Margaret Beale Spencer
Biographic Data
| ID | 118596 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Margaret Beale Spencer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Margaret Beale |
| FAMILY NAME | Spencer |
| SIGNATURE | SPENCER M B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pennsylvania |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9516-5427 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 272 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1973 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethnic and Racial Discrimination and Youth Development
How is ethnic and racial discrimination impacting our young people? Scholars around the world have found that discriminatory interactions of this nature have detrimental impacts on youth and their development. In this handbook, the world's leading experts on this topic examine the current state of the science, presenting current research and tracing foundational theories, empirical findings, multilevel methods, and intervention strategies for chi…
Male minority youth and law enforcement officers' policing perceptions and reported experiences and practices: Qualitative exploration of reciprocal socialization beliefs regarding respect
A specific theory-guided, humanity-focused perspective addresses the "how" and "why" of America's long-standing racial tension and the patterned problem of wrongful Black deaths. Qualitative data coding and analysis indicate interpersonal and relational misalignments between male youth of color (MYC) and law enforcement officers (LEO). LEO interview findings highlight professional support needs and safety-relevant tasks and responsibilities; howe…
Inclusive and Ameliorative Theorizing for Redressing 21st-Century Structural Inequities
In analyzing the disseminated call, the commentary suggests the need for a consciousness consistent with a quote from Maya Angelou concerning identity. It is applied—in this case—to the situation of social science and specifically developmental science vis-à-vis published scholarship pertaining to communities of color. Questioned is the field’s long-term positionality regarding the persistent marginalization of Blacks. Suggested is the need to be…
Acknowledging Bias and Pursuing Protections to Support Anti-Racist Developmental Science: Critical Contributions of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory
American racism is deeply engrained in the nation’s ecology including its chronosystem and contributes to the nation’s unavoidably shared vulnerability. Interrogating an accurate portrayal of the nation’s history is informative for securing anti-racist research. This special issue commentary discusses the role of Spencer’s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) as a means of providing an epistemic framing for disentangling …
Looking through a kaleidoscope: The phenomenological ethnic‐racial socialization conceptual model and its application to U.S. Black and Latino Youth and families
A significant body of research examines ethnic‐racial socialization among families of color, yet rarely investigates the influence of youths’ phenotype (e.g., skin color) on ethnic‐racial socialization. How families of color make meaning of youths’ skin color may cause variation in ethnic‐racial socialization. To address this gap, we propose the Phenomenological Ethnic‐Racial Socialization Conceptual Model, which details how the meaning families …
Phenomenology and Intersectionality: Using PVEST as a Frame for Adolescent Identity Formation Amid Intersecting Ecological Systems of Inequality: Phenomenology and Intersectionality: Using PVEST
Civic Engagement as an Adaptive Coping Response to Conditions of Inequality: An Application of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST)
Stigma, Stereotypes and Resilience Identities: The Relationship Between Identity Processes and Resilience Processes Among Black American Adolescents
Black Parents as Advocates, Motivators, and Teachers of Mathematics
Ebony McGee, Margaret Beale Spencer, Black Parents as Advocates, Motivators, and Teachers of Mathematics, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 84, No. 3, Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success (Guest Editors: Nadine Finigan-Carr and Yolanda Abel) (Summer 2015), pp. 473-490
Invited Commentary: Exploring the Promises, Intricacies, and Challenges to Positive Youth Development
We highlight the need for and critical importance of the program of research reported in this Special Issue. We emphasize that a focus on positive youth development is sorely overdue. The impressive project covering one decade, 42 states and 7,000 participants demonstrates critical contributors to positive youth development. The two identified themes emerging from the set of papers are that contexts and the nature of assets matter for youth. Coll…
American Identity: Impact of Youths' Differential Experiences in Society on Their Attachment to American Ideals
This article examines the problem of national and civic detachment among American youth. Using a developmental theoretical framework that integrates the ecological aspects of development with the phenomenological experiences of the developing individual, I argue that young Americans have difficulty developing an attachment to their identity as Americans due to contradictory experiences had between daily events and communicated perspectives and be…
Fourth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research—Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ignored Since Brown v. Board of Education: Youth Development and the Myth of a Color-Blind Society
