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Journal of Black Psychology
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What's this?

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Strengths of Black Youths

Guerda Nicolas

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, nicolagu{at}bc.edu

Janet E. Helms

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Maryam M. Jernigan

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Theresa Sass

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Adrienne Skrzypek

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Angela M. DeSilva

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

The strengths of Black youths lie in their abilities to resist the barriers that they encounter in the various environments in which they exist. Yet the media and social science literature have defined the youths in terms of the pathology of their environments rather than focusing on the assets that Black youths use in such environments. Thus, terms such as inner city, urban, and at-risk are used as proxies for the youths' personality attributes and themes, such as violence, substance abuse, school underachievement, and family instability are used to define their life experiences. In doing so, the literature suggests that the negative behaviors that it ascribes to Black youths are normative in actuality. In this article, a new framework for understanding the assets of Black youths is provided. The framework highlights the role of racial socialization in the youths' development of strengths that allow them to cope effectively with barriers.

Key Words: Black • youths • strengths • resistance

This version was published on August 1, 2008

Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 34, No. 3, 261-280 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0095798408316794
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