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Objective: Suicide rates among African American adolescents have increased exponentially in recent years. The socioecological stressors that can increase suicide risk for African American adolescents, in conjunction with unique suicide risk manifestations within this group, require culturally sensitive preventive interventions. This study examines the efficacy of the Adapted-Coping With Stress course (A-CWS), a culturally tailored preventive intervention, to reduce suicidal ideation in African American adolescents, utilizing a randomized controlled design., Method: Participants included 410 ninth-grade students in a large Midwestern city; most students identified as Black/African American. Participants were randomly assigned to either the A-CWS intervention or standard care control condition. All participants were assessed at baseline, immediately postintervention, and 6 and 12 months postintervention., Results: Treatment effects were examined using latent growth models comparing suicidal ideation trajectories in control and intervention conditions. Analyses were conducted using both intention-to-treat and treatment-as-received samples (i.e., intervention condition participants who attended at least 80% of sessions). In both intention-to-treat and treatment-as-received analyses, there was a significant treatment effect: Individuals in the A-CWS intervention condition with higher baseline ideation evidenced a superior reduction in suicidal ideation over the course of the study, relative to their counterparts in the standard care control condition., Conclusion: Findings indicate that the A-CWS preventive intervention is efficacious in reducing suicidal ideation among African American adolescents with higher levels of baseline suicidal ideation and that effects sustain over time, with the strongest effect evidenced 12 months postintervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Suicide rates among African American adolescents have increased dramatically. Suicidal ideation is associated with both suicide attempts and completions, thus understanding ideation patterns and predictors in African American adolescents is critical to informing prevention efforts. This study recruited 160 African American ninth grade students. Participants were those students randomized to the control condition of a randomized controlled preventive intervention. Of the 160 participants, 99 completed all assessment points and were included in latent transition analyses. We assessed participants four times: baseline then again at 6-, 12-, and 18-month postbaseline. Constructs of interest for this study included suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness, and community violence exposure. A 2-class model (i.e., low ideation [LI] and high ideation [HI]) characterized ideation at each time point. A total of 86%-90% of participants were in the LI class in any given time point and 27.3% of participants were in the HI class at least once. Participants in the LI class tended to stay in that class, whereas those in the HI class often transitioned to the LI group. Depression and hopelessness, but not exposure to community violence, predicted HI class membership. Findings suggest that (a) most African American adolescents may experience suicide ideation at some point in time, (b) a concerning proportion of African American adolescents may experience high ideation, (c) high ideation is often time-limited, and (d) depression and hopelessness predict high ideation., (© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Community Research and Action.)

The effect of the Adapted-Coping with Stress (A-CWS) intervention on social support coping was examined, using a randomized controlled trial design. The participants were 410 ninth-grade students (ages 14 to 16 years and mostly African American) living in low-resourced neighborhoods. Participants were randomly assigned 1:1 to either the A-CWS intervention or a standard care control condition. All participants were assessed at their schools before implementation of the intervention, at intervention completion, and again at 6- and 12-month post-intervention. Engagement in social support coping was examined in both intention-to-treat and treatment-as-received samples (i.e., intervention participants who attended at least 12 A-CWS treatment sessions and participants in the standard care control condition), using latent growth models. In intention-to-treat analyses, no significant treatment effects were identified. In treatment-as-received analyses, results revealed a significant association between social support coping and treatment condition; levels of social support coping decreased over time in the control condition, but they remained relatively stable in the treatment condition. The results indicate adequate intervention adherence and efficacy of the A-CWS to sustain social support coping within a sample of youth at high risk for stress exposure and associated disorders.Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT0395445., (© 2022. Society for Prevention Research.)

Historically, suicide rates for African American adolescents have been low, relative to rates for youth of other racial-ethnic backgrounds. Since 2001, however, suicide rates among African American adolescents have escalated: Suicide is now the third leading cause of death for African American adolescents. This disturbing trend warrants focused research on suicide etiology and manifestation in African American adolescents, along with culturally sensitive and effective prevention efforts. First, we revisit leading suicide theories and their relevance for African American adolescents. Next, we discuss health promotive and protective factors within the context of African American youth development. We also critique the current status of suicide risk assessment and prevention for African American adolescents. Then, we present a heuristic model of suicide risk and resilience for African American adolescents that considers their development within a hegemonic society. Finally, we recommend future directions for African American adolescent suicidology.

