NCJ Number
197462
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2002 Pages: 473-485
Editor(s)
Daniel Offer
Date Published
December 2002
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This paper attempts to identify how adolescent self-perceptions of their physical and psychological presence in the world influence their emotional and behavior options within a racially hostile, violence-saturated, and image-addicted social ecology.
Abstract
In order to develop culturally relevant intervention models to reduce the exacting of aggression where it is not necessary and offer multiple options in situations where youth feel violence is necessary, this paper attempts to better the understanding of the psychological particularities of African-American youth aggression within unique ecological contexts. A cultural phenomenological perspective was applied to investigate if self and other perceived physical maturity and racial socialization experiences were influential in the expressions of anger and aggression among African-American youth. A sample of 127 urban African-American teenagers participated in a larger study to assess the relationship between ecological factors that influence racial socialization, anger, and aggression. The sample revealed a number of contextual influences on the initiation and frequency of fighting behavior. Youth who saw themselves as looking older than their age reported fighting more than those who did not. It is possible that physical maturity may set up a set of social interactions that necessitate the adolescent to respond in defense. When multiple factors of troublemaking and perceived physical maturity were taken into consideration, it was the late maturers who tended to show more problematic anger expressions and less than protective sensitivity to disaster. Youth who were always identified as a troublemaker showed higher levels of anger acting out and lower levels of anger control than did troublemakers. Interventions that focus on anger management, cultural self-knowledge and appreciation, and awareness of one’s physical presence may be effective in helping youth challenge and change their self and other perceptions on a number or issues. In addition, interventions that integrate cultural socialization ideas and strategies will go far in touching the deeper elements of being, surviving, and succeeding as young African-Americans. Figures and references