Abstract
Scholarly interest in the adjustment and development of African American males has engendered the development of several theoretical frameworks. In many previous studies, however, these frameworks have been employed in an attempt to understand the adjustment of African American males from a deficit perspective. More recent frameworks nevertheless emphasize the need to shift attention to resilience and to a better understanding of the conditions under which black males succeed. This chapter underscores the significance of one such framework—that developed by Murry, Block, and Liu (chapter “Adjustment and Developmental Patterns of African American Males: The Roles of Families, Communities, and Other Contexts”), which views the development of African American males as a product of interlocking contexts that operate within a well-ordered system of influences. As Murry and colleagues suggest, the systems perspective has its benefits. Nevertheless, future research should give more attention to the changing configuration of African American families, the emerging role of black immigrant families, and the ways in which the systems perspective can be leveraged for developing policy interventions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, M. (2015). A rising share of the U.S. Black population is foreign born. Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends. http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/04/09/a-rising-share-of-the-u-s-black-population-is-foreign-born/. Accessed Dec 2015.
Cherlin, A. J. (1998). Marriage and marital dissolution among black Americans. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 29(1), 147–158.
Cherlin, A. J. (2005). American marriage in the early twenty-first century. The Future of Children, 15(2), 33–55.
Hayslip, B., & Kaminski, P. L. (2005). Grandparents raising their grandchildren: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice. The Gerontologist, 45(2), 262–269.
Hernandez, D. J. (2012). Young children in black immigrant families from Africa and the Caribbean. In R. Capps & M. Fix (Eds.), Young children of black immigrants in America: Changing flows, changing faces (pp. 75–118). Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.
Kent, M. M. (2007). Immigration and America’s black population (Vol. 62, No. 4). Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau. http://www.prb.org/pdf07/62.4immigration.pdf. Accessed Dec 2015.
Kreider, R. M. (2003, October). Adopted children and stepchildren: 2000. Census 2000 Special Reports. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census
Kreider, R. M., & Lofquist, D. A. (2014). Adopted children and stepchildren: 2010 (P20-527). Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.
Lawson Bush, V. (2004). How Black mothers participate in the development of manhood and masculinity: What do we know about Black mothers and their sons? Journal of Negro Education, 73(4), 381–391.
Masten, A. S. (2014). Ordinary magic: Resilience in development. New York: The Guildford Press.
McGee, E. O., & Pearman, F. A. (2014). Risk and protective factors in mathematically talented black male students: Snapshots from kindergarten through eighth grade. Urban Education, 49(4), 363–393.
McHale, S. M., Crouter, A. C., Kim, J. Y., Burton, L. M., Davis, K. D., Dotterer, A. M., et al. (2006). Mothers’ and fathers’ racial socialization in African American families: Implications for youth. Child Development, 77(5), 1387–1402.
Ruggles, S., Genadek, K., Goeken, R., Grover, J., & Sobek, M. (2015). Integrated public use microdata series: Version 6.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
Stewart, P. (2007). Who is kin? Family definition and African American families. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 15(2–3), 163–181.
Stolley, K. S. (1993). Statistics on adoption in the United States. The Future of Children, 3(1), 26–42.
Talmi, A. (2013). Gender and parenting across the lifecycle. In W. B. Wilcox & K. K. Kline (Eds.), Gender and parenthood: Biological and social scientific perspectives (pp. 164–190). New York: Columbia University Press.
Teachman, J. D., Tedrow, L. M., & Crowder, K. D. (2000). The changing demography of America’s families. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 1234–1246.
Terry, C. L., Sr., & McGee, E. O. (2012). “I’ve come too far, I’ve worked too hard”: Reinforcement of support structures among Black male mathematics students. Journal of Mathematics Education at Teachers College, 3(2), 73–84.
Thomas, K. J. (2011). Familial influences on poverty among young children in black immigrant, U.S.-born black, and nonblack immigrant families. Demography, 48(2), 437–460.
Thomas, K. J. (2016). Adoption, foreign‐born status, and children’s progress in school. Journal of Marriage and Family, 78(1), 75–90. doi:10.1111/jomf.12268.
Valencia, R. R. (Ed.). (1997). The evolution of deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. London: Routledge.
Waters, M. C. (2001). Black identities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thomas, K.J.A. (2016). The Adjustment and Development of African American Males: Conceptual Frameworks and Emerging Research Opportunities. In: M. Burton, L., Burton, D., M. McHale, S., King, V., Van Hook, J. (eds) Boys and Men in African American Families. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 7. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43847-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43847-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43846-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43847-4
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)