African American Girls

Abstract

We have conducted hundreds of literature reviews, read many journal articles and reports, published many papers, and engaged over a thousand African American adolescent girls in a cultural curriculum specifically designed for them. This book was written to summarize this work and was conceived to be an educational resource for diverse audiences who work with African American girls including: (1) researchers who conduct research and intervention programming; (2) professionals who work with African American adolescent girls such as teachers, social workers, prevention specialists, therapists and counselors, and mental health workers; and (3) a general audience of persons with an interest in African American adolescent female's well-being and development such as parents, community leaders, girl's group leaders (i.e., Girl Scout leaders), and church and spiritual leaders. This book is both descriptive and practical. Each chapter covers the most current literature on African American adolescent girls, and reviews and discusses ways in which they are similar to and unique from girls in other ethnic groups and from African American boys. An understanding of who they are and how they function allows us to make recommendations about ways to support these girls and to refocus and/or strengthen already positive attributes. A related purpose is to begin to address some of the disparities African American girls face (i.e., teen pregnancy, HIV infection, obesity, etc.). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)