Taggart T, Sawyer S, Andreou A, Kershaw T, Milburn NG. "But I Live Here Too": Social-structural stressors, racial discrimination, and resiliency among urban dwelling black emerging adult men.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2023;
72:48-59. [PMID:
37042933 PMCID:
PMC10523859 DOI:
10.1002/ajcp.12667]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 01/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
For many Black emerging adult men in the United States, social-structural stressors rooted in racial discrimination are daily experiences that place them at greater risk for poor health. Emerging adulthood is a critical life course period marked by greater experimentation with health risk behaviors. Although Black men's health vulnerabilities during this period are connected to their social-structural environments, investigations of these factors among noncollege sampled Black men remain limited. We conduced thirty semi-structured in-depth interviews to examine associations between social-structural challenges and social-structural resources for resiliency. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using Dedoose web-based qualitative software. Through open coding, emergent concepts were connected across interviews and major themes were identified. We found three core social-structural stressors: (1) Racial profiling, (2) neighborhood violence, and (3) lack of economic opportunities, and three resilience factors: (1) Positive social networks, (2) community-based resources, and (3) safe environments that foster a sense of community. Collectively, these findings provide insight into developing structural- and community-level interventions tailored to bolster resiliency across multiple levels and counteract the social-structural challenges that young Black men face.
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