The scholarship of Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark, referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, emphasized the nation’s color line, not only in the Jim Crow South but in American cities overall. The Clarks pointed out the critical role of context; however, they applied it narrowly to the issue of “harm” as an inevitable consequence of segregation. The author of this article argues that the Clarks and the…
Crafting identities and accessing opportunities post-Brown
Decades following Brown v. Board of Education (1954), issues regarding the effects of skin color, poverty, and racial differences in the availability of protective factors persist. For a multiethnic sample of mainly African American (56%), female (69%), and high-achieving (65%) youths, a dual-axis model of vulnerability is used to compare four groups of youths identified as high, masked, low, and undetermined vulnerability on the basis of the pre…
A Theoretical and Empirical Examination of Identity as Coping: Linking Coping Resources to the Self Processes of African American Youth
Spencer's (1995) Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory is presented as a theoretical framework to integrate issues of context, coping, and identity in human development. The relation of coping supports (i.e., cultural socialization and spirituality) to psychological well-being was investigated for a sample of low resource African American youth. Results suggest that employment of religion and spirituality and cultural pride as a f…
The association of physical maturation with family hassles among African American adolescent males
This research examined associations between physical maturation and adolescent-perceived family hassles within a sample of urban African American families who resided in high-risk communities. The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between physical maturation and youths' perceptions of their family context and the associated daily stresses experienced. The participants were 251 parent-son dyads who were interviewed separately. The …
Black Males' Structural Conditions, Achievement Patterns, Normative Needs, and “Opportunities”
The relations between normative developmental transitions, contextual influences, and life-stage outcomes such as academic achievement for African American males are examined. The integration ofaffective and cognitive processes are reviewed for preschool- and elementary-aged boys, and an empirical examination ofvulnerable and resilient outcomes of219 urban adolescent males is used to illustrate how structural conditions provide opportunities for …
Vulnerability to Violence: A Contextually‐Sensitive, Developmental Perspective on African American Adolescents
Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) is presented as a theoretical framework to analyze potential effects of being a victim or co‐victim of a violent crime. Data are presented from a sample of African American adolescents residing in a Southeastern metropolitan area. Victims (n = 20) and non‐victims (n = 332) are compared on their self‐reporting of clinical symptoms normally associated with violent or traumatic …
Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep”: Studying How People Live Culturally
We call for the integration of cultural socialization and identity processes in learning as a goal of educational research. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes for racial and ethnic minority youth and for youth facing persistent intergenerational poverty. This requires that educational researchers understand the cultural niches in which young people develop. We illustrate this claim through the lenses of the Cultural Modeling Framework and…
Research ethics for mental health science involving ethnic minority children and youths
In response to U.S. Public Health Service projects promoting attention to disparities in the outcomes of mental health treatments, in July 2001, the American Psychological Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Fordham University Center for Ethics Education convened a group of national leaders in bioethics, multicultural research, and ethnic minority mental health to produce a living document to guide ethical decision makin…
Integrating Normative Identity Processes and Academic Support Requirements for Special Needs Adolescents: The Application of an Identity-focused Cultural Ecological (ICE) Perspective
The adolescent period continues to be a challenging phase of the life course. Irrespective of available economic resources, race, ethnicity and environmental supports, it is usually viewed as a burdensome period. The stage has special preparatory and historical relevance as youths move into young adulthood and the world of work. For particular periods of the life course, such as adolescence, developmental phases and transitions are unusually vuln…
Identity and School Adjustment: Revisiting the "Acting White" Assumption
It has long been offered as an explanation for the achievement gap between White and African American students, that African American youth would do better if they adopted a Eurocentric cultural values system. Unfortunately, this theory, along with a great amount of the established literature on minority youth identity development, depends on a deficit-oriented perspective to explain the discrepancy between African American and White students. Th…
Social and cultural influences on school adjustment: The application of an identity-focused..
