Emotional and Social Development of African American Children

Abstract

Concerns about the development of African American children living in poverty most often center on academic, behavioral, and emotional functioning. Efforts to understand and to remedy thege concerns are giving rise to explorations of social and emotional development. Social development refers to the growth of abilities and dispositions that are the basis of emotional adjustment and competence in meeting the demands of the social environment. It includes the development offavorable personal, ethnic, and gender identities, emotion regulation, prosocial behavior, and a capacity for intimate relations. As this research progresses, attention to the role of culture and social context (e.g., poverty and racism) in development is unavoidable. Clearly, developmental research is less than illuminating if itfails to consider variations in the ability offamilies', schools', and neighborhoods' to provide protective and nurturing environments conducive to healthy development of children. Accordingly, the role of socioculturalfactors as sources of risk and resilience constitute an important area of scholarly inquiry regarding the social and emotional development ofAfrican American children.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bellah, R. , et al. (1985). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1-2, Serial No. 209), 3-35.

Bretherton, I. (1990). Open communication and internal working models: Their role in the development of attachment relationships. In C. Z. Malatesta , I. Bretherton , C. Saarni , C. Zahn-Wexler , G. Kochanska , D. Cicchetti , & R. Thompson (Eds.), Emotional development (pp. 57-114). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Costello, E2. J. (1988). Child psychiatric disorders and their correlates: A primary care pediatric sample. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child andAdolescentPsychiatry, 28, 851-855.

Earls, F. (1980). Epidemiological child psychiatry: An American perspective. In E. F. Purcell (Ed.), Psychopathology of children and youth: A cross-cultural perspective (pp. 3-27). New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.

Earls, J. , & Jung, K. G. (1987). Temperament and home environment characteristics as causal factors in the early development of childhood psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 491-498.

Kellam, S. G. , Branch, J. D. , Agrawal, K. C. , & Ensminger, M. E. (1975). Mental health and going to school: The Woodlawn program of assessment, early intervention and evaluation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Langner, T. S. , Gersten, J. C. , Mc Carthy, J. C. et al. (1976). A screening inventory for assessing psychiatric impairment in children 6 to 18. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 44, 286-296.

Maccoby, E. (1980). Social development: Psychological growth and the parent-child relationship. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

10.

McAdoo, H. P. , & McAdoo, J. L. (Eds.). (1985). Black children: Social, educational andparental environments. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

11.

McLoyd, V. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on Black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61, 311-346.

12.

McLoyd, V. C. , & Flanagan, C. (Eds.). (1990). New directions for child development: Vol. 46. Economic stress: Effects on family life and child development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

13.

Ogbu, J. (1985). A cultural ecology of competence among inner city Blacks. In M. Spencer , G. Brookings , & W. Allen (Eds.), Beginnings: The social and affective development of Black children (pp. 45-66). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

14.

Olmedo, E. L. (1979). Acculturation: A psychometric perspective. American Psychologist, 34(11), 1061-1070.

15.

Saarni, C. (1990). Emotional competence: How emotions and relationships become integrated. In C. Z. Malatesta , I. Bretherton , C. Saarni , C. Zahn-Wexler , G. Kochanska , D. Cicchetti , & R. Thompson (Eds.), Emotionaldevelopment (pp. 115-182). Lincoln: Universityof Nebraska Press.

16.

Slaughter, D. (1988). Black children and poverty: A developmental perspective. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.