NCJ Number
242727
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 42 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2013 Pages: 136-146
Date Published
January 2013
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined racial discrimination and neighborhood adjustment of African-American adolescents.
Abstract
Racial discrimination has serious negative consequences for the adjustment of African-American adolescents. Taking an ecological approach, this study examined the linkages between perceived racial discrimination within and outside of the neighborhood and urban adolescents' externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and tested whether neighborhood cohesion operated as a protective factor. Data came from 461 African-American adolescents (mean age = 15.24 years, SD = 1.56; 50 percent female) participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. Multilevel models revealed that perceived discrimination within youth's neighborhoods was positively related to externalizing, and discrimination both within and outside of youth's neighborhoods predicted greater internalizing problems. Neighborhood cohesion moderated the association between within-neighborhood discrimination and externalizing. Specifically, high neighborhood cohesion attenuated the association between within-neighborhood discrimination and externalizing. The discussion centers on the implications of proximal stressors and neighborhood cohesion for African-American adolescents' adjustment. Abstract published by arrangement with Springer.