The Influence of Physical Maturation and Hassles on African American Adolescents' Learning Behaviors
Potential stressors during early adolescence include physical characteristics (related to puberty), peer acceptance, and familial expectations. Pubertal timing and stressful experiences have previously been identified as effecting academic achievement. This study examines the impact of these constructs on adolescents' learning experiences and behaviors as potential mediators of achievement variables. Stressful experiences include negative life ev…
Racial and Social Class Prevalence of Psychopathology among School-Age Youth in the United States
This article assesses the relative base rates of common forms of youth psychopathology among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and rarer minorities and across social classes as defined by parent education levels. A nationwide sample of 1,400 participants aged 5 to 17 years was stratified demographically according to the U.S. census. Standardized teacher observational scales were applied and the most maladjusted youths identified in terms of a…
Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences
Margaret Beale Spencer, Davido Dupree, Dena Phillips Swanson, Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Winter, 1996), pp. 30-43
Identity and School Adjustment: Revisiting the "Acting White" Assumption
It has long been offered as an explanation for the achievement gap between White and African American students, that African American youth would do better if they adopted a Eurocentric cultural values system. Unfortunately, this theory, along with a great amount of the established literature on minority youth identity development, depends on a deficit-oriented perspective to explain the discrepancy between African American and White students. Th…
Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep”: Studying How People Live Culturally
We call for the integration of cultural socialization and identity processes in learning as a goal of educational research. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes for racial and ethnic minority youth and for youth facing persistent intergenerational poverty. This requires that educational researchers understand the cultural niches in which young people develop. We illustrate this claim through the lenses of the Cultural Modeling Framework and…
Black Males' Structural Conditions, Achievement Patterns, Normative Needs, and “Opportunities”
The relations between normative developmental transitions, contextual influences, and life-stage outcomes such as academic achievement for African American males are examined. The integration ofaffective and cognitive processes are reviewed for preschool- and elementary-aged boys, and an empirical examination ofvulnerable and resilient outcomes of219 urban adolescent males is used to illustrate how structural conditions provide opportunities for …
Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, and Competence Formation: Adolescent Transition and Cultural Transformation
As a point of transition, adolescence is heavily influenced by what comes before in addition to the effects of current experiences. It also undergirds the expected quality of the adult outcomes that follow. This transition occurs in particular contexts. When the effects of race and ethnicity are factored in, significant symbolic and structural variations become evident in both the quality of problems encountered and the objective outcomes experie…
Crafting identities and accessing opportunities post-Brown
Decades following Brown v. Board of Education (1954), issues regarding the effects of skin color, poverty, and racial differences in the availability of protective factors persist. For a multiethnic sample of mainly African American (56%), female (69%), and high-achieving (65%) youths, a dual-axis model of vulnerability is used to compare four groups of youths identified as high, masked, low, and undetermined vulnerability on the basis of the pre…
Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences
Margaret Beale Spencer, Davido Dupree, Dena Phillips Swanson, Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Winter, 1996), pp. 30-43
Black Parents as Advocates, Motivators, and Teachers of Mathematics
Ebony McGee, Margaret Beale Spencer, Black Parents as Advocates, Motivators, and Teachers of Mathematics, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 84, No. 3, Out-of-School Time and African American Students: Understanding the Health, Environmental, and Social Determinants of Academic Success (Guest Editors: Nadine Finigan-Carr and Yolanda Abel) (Summer 2015), pp. 473-490
The association of physical maturation with family hassles among African American adolescent males
This research examined associations between physical maturation and adolescent-perceived family hassles within a sample of urban African American families who resided in high-risk communities. The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between physical maturation and youths' perceptions of their family context and the associated daily stresses experienced. The participants were 251 parent-son dyads who were interviewed separately. The …
