America Becoming Racial Trends and Their Consequences: Volume II (2001) / Chapter Skim
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12. Racial and Ethnic Trends in Children's and Adolescents' Behavior and Development
12. Racial and Ethnic Trends in Children's and Adolescents' Behavior and Development
Pages 311-350
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From page 311... ...
negative physical health conditions during infancy i.e., iron deficiency, elevated lead levels, low birth weight, prenatal alcohol exposure; and (2) psychosocial problems salient during adolescence i.e., assaultive violence and homicide, suicide, drug use.
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From page 312... ...
CONDITIONS DURING INFANCY THAT AFFECT BEHAVIOR AND DEVELOPMENT The lower scores on tests of cognitive functioning and poorer school achievement of many minority children have received considerable attention. Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)
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From page 314... ...
poor White infants are three to four times more likely to be iron deficient than nonpoor White infants, but iron deficiency remains more common among nonpoor Blacks. Mexican-American infants are at higher risk regardless of socioeconomic status; iron deficiency affects approximately 18 percent and 12 percent of poor and nonpoor Mexican American infants, respectively.
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, and iron-fortified infant cereals are now readily available. Elevated Lead Levels In contrast to iron, which the body requires for normal function, there is no known role for lead.
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Racial and Ethnic Differences in Prevalence As with iron deficiency, the most recent data (1988 to 1994) show marked differences in prevalence of elevated lead levels in young children of different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds (U.S.
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Notes: Elevated blood lead was defined as having at least 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
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, are greater the lower the birth weight (Breslau et al., 1996~. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Prevalence LBW births are more common among Blacks than among any other ethnic group (David and Collins, 1997; Foster, 1997~; and LBW is a problem for Black infants regardless of the level of education (a proxy for socioeconomic status)
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Note: Low birth weight refers to an infant weighing less than 2,500 grams at birth. SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System.
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, only a small proportion of women reported heavy alcohol consumption after finding out they were pregnant, but Black women (1.2 percent) and American Indian and Alaska Native (2.2 percent)
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Historical Trends FAS was only recognized 30 years ago. Although obtaining accurate information about alcohol consumption during pregnancy is challenging, national surveys are now starting to include alcohol-consumption related questions.
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This small corpus of indicators reflects the scarcity of measures of mental health in regularly repeated national surveys of youth. Our focus on homicide and assaultive violence, suicide, and drug use also reflects the bias in regularly repeated national surveys of youth toward problematic functioning, rather than well-being and resilience.
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From page 323... ...
For several years during the past two decades, homicide has been the leading cause of death for both Black males and females age 15 to 24 (Allen and Mitchell, 1998; Hammond and Yung, 1993~. Historical Trends by Race Unfortunately, national data spanning several years are not available for Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and American Indian and Alaska Natives.
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From page 324... ...
Homicide rates for females age 15 to 19 of both races are much lower than those for males in this age group. The gender disparity is larger among Blacks than Whites (e.g., in 1994, the homicide rate for Black females age 15 to 19 was approximately one-ninth the rate for Black males, whereas the rate for White females in this age group was approximately one-fifth the rate for White males)
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Many of these factors have been shown in empirical research to be risk factors or mediators of aggressive and violent behavior (Coie and Dodge, 1998~. For example, Sampson et al.
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From page 326... ...
; however, extant data are inadequate to determine the relative contribution of these factors to race differences in aggression and violent behavior. Nonetheless, it is clear that the sharp rise in rates of homicide and assaultive violence among Black male adolescents that began in 1985 was accompanied by increases in a cluster of various forms of disadvantage among Blacks.
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From page 327... ...
. These programs appear to attenuate aggressive and delinquent behavior by reducing multiple risk factors associated with these outcomes (e.g., cognitive deficits, impaired socioemotional functioning in early life, low parental involvement with children, hostile or rejecting parenting, low levels of schooling and earnings during late adolescence)
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From page 328... ...
A substantial increase in the prevalence of daily cigarette smoking and a modest rise in the prevalence of binge drinking also occurred during this period (Iohnston et al., 1998~. Prevalence and Historical Trends by Race and Ethnicity Compared to Hispanic and White adolescents, Black adolescents participating in annual national surveys during the past two decades consistently report the lowest level of usage of marijuana (Figure 12-8A)
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SOURCE: Institute for Social Research (1997~.
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SOURCE: Institute for Social Research (1997~.
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From page 331... ...
They conclude that the general patterns of racial and ethnic differences found in their work and that of others are, on the whole, valid (Wallace and Bachman, 1991, 1993; Wallace et al., 1995~. Wallace and his colleagues suggest that Black youth may be less likely than White youth to use drugs because they have less exposure to peer or adult drug users, and given equal exposure are less vulnerable to users than are White youth.
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From page 332... ...
