Author : Christa Mahlobo
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (136 download)
Book Synopsis Examining Adolescent Precursors to Early Adult Flourishing in Black Americans by : Christa Mahlobo
Download or read book Examining Adolescent Precursors to Early Adult Flourishing in Black Americans written by Christa Mahlobo and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flourishing, defined as functioning well across multiple domains (e.g., psychological, physical) and levels of functioning (e.g., personal, social and societal), is an important topic of study in psychology and human development. In this dissertation, I posit that the study of flourishing among Black American youth and young adults is most fruitfully examined culturally and developmentally, and in the context of a racialized society which poses significant barriers to flourishing in this group. I begin by reviewing extant theories and definitions of flourishing and highlight the need for a more cultural and developmental view of flourishing to better understand flourishing in Black American youth. To that end, I describe a five-dimensional model of flourishing among Black Americans (Harrell, 2012) and highlight how it fills a needed gap in this literature. I also discuss the important role that ethnic racial socialization (ERS) in the family and ethnic racial identity (ERI) development during adolescence may play in Black American flourishing in early adulthood, and how this could fill a gap in thinking about how flourishing comes about over time for Black Americans developmentally. Using data from the Maryland Adolescence Development in Context Study (MADICS), n = 914 (47% female), I examine hypothesized empirical relations between Black American flourishing in early adulthood, and socialization experiences and identity development around race and ethnicity during adolescence. Multiple regression and meditational analyses with longitudinal data were used to assess the direct impact of family ERS on Black youth during early adolescence (Mage (Time 2 = 14.25, SD = .51) on their flourishing across five domains (psychological, physical, collective, relational, and transcendent) and societal flourishing during early adulthood (Mage (Time 4) = 21.7, SD = .57). Additionally, I examined if the impact of ERS in early adolescence on later flourishing was indirect- mediated through youths' positive ethnic racial identity (ERI) during later adolescence (Mage (Time 3) = 17.08, SD =.58). Finally, I examined whether these direct and mediated impacts of ERS on flourishing across these time periods were the same or differed among Black American males and females. Results from the empirical investigation supported Hypothesis 1 of the dissertation: that there would be a direct effect of ERS on domains of flourishing. Results shows that socialization strategies for dealing with racism and salience of talking about race in the family during early adolescence predicted better physical and transcendent flourishing later, whereas salience of discussing race in the family in adolescence negatively impacted later relational flourishing after controlling for demographic factors. Thus, the support for Hypothesis 1 was weak, as direct effects were not consistently present (or positive) across all domains of flourishing. Hypothesis 2 of the dissertation examined whether the impacts of ERS on flourishing were mediated through adolescents' ERI in later adolescence. Results supported the indirect pathway in one key domain of flourishing: ERI significantly positively moderated the relationship between ERS and psychological flourishing. In other words, greater parent ERS in early adolescence promoted more central and positive ethnic identity in later adolescence which positively impacted psychological flourishing in early adulthood. Hypothesis 3 examined whether there were differences in these direct and indirect effects by gender. The significant indirect effect of ERI on the ERS-psychological flourishing relationship was found to be significant in males and not females in the sample. There was also a significant indirect effect for physical health flourishing found in males but not females. In females, despite a lack of indirect effects, findings showed a significant positive direct effect of ERS on physical exercise and transcendent flourishing, and a negative direct effect of ERS on societal flourishing. Implications for the general study of Black American flourishing across the lifespan, as well as needed future directions in research on Black American flourishing from adolescence to early adulthood within and across gender, will be discussed.