Vulnerability to Violence: A Contextually‐Sensitive, Developmental Perspective on African American Adolescents
Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) is presented as a theoretical framework to analyze potential effects of being a victim or co‐victim of a violent crime. Data are presented from a sample of African American adolescents residing in a Southeastern metropolitan area. Victims (n = 20) and non‐victims (n = 332) are compared on their self‐reporting of clinical symptoms normally associated with violent or traumatic …
Effects of systematic social and token reinforcement on the modification of racial and color concept attitudes in black and in white preschool children
Acknowledging Bias and Pursuing Protections to Support Anti-Racist Developmental Science: Critical Contributions of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory
American racism is deeply engrained in the nation’s ecology including its chronosystem and contributes to the nation’s unavoidably shared vulnerability. Interrogating an accurate portrayal of the nation’s history is informative for securing anti-racist research. This special issue commentary discusses the role of Spencer’s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) as a means of providing an epistemic framing for disentangling …
Fourth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research—Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ignored Since Brown v. Board of Education: Youth Development and the Myth of a Color-Blind Society
The scholarship of Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark, referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, emphasized the nation’s color line, not only in the Jim Crow South but in American cities overall. The Clarks pointed out the critical role of context; however, they applied it narrowly to the issue of “harm” as an inevitable consequence of segregation. The author of this article argues that the Clarks and the…
Youth Policy, Poverty, and African-Americans: Implications for Resilience
Invited Commentary: Exploring the Promises, Intricacies, and Challenges to Positive Youth Development
We highlight the need for and critical importance of the program of research reported in this Special Issue. We emphasize that a focus on positive youth development is sorely overdue. The impressive project covering one decade, 42 states and 7,000 participants demonstrates critical contributors to positive youth development. The two identified themes emerging from the set of papers are that contexts and the nature of assets matter for youth. Coll…
The Influence of Physical Maturation and Hassles on African American Adolescents' Learning Behaviors
Potential stressors during early adolescence include physical characteristics (related to puberty), peer acceptance, and familial expectations. Pubertal timing and stressful experiences have previously been identified as effecting academic achievement. This study examines the impact of these constructs on adolescents' learning experiences and behaviors as potential mediators of achievement variables. Stressful experiences include negative life ev…
Racial and Social Class Prevalence of Psychopathology among School-Age Youth in the United States
This article assesses the relative base rates of common forms of youth psychopathology among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and rarer minorities and across social classes as defined by parent education levels. A nationwide sample of 1,400 participants aged 5 to 17 years was stratified demographically according to the U.S. census. Standardized teacher observational scales were applied and the most maladjusted youths identified in terms of a…
Looking through a kaleidoscope: The phenomenological ethnic‐racial socialization conceptual model and its application to U.S. Black and Latino Youth and families
A significant body of research examines ethnic‐racial socialization among families of color, yet rarely investigates the influence of youths’ phenotype (e.g., skin color) on ethnic‐racial socialization. How families of color make meaning of youths’ skin color may cause variation in ethnic‐racial socialization. To address this gap, we propose the Phenomenological Ethnic‐Racial Socialization Conceptual Model, which details how the meaning families …
Double Stratification and Psychological Risk: Adaptational Processes and School Achievement of Black Children
Margaret Beale Spencer, Soo-Ryon Kim, Sheree Marshall, Double Stratification and Psychological Risk: Adaptational Processes and School Achievement of Black Children, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 56, No. 1, The Black Child's Home Environment and Student Achievement (Winter, 1987), pp. 77-87
