Reducing Behavioral Health Disparities for Black Youth

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Antisocial behavior and violence among youth has become a national health crisis for which African American youth are disproportionately at risk (Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993; Prothrow-Stith & Spivak,1992). A vast health disparity exists where African American youth are significantly more likely to both exhibit antisocial behavior and to be the victim of others' antisocial acts. For example, victimization rates for violent crimes are greater than 750% higher for African American adolescents compared to white adolescents (Centers for Disease Control, 2004; Rachuba, Stanton, & Howard, 1995). To further exacerbate this health disparity, there is a tremendous lack of culturally sensitive, evidence-based interventions to combat the specific risk factors that foster antisocial behavior for African American youth. The limited availability of culturally relevant behavioral interventions for ethnic minority groups serves to create a barrier to accessing and utilizing mental health services by African Americans of all ages (Mandersheid & Sonnenschen, 1996). For example, African Americans under-consume community mental health services of all kinds, enter mental health treatment services at a later stage in the course of illness, and prematurely discontinue services at a significantly higher rate compared to white populations. To effectively combat the development of antisocial behavior among youth, cultural factors must be strategically and purposefully incorporated into program designs (Hill, Soriano, Chen, & LaFromboise, 1994). The goal of this project is to develop and test a child intervention curriculum specifically designed to be culturally relevant and effective for African American youth. This new intervention, entitled Black Parenting Strengths & Strategies-Child (BPSS-C), will build on an existing culturally modified parenting intervention curriculum, Black Parenting Strengths & Strategies (BPSS; Coard, 2003). The end product will represent an innovative, much needed resource for preventing and decreasing existing behavioral health disparities in African American children (ages five to eight years-old).