This volume brings together leading experts from different disciplines to offer new perspectives on contemporary African American families. A wealth of knowledge is presented on the heterogeneity of Black family life today; the challenges and opportunities facing parents, children, and communities; and the impact on health and development of key cultural and social processes. Comprehensive and authoritative, the book critically evaluates current policies and service delivery models and sets forth cogent recommendations for supporting families' strengths. Following an overview that traces the ongoing evolution of theory and research in the field, the book examines how African American families fare on numerous indicators of well-being. Throughout, contributors identify factors that promote or hinder healthy child and family development, writing from a culturally sensitive, nonpathologizing stance. The concluding chapter provides an up-to-date framework for culturally competent mental health practice.

A lack of knowledge exists regarding the sociocultural factors involved in African American women’s experience of body dissatisfaction. This study examined the body image attitudes of African American women through the constructs of racial socialization from family and racial identity. This study was partially exploratory in nature, as few researchers have examined the relation between racial socialization from family and body dissatisfaction. Specifically, this study examined (1) the relationships between endorsement of various racial socialization messages and body dissatisfaction (2) the relationships between racial identity attitudes and body dissatisfaction (3) the role of racial socialization messages and racial identity attitudes in the prediction of body dissatisfaction (4) racial identity attitudes as mediators of the relationship between racial socialization messages and body dissatisfaction. Participants included 187 African American women. The majority of the population was recruited from a large, southwestern, predominantly White university. With regard to racial socialization, results did not support a significant relationship between Protective messages and body dissatisfaction, Coping messages and body dissatisfaction, and Affirmation messages and body dissatisfaction. However, Stereotyping messages were found to be significant and positively related to body dissatisfaction. Results revealed that among racial identity attitudes Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred was significantly and positively related to body dissatisfaction. Findings did not support significant relationships between Pre-Encounter Assimilation, Pre-Encounter Miseducation, Immersion-Emersion Anti-White, Internalization Afrocentric, Internalization Multicultural Inclusive racial identity attitudes and body dissatisfaction. Additionally, Stereotyping messages and Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred were predictive of body dissatisfaction among this sample of African American women. Finally, Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred racial identity attitudes mediated the relationship between Stereotyping messages and body dissatisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Thirty-six male and female black college students attending a small private college in New Jersey participated in a mixed method study exploring recollections of received parental racial socialization, covering childhood through entrance into college. Recollections of racial socialization were gathered using a survey administered to all 36 students and face-to-face interviews with a small subset of six students, which generated rich material on experiences with racial socialization. Results from the survey showed an increase or decrease in reported protective, protective, and total (combined) racial socialization messages were not significantly related to an increase or decrease in reported race-related stress. A more complicated picture was derived from the interviews in that the participants did negotiate racial identity; however most endorsed a racial identity orientation within a pointedly mainstream experience, with minor focus on Black culture. Directions for future research on other sources of resilience against race-related stress, such as self-efficacy, and the limitations of the study are also discussed.