NCJ Number
193833
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2002 Pages: 91-100
Date Published
April 2002
Length
10 pages
Annotation
A study of 59 adolescent fathers sought to determine the relationship between specific urban psychosocial risk factors and the achievement of intimacy.
Abstract
Each participant was between ages 14 and 24 years when expecting; was the parent of a child born to a teenage mother between ages 14 and 19; and was of African American, Hispanic American, or European American descent. The risk factors studied included family income, individual socioeconomic status, neighborhood crime, interpersonal empathy, and psychopathology. The research used Orlofsky’s Intimacy Status Rating Scale to rate each participant on intimacy. Results revealed that the participants who had higher cumulative psychosocial stressors had lower levels of intimacy. Black youths had lower levels of intimacy than did Hispanic or white participants. Low interpersonal empathy was a psychosocial risk factor significantly associated with levels of intimacy. The analysis concluded that parents, teachers, clinicians, and researchers need to recognize how contextual stressors affect adolescent relationships and then intervene to address youths’ needs. Tables, figure, and 53 references