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Mental Health Service Utilization Among African American Emerging Adults, Sha-Lai Williams

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Mental illness affects 25-30% of US adults ages 18 years and older in a given year. Of those individuals, about 41% fail to utilize mental health services. Research indicates that being African American and between the ages of 18 and 29 are associated with decreased rates of service utilization. Yet, less is known about the factors related to mental health service utilization among a specific subset of these groups, namely, African American emerging adults. Using empirically-tested theoretical frameworks as its foundation, this dissertation study aimed to address this gap in literature by examining specific predisposing, enabling, and need factors: e.g., …

Remembering The Cultural Trauma Legacies Of Slavery: African American Young Adult Perceptions On Racism, Ethnic Identity, And Racial Socialization, Kimya Pearl Barden

Dissertations

The purpose of this research investigation is to explore cultural trauma theory on African American young adult development. Cultural trauma theory asserts the adverse cross-cultural encounter, North American slavery, reproduces intergenerational psychosocial legacies for contemporary African Americans. Accordingly, cultural trauma theory is used to explore with African American young adults three "slave" legacies: ethnic identity formation, perceptions of racism, and racial socialization experiences. A qualitative case study approach is used for (N=26) participants enrolled in either college or a GED program. Each young adult participates in either an individual or focus group interview. To aid in data triangulation, older African …

Understanding The Behaviors And Beliefs Of African-American/Black Fathers: A Qualitative Examination, Nicholas James Gomulinski

Wayne State University Theses

UNDERSTANDING THE BEHAVIORS AND BELIEFS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN/BLACK FATHERS: A QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION

by

NICHOLAS J. GOMULINSKI

May 2013

Advisor: Dr. Stella M. Resko

Major: Social Work

Degree: Master of Social Work

The positive influence father involvement has on children has been widely examined and embraced. Despite this, examination of men's beliefs on parenting and where they learn their parenting practices has only recently received attention. This study surveyed African-American/Black fathers in five focus groups (N=26) regarding where they felt they learned how to be a father, and what parenting behaviors they use or believe in. The responses from the participants were …

Preventing Recidivism: Perspectivs On The Effectiveness Of The Juvenile Justice System In Meeting The Needs Of African American Youth With Ebd, Carmeann Foster

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Nearly two million young people, under the age of 18, are arrested each year nationwide (Gottesman & Schwarz, 2011). Of these youth, 70% are male, and 46 % are African American (McPherson & Sedlak, 2010). Approximately two thirds suffer from symptoms of aggression, depression or anxiety. Those who suffer from behavioral symptoms, 27% suffer from severe and persistent mental illness. (McPherson & Sedlak, 2010). Similar statistics exist within the Hennepin County justice system. These statistics paint a frightening picture of a system in which emotionally and behaviorally disturbed African American males are grossly overrepresented in both the local and national …

Self-Reported Family Income And Expenditure Patterns For A Cohort Of Tanf-Reliant African American Women: Outcomes From A Longitudinal Study In Miami-Dade County, Florida, Stacia Michelle West

Masters Theses

This mixed-method study was designed to analyze the impact of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 on a cohort of welfare-reliant African American women in Miami-Dade County. A snowball sampling technique was utilized to identify and conduct in-person interviews with women who were receiving welfare benefits from January 1997 to March 2000. The study intended to determine the participant characteristics, employment and wage histories, annualized income, and annualized expenditures over the time span. The results indicate that the average age of recipients was 34.5 years old with four children. The average educational attainment for the cohort …

Robust Protective Factors That Help Youths With A Parent Experiencing Depression Achieve Positive Adjustment, Hsing-Jung Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Based on a resilience framework, the purpose of this study was to address knowledge gaps about minority youths who lived in rural and poor areas, had a primary caregiver with a diagnosis of depression, and faced multiple psychosocial stressors. Three research objectives included: 1) To explore the association between ecological protective factors and four developmental outcomes-emotional adjustment, behavioral adjustment, school performance, and educational aspiration; 2) To identify the robust protective factors; and 3) To explore the interactive relationships between risk and robust protective factors. Families (N=126) where the primary caregiver had a diagnosis of major depression and had a child …

The Lived Experiences Of Older African Americans Residing In Urban Nursing Homes, Marilynn Gail Byrd Knall

Wayne State University Theses

As huge numbers of baby boomers reach old age, an increased need for nursing home care in the future is inevitable. Older people face more complex health issues that often lead to debilitation or disability and thus the need for long-term care. The numbers of consumers needing long-term care services will more than triple during the next 30 years.

African Americans compose less than 10% of nursing home residents and even at age 84 and older, when the likelihood of nursing home placement is higher, proportionately fewer African Americans live in nursing homes. The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities groups in …

Brief Study Of Working Conditions Of Colored Citizens In New Orleans Louisiana, Ernest J. Wright

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation

The following report is the result of a study of the Colored worker during the present cataclysm in political and industrial affairs. The present panic has helped the laborer from many angles. It has given him a realization of the value of money and the necessity of sane action in the distribution of it.