Community violence is a complex phenomenon, and many theories have been put forth to explain the causes of community violence and disparities in community violence across neighborhoods. One notable theory, collective efficacy theory (CET), posits that collective efficacy (i.e., a neighborhood's social cohesion and informal social control) mediates the association between concentrated disadvantage and community violence. As CET theorizes an inverse feedback loop between collective efficacy and community violence, collective efficacy could mitigate the link between neighborhood disadvantage and community violence. The current study examines the reciprocal association between collective efficacy and community violence exposure using data from 604 low-resourced, urban African American ninth-grade students from a large Midwestern city. Data were collected at 6-month intervals over 2 years. Significant cross-sectional associations were found between each of the collective efficacy constructs (social cohesion and informal social control) and community violence exposure, although no significant longitudinal cross-lagged associations were found. There were positive cross-sectional associations between (a) collective efficacy and community violence exposure and (b) informal social control and community violence exposure; however, the association between social cohesion and community violence exposure was negative. Associations between overall collective efficacy, as well as its subscales, and community violence exposure were consistent with hypothesized directions for social cohesion, but not for collective efficacy or informal social control. Findings support the use of collective efficacy as two constructs, rather than a single construct as proposed by Sampson et al. Implications for expanding original assumptions of CET are discussed.

Research examining the social origins of perfectionism has focused on negative evaluative experiences in the family, with less attention to negative social evaluations in other contexts and situations relevant for African American adolescents. The experience of racial discrimination is common for African American youth, and may trigger maladaptive perfectionistic beliefs if the youth perceive that they do not meet others' standards (socially prescribed perfectionism) or internalize discriminatory messages. Thus, the present study examined longitudinal associations among racial discrimination, socially prescribed perfectionism, and depressive symptoms among a community sample of urban and predominantly low income African American adolescents (n = 492; 46.7 % female). In each of grades 7, 8 and 9, participants reported their experiences with racial discrimination, perfectionistic beliefs, and depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that experiences with racial discrimination in grade 7 were associated with socially prescribed perfectionism in grade 8 which, in turn, was linked with depressive symptoms in grade 9. Results suggest that prospective associations between the experience of racial discrimination and depressive symptoms are due, in part, to increased socially prescribed perfectionism. Implications for interventions targeting depression in African American are discussed.

Youth violence continues to present a serious public health challenge in the United States, particularly so for African American adolescent males. The present study utilized a multilevel approach to predict aggression within a community sample of low-income, urban African American adolescent males (n = 80). Participants' self-report data on normative beliefs about aggression, exposure to community violence, and depressive symptoms were used in multiple regression equations to predict (a) self-reported interpersonal aggression and (b) self-reported aggressive response style when angered. Results of this study indicate that all three of the independent variables contributed significantly to the prediction of interpersonal aggression and aggressive response style when angered. The findings are important for increasing our understanding of pathways to various types of youth aggression and guiding the development of evidence-based approaches to violence prevention among African American adolescent males.

African-American youths are disproportionately affected by deleterious outcomes associated with risky sexual activity. Arguably, females are at greater risk for these adverse outcomes due to physiological and emotional risk factors, such as depression. The current study examines the relationship between depressive symptomology and sexual risk behavior within a sample of 1,970 inner-city, economically disadvantaged African-American adolescents in grades nine and eleven. The findings of this study support a relationship between sexual risk behavior and depressive symptomology for the sample, such that as depressive symptomology increases so does sexual risk behavior. Furthermore, an interaction for gender was found, with depressive symptomology being a stronger predictor of sexual risk behavior for African-American females as compared to African-American males. Implications of these findings for the design of prevention programs specifically tailored to African-American adolescent women are discussed.