Over the past 20 years, African American families have undergone tremendous changes, both demographically and socially. During this time, most of the studies of black families have focused on problems, such as out-of-wedlock births, single-parent families, and childhood poverty. While an accurate appreciation of the challenges confronting black families is important and needed, a "problem focus" tends to offer a narrow, negative view and restricts the consideration of other important issues affecting families. Family Life in Black America moves away from this deficit perspective and the result is enlightening both in its comprehensive reach and systematic scholarship. Readers of this volume will be pleased with the wide range of issues dealt with in this volume, including maturation, mate selection, sexuality, procreation, infancy, adulthood, adolescence, gender issues, young adulthood, cohabitation, parenting, grandparenting, and aging. Each article is firmly grounded in empirical data, based on, but not limited to, the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA). A fresh aspect of this book is the amount of diversity it reveals withing African American families and the forces that shape, limit, and enhance them. Both uplifting and informative, Family Life in Black America is truly unique in its field and will be used by professionals and students in ethnic studies, family studies, social work, psychology, research methods, and gerontology.

Celebrating the resilience of African Americans and their ability to cope with stress in the face of prejudice and discrimination, Mental Health in Black America explores how the quality of life among black Americans relates to behavioral health problems and diseases and examines the strategies blacks use to cope with the problems they face living in the United States. This unique edited volume details the self-reported stress of being black in America while documenting the cultural resources African Americans draw upon to overcome adversity and maintain a positive, healthy perspective on life. Beginning with a discussion of black life satisfaction and the broad psychological and sociological factors that affect it, contributors focus on how psychosocial factors contribute to such health problems as alcoholism and hypertension. Concluding with a thorough look at how blacks attempt to solve life problems, this volume highlights such strategies as prayer, avoidance, and active problem solving, as well as help-seeking from others such as family, community mental health providers, and law enforcement agencies. Mental Health in Black America is an insightful, informative volume that will help students and professionals in the fields of ethnic studies, psychology, social work, and public policy gain a clearer understanding and appreciation of the psychological dimension of the African American experience in the United States.

Celebrating the resilience of African Americans and their ability to cope with stress in the face of prejudice and discrimination, Mental Health in Black America explores how the quality of life among black Americans relates to behavioral health problems and diseases and examines the strategies blacks use to cope with the problems they face living in the United States. This unique edited volume details the self-reported stress of being black in America while documenting the cultural resources African Americans draw upon to overcome adversity and maintain a positive, healthy perspective on life. Beginning with a discussion of black life satisfaction and the broad psychological and sociological factors that affect it, contributors focus on how psychosocial factors contribute to such health problems as alcoholism and hypertension. Concluding with a thorough look at how blacks attempt to solve life problems, this volume highlights such strategies as prayer, avoidance, and active problem solving, as well as help-seeking from others such as family, community mental health providers, and law enforcement agencies. Mental Health in Black America is an insightful, informative volume that will help students and professionals in the fields of ethnic studies, psychology, social work, and public policy gain a clearer understanding and appreciation of the psychological dimension of the African American experience in the United States.

Life in Black America presents an abundance of recent research on the social, psychological, economic, and political behaviors of Americans of African decent. Originating out of the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), this book examines this major research project--the first study to sample a truly representative cross-section of blacks in America. The contributors discuss the methodological procedures and approaches used in conducting the NSBA and explain how the study was designed with a sensitivity to cultural influences. Substantive findings from the survey are discussed on a variety of topics, including relationships with family and friends, community life, religion, work, racial identity, political attitudes and participation, and physical and mental health. Each chapter provides a concise up-to-date literature review, addresses the empirical results in light of that literature, and includes research and policy implications. Life in Black America will interest a wide range of audiences including researchers and students in psychology, African American studies, social work, public health, nursing, political science, and sociology. "Life in Black America, a product of that project [National Survey of Black Americans], is one of the most significant works on America's largest minority group to appear in recent years. . . . Life in Black America provides a correction to the plethora of studies on blacks that have emerged over the last 15 to 20 years. . . . Life in Black America primarily presents the results of analyses that have focused upon many of the key issues of concern to the black community: neighborhood, religion, health, identity, and background and roots. Most important, these issues are addressed from an African-American perspective. . . . One of the most remarkable features of this work is the consistently high quality of the chapters. This is not easy to achieve in an edited work. . . . Together, the chapters present a holistic approach to the study of the black community in what Jackson terms the life-course framework." --Contemporary Sociology "A fascinating conclusion to 14 years of research into the economic, political and social statuses and the physical, psychological and social responses of Americans of African descent. The papers provide a history of the research, its methodological base and 'provide a substantive glimpse of a broad array of findings on the statuses and responses of a national sample of the black population.'--This is a project of major importance--later publications are awaited with great interest." --Journal of the Institute of Health Education "This volume achieves unusual unity for a collection. . . . The reader is also provided with relevant literature reviews and theoretical discussions. The former are usually fairly extensive and cover recent research. . . . This is an important volume. Scientifically defensible sampling, questionnaire construction and data collection procedures produced a reliable body of data that was capably analyzed. Important information about African Americans is reported which others can utilize in their own intra- and intergroup comparisons. . . ." --The Review of Black Political Economy

Experts from a range of disciplines offer practical advice for conducting social science research in racial and ethnic minority populations. Readers will learn how to choose appropriate methods - longitudinal studies, national surveys, quantitative analysis, personal interviews, and other qualitative approaches - and how best to employ them for research on specific demographic groups. The volume opens with a brief introduction to the difficulty of defining a population and designing a research program, then moves to illustrative examples drawn from the contributors' own studies of blacks in the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa. Case studies cover research on the media, mental health, churches, work, marital relationships, education, and family roles.

Experts from a range of disciplines offer practical advice for conducting social science research in racial and ethnic minority populations. Readers will learn how to choose appropriate methods-longitudinal studies, national surveys, quantitative analysis, personal interviews, and other qualitative approaches-and how best to employ them for research on specific demographic groups. The volume opens with a brief introduction to the difficulty of defining a population and designing a research program and then moves to illustrative examples drawn from the contributors' own studies of Blacks in the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa. Case studies cover research on the media, mental health, churches, work, marital relationships, education, and family roles. This volume is a much needed and valuable contribution to the literature on conducting research in Black communities. It fills a gap and provides great insights based on actual research experience, careful conceptualization, and documented evidence.-Diane R. Brown, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey School of Public Health