Risk and Resilience Among African American Youth

描述(由申请者提供)：虽然贫穷和劣势增加了 儿童情绪或行为问题的风险，大多数非裔美国青年 成长为有能力、适应能力强的人。过去的研究致力于 很少注意到社区、家庭或个人特征 创造这种韧性。拟议的纵向研究涉及 解决这些问题。我们将测试基于生命周期的模型 将儿童的发展轨迹视为一系列 因变量变为自变量的因果因素 时间到了。这些模型将致力于解释不连续性，以及 在整个生命过程中的行为的连续性。我们将努力明确规定 生活事件、社会转型和社区背景的方式 各种因素结合在一起，要么会突出行为倾向，要么会改变行为倾向。这个 拟议研究的数据将从现有的897个样本中收集 居住在爱荷华州和佐治亚州的非洲裔美国儿童及其家人。数据 是在目标儿童五年级时从这些家庭中收集的。 目前正在收集关于这些儿童的第二波信息 现在都上7年级了。我们寻求资金来收集另外两波数据 作为目标儿童度过青春期。这些信息 作为先前项目的一部分收集的数据将提供重要的基准 用于调查累积成功和劣势的信息，如 以及转折点，当目标子对象穿过 青春期。将之前收集的数据与另外两个 一波又一波的信息将使我们能够检查因果关系的优先顺序 家庭、同伴、学校和社区在工作中的条件性影响 影响非洲社会心理发展的因素 美国儿童。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While poverty and disadvantage increase a child's risk for emotional or behavioral problems, most African American youth grow up to be competent, well-adjusted individuals. Past research has devoted little attention to the community, family, or personal characteristics that create this resilience. The proposed longitudinal study is concerned with addressing these issues. We will test models based upon a life-course perspective that views children's developmental trajectories as a sequence of causal factors in which dependent variables become independent variables over time. The models will be concerned with explaining discontinuity, as well as continuity, in behavior across the life course. We will strive to specify the manner in which life events, social transitions, and community contextual factors combine to either accentuate or redirect behavioral tendencies. The data for the proposed research will be collected from an existing sample of 897 African American children and their families living in Iowa and Georgia. Data were collected from these families when the target children were in 5th grade. A second wave of information is currently being collected on these children who are now in 7th grade. We seek funding to collect two additional waves of data as the target children move through the adolescent years. The information collected as part of the prior project will provide important baseline information for investigating the cumulative successes and disadvantages, as well as turning points, of the target children as they move through the adolescent years. Combining the previously collected data with two additional waves of information will enable us to examine causal priorities and conditional influences at work among family, peer, school, and community factors as they combine to influence the psychosocial development of African American children.