Session: Examining Black Youth's Health and Wellbeing: The Role of Individual, Family, and Environmental Characteristics (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Adolescence is a time filled with risk and opportunity. Unfortunately, many Black adolescents often trail behind their peers in health and education outcomes. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods, the five studies in this panel expand our understanding of Black adolescents’ health and well-being. We focus on adolescence because this period of development is marked by: (1) being a particularly risky time in the lifespan for long-standing detrimental outcomes, (2) the increased influence of interaction and influence outside of one’s home, and (3) the age point where society begins to view Black adolescents as threats.

Presenter 1 investigates whether school connectedness was associated with mental health outcomes in a sample of Black adolescents. The results indicated that school connectedness was related to lower depression and aggressive behaviors in the sample. The effects of school connectedness on depression were stronger for Black girls. Discussion on the implications of this research for practice, alignment with past research, and recommendations for research are provided.

Presenter 2 examines the Black boys’ help-seeking behaviors as well as the factors that influence their decisions to seek mental health support. Interview data showed that the participants navigated through several stages in their help-seeking process. Each stage was related to the progression or worsening of depressive symptoms. As the participants' experiences with depressive symptoms worsened, they described making key decisions about how to seek support from both formal and informal resources. These findings provide a framework that considers important sociocultural factors that will aid practitioners and researchers in examining Black boys’ mental health help-seeking and supporting their positive help-seeking behaviors.

Presenter 3 examines gaps in the Afrocentric literature by investigating the moderating influence on the relationship between self-reliance and suicide ideation among emerging adult Black American men ages 18-24. Results demonstrated that after controlling for the role of household income and age, increasing values of self-reliance corresponded to increased odds of suicide ideation among participants. On the other hand, increased values of Ubuntu corresponded to decreasing odds of suicide ideation.

Presenter 4 will review findings regarding the influence of families of origin and chosen families on internalized homophobia, HIV testing, and PrEP use among young Black MSM ages 18 to 24. Our results indicated that family bonding was negatively associated with internalized homophobia. Communication with parents about drugs and sex was positively associated with internalized homophobia.

Lastly, Presenter 5 examines the life stories and organizing experiences of Black adolescent (ages 12-18) activists throughout the United States, focusing on the role of parental support in their involvement and promoting their psychological well-being. The findings related to parental support provide key insights about political education, activist identity formation, familial civic engagement legacies, community values, and parental encouragement during the direct-action periods of mobilization. Secondary findings from the Black boy participants disrupt and counter metanarratives of Black father absenteeism. These findings can inform how social workers support Black children and parents of children who are community organizers in the wake of pervasive racial injustice.