Differential Effects of Expressive and Receptive Language Use on the Inference Task Performance of Middle- and Lower-Income Children
Performance on receptive and expressive language measures as related to inference task administration was investigated. The contribution of receptive and expressive language abili ties to observed differences in performance on inference tasks was explored in relation to socioeconomic status. The study employed 384 lower- and middle-income Black chil dren ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. Subjects at each age level were tested on three language measures, the P…
Effects of systematic social and token reinforcement on the modification of racial and color concept attitudes in black and in white preschool children
Children's cultural values and parental child rearing strategies
Differential Effects of Expressive and Receptive Language Use on the Inference Task Performance of Middle- and Lower-Income Children
Performance on receptive and expressive language measures as related to inference task administration was investigated. The contribution of receptive and expressive language abili ties to observed differences in performance on inference tasks was explored in relation to socioeconomic status. The study employed 384 lower- and middle-income Black chil dren ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. Subjects at each age level were tested on three language measures, the P…
Double Stratification and Psychological Risk: Adaptational Processes and School Achievement of Black Children
Margaret Beale Spencer, Soo-Ryon Kim, Sheree Marshall, Double Stratification and Psychological Risk: Adaptational Processes and School Achievement of Black Children, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 56, No. 1, The Black Child's Home Environment and Student Achievement (Winter, 1987), pp. 77-87
Self-concept development
The process of identity formation among Black children is determined by cognitive maturation, current situational factors, and previous socialization influences, including the nature and quality of ego defenses. Recent research and theory demonstrate the independence of Black racial attitudes and Black self-concept from early childhood through the adolescent years
Identity Processes among Racial and Ethnic Minority Children in America
Margaret Beale Spencer, Carol Markstrom-Adams, Identity Processes among Racial and Ethnic Minority Children in America, Child Development, Vol. 61, No. 2, Special Issue on Minority Children (Apr., 1990), pp. 290-310
Youth Policy, Poverty, and African-Americans: Implications for Resilience
Ethnicity, Ethnic Identity, and Competence Formation: Adolescent Transition and Cultural Transformation
As a point of transition, adolescence is heavily influenced by what comes before in addition to the effects of current experiences. It also undergirds the expected quality of the adult outcomes that follow. This transition occurs in particular contexts. When the effects of race and ethnicity are factored in, significant symbolic and structural variations become evident in both the quality of problems encountered and the objective outcomes experie…
Educational Risk and Resilience in African-American Youth: Context, Self, Action, and Outcomes in School
James Patrick Connell, Margaret Beale Spencer, J. Lawrence Aber, Educational Risk and Resilience in African-American Youth: Context, Self, Action, and Outcomes in School, Child Development, Vol. 65, No. 2, Children and Poverty (Apr., 1994), pp. 493-506
Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences
Margaret Beale Spencer, Davido Dupree, Dena Phillips Swanson, Parental Monitoring and Adolescents' Sense of Responsibility for Their Own Learning: An Examination of Sex Differences, The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Winter, 1996), pp. 30-43
Racial and Social Class Prevalence of Psychopathology among School-Age Youth in the United States
This article assesses the relative base rates of common forms of youth psychopathology among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and rarer minorities and across social classes as defined by parent education levels. A nationwide sample of 1,400 participants aged 5 to 17 years was stratified demographically according to the U.S. census. Standardized teacher observational scales were applied and the most maladjusted youths identified in terms of a…
The Influence of Physical Maturation and Hassles on African American Adolescents' Learning Behaviors
Potential stressors during early adolescence include physical characteristics (related to puberty), peer acceptance, and familial expectations. Pubertal timing and stressful experiences have previously been identified as effecting academic achievement. This study examines the impact of these constructs on adolescents' learning experiences and behaviors as potential mediators of achievement variables. Stressful experiences include negative life ev…
Social and cultural influences on school adjustment: The application of an identity-focused..
