"They Don't Care about You": The School Experiences of Trauma-Exposed Black Boys

Background and Purpose: Black boys disproportionately experience ecological risks to their wellbeing, including higher exposure to childhood trauma (Beasley et al., 2014) and racial, social, educational, and economic injustice (Caldwell et al., 2006). Childhood trauma can negatively affect social, emotional, and cognitive processes, and also lead to behavioral and academic difficulties (Romano et al., 2015). Yet, these youth are more often suspended or expelled from school, rather than provided with adequate socioemotional resources (Beasley et al., 2014). Additionally, Black boys are disproportionately assigned to special education and have lower grades and high school graduation rates (Beasley et al., 2014). Utilizing an empowerment perspective (Hur, 2006; Page & Czuba, 1999), this study explored how trauma-exposed, Black boys experience their school environment and how they socioemotionally navigate barriers in their school setting.

Methods: A content analysis was completed on secondary focus group data collected from ten Black boys (age 14 to 18), enrolled between September 2015 and June 2016 at a public, charter high school, located in an urban Midwestern metropolitan area. School administrators assisted with recruitment of a purposive sampling of students who had self-reported histories of trauma. Consistent with the surrounding community, the school’s student population is predominantly African American (i.e., approximately 99%) and come from households with lower socioeconomic status. Transcripts were coded independently by the first and second author, using reflexive bracketing for confirmability and extensive writing of memos. Content was reviewed under the constructivist-interpretivist epistemology, using an empowerment theoretical framework to code categories and themes.

Findings: The following four themes emerged:

(1) Teachers Change Your Moods—participants reported that conflictual relationships with teachers negatively impacted their mood.

(2) They’ll Switch Up on You in a Half Second—participants reported how interactions with classmates (e.g., social posturing; physical touch) could also be a barrier to their success.

(3) When I’m Having a Bad Moment—participants provided descriptions of how they cope with challenging experiences in school. 

(4) Tell Me Why This is Useful—participants provided both instructional and relational suggestions to teachers and school staff that would make their school environment more conducive for learning.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings illustrate how trauma-exposed, Black boys contend with myriad factors that impact their socioemotional and educational wellbeing. Participants wanted to learn classroom content that easily translates into practical skills they can utilize in their everyday life, wanted to feel valued and heard, and also wanted to have agency in their school environment.  The emerging discourse on trauma-informed school practice necessitates an emphasis on the voices and needs of racial/ethnic minority youth who are often most vulnerable to childhood trauma and most commonly pushed out of schools. Given the unique social justice focus of the social work discipline, social work research can play a pivotal role in addressing the concerns of these vulnerable youth, examining culturally-appropriate, trauma-focused school solutions (on the micro level) and exploring educational systems change (on the macro level).