Variation in African American parents' use of early childhood physical discipline

Physical discipline is endorsed by a majority of adults in the U.S. including African American (AA) parents who have high rates of endorsement. Although many studies have examined physical discipline use among AA families, few have considered how early childhood physical discipline varies within the population. Individuals within a cultural group may differ in their engagement in cultural practices (Rogoff, 2003). Furthermore, AA families’ characteristics and their contexts, which are shaped by the interaction of social position, racism, and segregation (García Coll et al., 1996), likely influence how AA families physically discipline their young children. This study examined variation in early childhood physical discipline among AA families living in low-income communities and relations with demographic and contextual factors. Year 1 data from 310 AA parents living in three regionally distinct low-income communities were used from a sequential longitudinal intervention program study of the development and prevention of conduct disorder. Latent class analyses were conducted using parents’ responses on a measure, of the frequency of overall physical discipline, spanking, and hitting during prekindergarten and kindergarten. The associations between latent classes and six demographic and contextual factors were examined using the Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars (BCH) method. The factors were: child gender (59% male); marital status (51% never married); parental education (66% high school graduates and beyond); income (mean = $16.66K, S.D. = 12.50), family stress, and perception of neighborhood safety. Measures included the Family Information Form, Life Changes, and the Neighborhood Questionnaire. After considering two to seven class solutions, five physical discipline classes or sub-groups were identified. Classes were defined by discipline frequency (‘Infrequent’, ‘Weekly’, ‘Monthly’, ‘Almost-Every-Day’ and ‘Weekly-All’) as well as by discipline type (only parents in the ‘Weekly-All’ class hit their children). Significant associations were found between class membership, and child gender, marital status, income, and perception of neighborhood safety. Girls were more likely to be physically disciplined infrequently, χ2(4, N = 310) = 11.88, p = .05. The ‘Weekly’ class had significantly fewer married parents than all classes except ‘Almost-Every-Day’, χ2(4, N = 310) = 21.56, p < .001. Parents in the ‘Almost-Every-Day’ class had a significantly lower income than parents in all other classes except “Weekly-All”, χ2(4, N = 310) = 10.88, p = .03. Finally, parents in the “Almost-Every-Day” class perceived their neighborhood as significantly less safe compared to those in all other classes except the ‘Weekly-All’ class, χ2(4, N = 310) = 14.13 p = .01. These findings suggest that AA families vary in physical discipline during early childhood; this variation may result in sub-groups with different demographic characteristics. Associations between frequent discipline classes and perceptions of neighborhood safety implies that some AA parents may use physical discipline to protect their children from being harmed if they believe their communities are unsafe. Future research should qualitatively examine how AA parents respond to unsafe neighborhoods in their parenting behaviors, including physical discipline

The NAACP in the Twenty-first Century

“The leadership was overly concerned with recognition from whites, a concern that helped prevent the organization from taking a confrontational stance. The program overly oriented to a middle-class agenda and not nearly strong enough to the kinds of economic issues that mean most to workingclass black people. [And] the organization [was] too centralized.” These views of the problems of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are not those of a present-day critic, reflecting on the Association’s recent woes. They were formed by Ella Baker during her years as the NAACP’s assistant field secretary in 1941 and as National Director of Branches from 1943 to 1946, as summarized in Charles Payne’s book I’ve Got the Light of Freedom, published in 1995. Yet Baker’s assessment fits extraordinarily well with some of the issues that have called into question the viability and continued relevance of the NAACP as it faces its centennial in 2009

The Role of Developmental Comprehension in Understanding Microaggressions in Transracially-Adopted Children

