Black Adolescent Development

Blacks represent the largest non-white, ethnic minority group in American society, and adolescents constitute a significant proportion of this population. Despite this fact, the attention devoted to the life experiences and development of Black adolescents by educators and researchers has been virtually non-existant. Black Adolescent Development is the first text to address this need by providing a comprehensive overview of contemporary Black adolescents in the United States—from social, psychological, economic, educational, medical, historical, and comparative perspectives.

The text illustrates how race, socioeconomic status, and environmental forces shape this critical period in the development of Black youth, and will make clear that, while they share common attributes with all adolescents, Black adolescents also possess characteristics that are unique to them alone.

Based on the author’s extensive teaching experience, the text includes a robust collection of in-text and online resources for students and instructors, including end-of-chapter discussion questions, chapter quizzes, flash cards, web links and videos for students, and in-class activities, case studies and ethnographies examples, and a sample syllabus for instructors.