The residents of these targeted areas are disproportionately Black and Hispanic; hence, minorities are disproportionately overrepresented in drug-related emergency room incidents as tracked by DAWN. Second, it is unclear whether Black youth are disproportionately arrested for illicit drug violations because they are actually more involved in drug-related activity, or because of heavy policing of poor, predominantly Black neighborhoods, or because of bias toward detection and arrest of certain groups (e.g., Black male adolescents)
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From page 333... ...
The decline in cigarette smoking among adolescents and adults that occurred in the 1970s has been attributed to drastic shifts in public opinion about its social acceptability and safety following the release of the Surgeon General's reports in 1967 and 1971 documenting the negative health consequences of smoking. The large-scale initiation of smoking prevention programs in schools in the early 1980s probably helped to sustain this downward trend among adolescents (Dryfoos, 1990~.
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Substance abuse prevention programs tend to be school-based and addressed to the general school population. These programs are more successful at changing knowledge than decreasing or preventing drug use.
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The number of firearms per 100 Americans has increased dramatically over the past several decades, and the rate of suicide by firearm has increased three times faster than the rates of all other methods for 15- to 19-year olds (for a detailed discussion of this research, see Garland and Zigler, 1993~. Prevalence and Historical Trends by Race and Ethnicity Black youth have long had substantially lower suicide rate than White youth.
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From page 336... ...
In spite of this long-standing disparity, the racial gap in the adolescent suicide rate has narrowed in recent years, especially among males, who have markedly higher suicide rates than females (Figure 12-9~. In 1970, White males age 15 to 19 were twice as likely as Black males to commit suicide (9.4 percent versus 4.7 percent per 100,000)
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From page 337... ...
Others have attributed the increase in suicide rates among Black adolescents to a growing paucity of mental health services in many Black communities and to increased availability of firearms (Belluck, 1998~. Unfortunately, national statistics on adolescent suicide rates are not separated by social class within race.
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From page 338... ...
Few studies report suicide rates for Hispanic adolescents, and substantial discrepancies exist in the data that are reported (Wyche and Rotheram-Borus, 1990~. Impact of Programs The most common types of suicide prevention programs are crisis intervention services; telephone hotlines are the most popular.
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This understanding may guide specific remediation treatments in children with elevated blood lead levels. The higher prevalence of elevated lead levels among Black children, even of middle- and high-income families, demands further investigation.
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We need more systematic study of whether these biologic risks increase children's vulnerability to behavioral and developmental ill effects of other disadvantages they face in growing up, such as financial stress, poor schools, dangerous neighborhoods, family violence, maternal depression, etc. Homicide and Assaultive Violence There is some evidence that the risk factors for violence vary among different ethnic groups, but knowledge in this area needs considerable expansion.
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From page 341... ...
Drug Use The apparent discrepancy between the relatively low self-reports of drug use by Black youth and the relatively high prevalence of drugrelated problems among Black adults is among the most challenging issues beckoning empirical study. Research has identified several risk factors of adolescent drug use, but we possess far less knowledge about the link between these factors and the precursors of drug abuse during adulthood.
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From page 342... ...
Tracking the Impact of Welfare Reform The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 stands out as the single social policy adopted in recent years with the potential to disproportionately and profoundly affect ethnic minority families and children. This law mandated large reductions in the food stamp program; decreased assistance to legal immigrants; cuts in benefits to adult welfare recipients who do not find work after two years; and a five-year lifetime limit on assistance in the form of cash aid, work slots, or noncash aid such as vouchers to poor children and families, regardless of whether parents can find employment.
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From page 343... ...
In light of race and ethnic disparities in residential patterns, employment, housing, and other economic-related factors, it is supremely important to determine whether the effects of welfare reform are less positive or more adverse for minority children and families than majority families and the factors responsible for these disparities. Poor Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than poor Whites to reside in economically depressed, societally isolated, urban neighborhoods where jobs are scarce and growth in entry level jobs is unlikely, and high-quality day care and health care are less accessible all of which are available and accessible in most suburbs and nonmetropolitan areas.
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From page 344... ...
Welfare provisions may influence children through their impact on a variety of variables, including household or family income, maternal employment, maternal education, maternal physical and psychological well-being, parenting and the home environment, and child care (Zaslow et al., 1995~. The multitude of questions that need to be addressed in light of welfare reform are amenable to a variety of research methodologies ranging from large-scale surveys to small-scale ethnographic studies.
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From page 345... ...
Kellerman, and T Welty 1993 A fetal alcohol syndrome surveillance pilot in American Indian communities in the northern plains.
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Taylor 1995 Long-term developmental outcomes of low birth weight infants.
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Life Sciences Research Office 1984 Assessment of the Iron Nutrition Status of the U.S. Population Based on Data Collected in the Second National Health and Nutrition Survey, 1976-1980.
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Roberts, and R Murphy 1982 National estimates of blood lead levels: United States, 1976-1980: Association with selected demographic and socioeconomic factors.
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Rotheram-Borus, M 1993 Suicidal behavior and risk factors among runaway youths.
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Obolensky, and E Glood 1990 American Indian, Black American, and Hispanic American youth.
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