Identity and School Adjustment: Revisiting the "Acting White" Assumption
It has long been offered as an explanation for the achievement gap between White and African American students, that African American youth would do better if they adopted a Eurocentric cultural values system. Unfortunately, this theory, along with a great amount of the established literature on minority youth identity development, depends on a deficit-oriented perspective to explain the discrepancy between African American and White students. Th…
Research ethics for mental health science involving ethnic minority children and youths
In response to U.S. Public Health Service projects promoting attention to disparities in the outcomes of mental health treatments, in July 2001, the American Psychological Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Fordham University Center for Ethics Education convened a group of national leaders in bioethics, multicultural research, and ethnic minority mental health to produce a living document to guide ethical decision makin…
Integrating Normative Identity Processes and Academic Support Requirements for Special Needs Adolescents: The Application of an Identity-focused Cultural Ecological (ICE) Perspective
The adolescent period continues to be a challenging phase of the life course. Irrespective of available economic resources, race, ethnicity and environmental supports, it is usually viewed as a burdensome period. The stage has special preparatory and historical relevance as youths move into young adulthood and the world of work. For particular periods of the life course, such as adolescence, developmental phases and transitions are unusually vuln…
A Theoretical and Empirical Examination of Identity as Coping: Linking Coping Resources to the Self Processes of African American Youth
Spencer's (1995) Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory is presented as a theoretical framework to integrate issues of context, coping, and identity in human development. The relation of coping supports (i.e., cultural socialization and spirituality) to psychological well-being was investigated for a sample of low resource African American youth. Results suggest that employment of religion and spirituality and cultural pride as a f…
The association of physical maturation with family hassles among African American adolescent males
This research examined associations between physical maturation and adolescent-perceived family hassles within a sample of urban African American families who resided in high-risk communities. The purpose of the study was to examine the relations between physical maturation and youths' perceptions of their family context and the associated daily stresses experienced. The participants were 251 parent-son dyads who were interviewed separately. The …
Black Males' Structural Conditions, Achievement Patterns, Normative Needs, and “Opportunities”
The relations between normative developmental transitions, contextual influences, and life-stage outcomes such as academic achievement for African American males are examined. The integration ofaffective and cognitive processes are reviewed for preschool- and elementary-aged boys, and an empirical examination ofvulnerable and resilient outcomes of219 urban adolescent males is used to illustrate how structural conditions provide opportunities for …
Vulnerability to Violence: A Contextually‐Sensitive, Developmental Perspective on African American Adolescents
Spencer's Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) is presented as a theoretical framework to analyze potential effects of being a victim or co‐victim of a violent crime. Data are presented from a sample of African American adolescents residing in a Southeastern metropolitan area. Victims (n = 20) and non‐victims (n = 332) are compared on their self‐reporting of clinical symptoms normally associated with violent or traumatic …
Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep”: Studying How People Live Culturally
We call for the integration of cultural socialization and identity processes in learning as a goal of educational research. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes for racial and ethnic minority youth and for youth facing persistent intergenerational poverty. This requires that educational researchers understand the cultural niches in which young people develop. We illustrate this claim through the lenses of the Cultural Modeling Framework and…
Crafting identities and accessing opportunities post-Brown
Decades following Brown v. Board of Education (1954), issues regarding the effects of skin color, poverty, and racial differences in the availability of protective factors persist. For a multiethnic sample of mainly African American (56%), female (69%), and high-achieving (65%) youths, a dual-axis model of vulnerability is used to compare four groups of youths identified as high, masked, low, and undetermined vulnerability on the basis of the pre…
Fourth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research—Lessons Learned and Opportunities Ignored Since Brown v. Board of Education: Youth Development and the Myth of a Color-Blind Society
The scholarship of Kenneth B. and Mamie P. Clark, referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, emphasized the nation’s color line, not only in the Jim Crow South but in American cities overall. The Clarks pointed out the critical role of context; however, they applied it narrowly to the issue of “harm” as an inevitable consequence of segregation. The author of this article argues that the Clarks and the…
American Identity: Impact of Youths' Differential Experiences in Society on Their Attachment to American Ideals
This article examines the problem of national and civic detachment among American youth. Using a developmental theoretical framework that integrates the ecological aspects of development with the phenomenological experiences of the developing individual, I argue that young Americans have difficulty developing an attachment to their identity as Americans due to contradictory experiences had between daily events and communicated perspectives and be…
Invited Commentary: Exploring the Promises, Intricacies, and Challenges to Positive Youth Development
We highlight the need for and critical importance of the program of research reported in this Special Issue. We emphasize that a focus on positive youth development is sorely overdue. The impressive project covering one decade, 42 states and 7,000 participants demonstrates critical contributors to positive youth development. The two identified themes emerging from the set of papers are that contexts and the nature of assets matter for youth. Coll…
Psychology (28 works) · Developmental psychology (20 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (20 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Ethnic group (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Youth Development and Social Support (11 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works)