = 1.39). Results of growth mixture modeling from waves 1 to 3 discerned three developmental trajectory classes of emerging adults' proactive coping assets: a high and increasing class (n = 247, 49%), a low and stable class (n = 212, 42%), and a moderate and decreasing class (n = 45, 9%). Trajectory classes were linked to baseline levels of parental support, coaching, and expectations. Analysis revealed that parental support and parental coaching predicted proactive coping asset trajectory class identification. Links were then investigated between emerging adults' proactive coping asset trajectory classes and wave four physical health, depression, and alcohol use. Results revealed significant associations between class identification, alcohol use, and physical health. Study findings provide evidence supporting the impact of parenting on emerging adult Black men, underscoring the need to expand resources that support parenting and emerging adult relationships.

Substance use disorders among African-American men in the rural south: A scoping review

African American (AA) men in the rural South may be at high risk for experiencing adverse health outcomes from substance use (SU). We conducted a scoping review to explore the research on SU among rural AA men in the rural South of the United States (US). Ten articles addressed the following thematic areas pertaining to SU: factors associated with SU (n = 6), associations between substance use and health outcomes (n = 2), and the influence of impulsivity on SU (n = 2). Additional research on SU among AA men in the rural South is needed, particularly pertaining to treatment-related considerations.

Education matters: longitudinal pathways to mid-life heavy drinking in a national cohort of black Americans

AIMS

To estimate longitudinal pathways from childhood socio-economic position (SEP) to educational attainment and mid-life heavy drinking in black Americans in order to identify potential points of early intervention to reduce risk for alcohol-related problems in adulthood.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Data are from 1299 black Americans in the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, followed from 1979 (aged 15-19 years) to 2012. Given gender differences in factors related to education and alcohol outcomes, gender-stratified path models were analyzed.

MEASUREMENTS

Youth socio-economic indicators included parental education (approximating childhood SEP) and adolescent poverty duration. Education-related measures included high-poverty school, perceived school safety, academic problems, suspension from school, educational expectations and educational attainment. Adulthood measures included repeated unemployment, poverty duration and mean frequency of heavy drinking (six or more drinks/day) in young adulthood and mid-life. Covariates included age, dual-parent household, marital status, early drinking onset and family history of alcohol problems.

FINDINGS

For both genders, two main pathways originating from low childhood SEP flowed to educational attainment through (1) educational expectations and (2) suspension and from educational attainment to mid-life heavy drinking [total indirect effect = 0.131, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.072-0.197 for women and 0.080, 95% CI = 0.035-0.139 for men]. For both genders, adolescent poverty (standardized βs ≥ 0.139), academic problems (βs ≥ 0.221) and school suspension (βs ≥ 0.166) were significantly (Ps < 0.05) related to lower educational expectations. In adulthood, educational attainment was indirectly protective against mid-life heavy drinking through its significant effects (Ps < 0.05) on young adult heavy drinking for both genders (βs ≤ -0.204) and economic hardships for women (βs ≤ -0.372).

CONCLUSIONS

Low childhood socio-economic position among black Americans appears to be associated with subsequent, adverse socio-economic and school experiences that lead to lower educational attainment and, ultimately, greater heavy drinking at mid-life. Interventions that mitigate these earlier, adverse experiences might have indirect effects on mid-life heavy drinking.

Planful Self-Control, Metabolic Risk, and Psychosocial Outcomes Among Young, Black Men: A Test of Skin-Deep Resilience Theory

Research on skin-deep resilience suggests that for youth and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds, high levels of planful self-control may promote positive psychosocial outcomes while simultaneously conferring vulnerabilities to chronic diseases related to aging. In this study, we investigated the divergent effects of planful self-control on young Black American men's psychosocial well-being and their metabolic risk. We expected that high levels of planful self-control in emerging adulthood would predict positive outcomes in young adulthood (educational attainment, low depressive symptoms, job satisfaction); however, the combination of high levels of planful self-control and the experience of contextual adversity either in emerging adulthood or in childhood would forecast poor metabolic health. Hypotheses were tested with prospective data from 504 Black American men followed from age 20 to age 26. Planful self-control in emerging adulthood directly forecasted low levels of depressive symptoms, one's likelihood of obtaining a bachelor's degree, increased job satisfaction, and increases in metabolic risk. Exposure to childhood deprivation moderated the influence of planful self-control on metabolic risk. Men with high levels of deprivation and high levels of planful self-control exhibited the worst metabolic profiles in the sample. In contrast, men with high levels of childhood deprivation and low levels of planful self-control exhibited the best metabolic profiles. Documenting the health consequences associated with planful self-control provides a foundation from which to identify modifiable psychosocial factors that affect the course of psychosocial problems and health.