Cultural Specificity of Support Sources, Correlates and Contexts: Three Studies of African-American and Caucasian Youth

Kenneth I. Maton*, Douglas M. Teti, Kathleen M. Corns, Catherine C. Vieira-Baker, Jacqueline R. Lavine, Karen R. Gouze, Daniel P. Keating

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

73 Scopus citations

Abstract

Levels and correlates of parental support, peer support, partner support, and/or spiritual support among African American and Caucasian youth were examined in three contexts: adolescent pregnancy (Study 1), first year of college (Study 2), and adolescence and young adulthood (ages 15-29; Study 3). Partially consistent with a cultural specificity perspective, in different contexts different support sources were higher in level and/or more strongly related to adjustment for one ethnic group than the other. Among pregnant adolescents, levels of spiritual support were higher for African Americans than Caucasians; additionally, peer support was positively related to well-being only for African Americans whereas partner support was positively related to well-being only for Caucasians. Among college freshmen, family support was more strongly related to institutional and goal commitment for African Americans than Caucasians; conversely, peer support was more strongly related to institutional and goal commitment among Caucasians. Among 15 to 29-year-olds, levels of parental support and spiritual support were higher among African Americans than Caucasians; additionally, spiritual support was positively related to self-esteem for African Americans but not for Caucasians. Implications and limitations of the research are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)551-587
Number of pages37
JournalAmerican Journal of Community Psychology
Volume24
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1996

Keywords

  • African American youth
  • Caucasian youth
  • Culture
  • Support sources

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Applied Psychology

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