Transracially adopted children often experience challenges in the development of identity. Researchers have found that people of minority race often go through a period of questioning ethnic identity (Phinney, 1990); however, little research has been conducted in similar development among adopted children. Growing up as a minority both in ethnic and adoptive status, transracial adoptees may face many obstacles in developing a healthy identity. Specifically, children may experience developmental setback frequently in the form of microaggressions. Microaggressions, regardless of intent, attribute stereotypical qualities to the recipients and invalidate individual differences between group members. Internalization of these messages at an early age may imply that the child has accepted these messages to be true. Adoption is a multi-faceted process- involving many people, concepts, and emotions- that many parents strive to help their adopted children understand. In early cognitive-developmental years, children themselves may convey several micro-aggressions due to the lack of conceptual understanding of their racial and adoptive identity. Beginning with the utilization of adoption language, children develop an understanding of adoption that grows with age (Brodzinsky, 2014). The present study intends to examine and interpret the different types of microaggressions internalized and committed by children of different ages by examining transracial adoptees aged 5-11 from China (N=8). Child interviews were coded for adoption and racial microaggressions experienced by the child. Microaggressions were further coded for who committed and who experienced them. Analyses were conducted on those that were committed and internalized by the child. Participants were analyzed in terms of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, including preoperational children ages 5-7 (N=3) and concrete-operational children ages 8-11 (N=5). Preliminary analyses found that transracial adoptees of both age groups tend to internalize and commit microaggressions more frequently than they experience them from others. Of the microaggressions committed, most are adoption-related rather than racial. These trends support Brodzinsky’s findings that young children have difficulty conceptually understanding adoption, perhaps indicating a need to increase education and promotion of a healthy adoption identity. Concrete-Operational children committed more microaggressions than their preoperational counterparts, mostly falling under “biology is best/normative” and “phantom birth parent” codes. At this stage in life, adoptees become aware of the importance of heredity and biology in family dynamics, yet fail to employ abstract thinking that would allow them to consider the perspective and importance of the birth parent. Further studies of a larger sample size, including a wider range of developmental ages may corroborate these results as well as find a decrease in number of internalized microaggressions among older children. By studying the prevalence and types of microaggressions committed by transracial adoptees, we may be able to better understand how children comprehend adoption, and possibly develop interventions to increase age-appropriate education and promote healthy identity development

Ethnic Racial Socialization Among Inracial International Adoptive Placements

Parents of international adoptees are encouraged to provide ethnic socialization for their children. Retrospective evidence from adult adoptees suggests this is important for identity development, particularly among transracially adopted persons. However little is known about ethnic identity development among children placed internationally in in-racial placements. It is unknown whether a focus on ethnic socialization by the adoptive family might further distinguish an adopted child as different, or relate to an adoptee’s increased perception of adoption visibility. The current study examined the ethnic identity development of 31 adoptees ages 11-18 in in-racial international adoptive placements. Adoption visibility, perceived self-competence, and affiliation with the adoptee’s country-of-origin ethnic group and the adoptive family’s ethnic group were assessed using an online questionnaire. The survey was completed by both the adoptee and the adoptive parent. Analyses of responses indicates that the majority of adoptees do not feel highly visible with respect to physical dissimilarity and have positive feelings about adoption and their birth countries. The vast majority of parents indicate that they have provided the right amount of exposure to the adoptee’s culture of origin. However, adoptees who affiliate more strongly with the ethnicity and culture of their birth countries have higher perceived self-competence than those who affiliate more strongly with the culture of their adoptive families. This suggests that ethnic socialization is important for all adoptive families regardless of racial identification. Further analysis will explore parental exposure to birth country culture as related to geographic area, as well as other relational factors like parent-child relationship closeness. Implications for policy and practice for families with in-racial placements will be discussed

21st Century Chains: The Continuing Relevance of Internal Colonialism Theory

Thesis advisor: William GamsonThesis advisor: Zine MagubaneThis dissertation examines Internal Colonialism Theory's importance to a comprehensive understanding of the oppression of African Americans still living in USA ghettos. It briefly explores the180 year history of Black activist depictions of a "nation within a nation," the impact of the depression-era Marxist notion of a Negro nation, Latin American influences on Robert Blauner, and the pervasive effect of international anti-colonialism and the Black Power Movement upon the development of American academic Internal Colonialism Theory. This appraisal evaluates Blauner's seminal presentation, Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt, and the major contributions of Robert L. Allen and Mario Barrera in analyzing African American and Chicano internal colonial experiences respectively. It re-assesses colonialism and moves beyond Eurocentric characterizations to elaborate a Continuum of Colonialism, including direct, indirect, external, internal, and "end of" colonialisms. This analysis addresses the contradiction that the American Revolution supposedly decolonized America without improving colonized conditions for African Americans or Native Americans, and defines internal colonialism as geographically based, disagreeing with the prevailing interpretation which contemplates the existence of diasporic African America as one collective colony. While summarizing the USA's course from settler colony system to today's inner cities of the colonized, this investigation explores African American class formation utilizing a variation of Marable's conception of Racial Domains as historical context through to the present. With the majority of African Americans in ghettos [internal colonies] scattered around the USA, this document outlines the positive and negative means of ending internal colonial situations within the contemporary USA. While elaborating how Internal Colonialism Theory quite practically fits harmoniously within several differing conceptualizations of American and global racial relations, this perspective offers a framework for more rigorous future discussions and debates about Internal Colonialism Theory, and previews three major international populations to which this assessment of Internal Colonialism Theory can be extended.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Sociology