A Commentary on the Parenting of Adolescents in Diverse and Multicultural Contexts

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.

Parenting Adolescents in an Increasingly Diverse World: Defining, Refining, and Extending Theory and Research

This introduction to the Special Issue on Parenting Adolescents in an Increasingly Diverse World explores how increasing population diversity may provide a context for changes in the parenting of adolescents. In this issue, authors (1) explore the context for asking questions about parenting adolescents and diversity, (2) consider parents, adolescents, and parenting in different diversity contexts, and (3) reflect on crosscutting themes. Two articles examine the parenting in an international context and within changing domestic demographics. Four articles focus on parenting adolescents in traditionally marginalized groups with the goal of identifying lessons for supporting all youth in navigating an increasingly diverse world. Finally, two articles synthesize these articles to suggest important directions for future research.