3-216 - The Role of Religious Socialization in Black Youth Adjustment

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Numerous studies demonstrate that religion, for Black youth across contexts, tends to buffer against risk behaviors and bolsters positive attitudes and actions (Bowie, Juon, Taggart, Thorpe, & Ensminger, 2017; Hope, Assari, Cole-Lewis, & Caldwell, 2017; Smith, 2003; Taggart, Gottfredson, Powell, Ennett, Chatters, Carter-Edwards, & Eng, 2018). Black youth rank religion and faith higher than other groups. However, the majority of studies on Black youth religiosity do not identify the ways in which religious beliefs and practices are transmitted and sustained, prior to playing an ameliorative role in developmental trajectories. Scholarship on the role of religious socialization in Black youth development remains extremely limited.

Three papers in this symposium examine religious socialization as a significant factor in Black youth adjustment. The first paper investigates the associations between types of religious socialization and youth racial identity processes. The second paper focuses on the impact of religious socialization on the racial socialization messages communicated to Black youth. Finally, the last paper explores how the religious socialization of Black fathers affects the ways in which they parent adolescent offspring.

Examining the multifaceted role of religious socialization extends not only to what is empirically known, but what can be applied in partnership with faith based and/or youth centered community stakeholders to promote positive Black youth development.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Meredith O. Hope, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Discussant

• Pamela P. Martin, Prairie View A&M University

Individual Presentations

• The Role of Religious Socialization in Racial Identity Beliefs: Examining Group Differences - Presenting Author: Meredith O. Hope, University of Michigan School of Public Health; Non-Presenting Author: Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes, Washington University in St. Louis; Non-Presenting Author: Pamela P. Martin, Prairie View A&M University

• Shaping Race-Related Messages: The Important Role of Religious Socialization Messages and African American Families - Presenting Author: Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes, Washington University in St. Louis; Non-Presenting Author: Pamela P. Martin, Prairie View A&M University; Non-Presenting Author: Meredith O. Hope, University of Michigan School of Public Health

• African American Fathers’ Socialization Motivations and Messages: Intersections of Race, Gender, & Religiosity - Presenting Author: Marketa Burnett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Shauna Cooper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Janae Shaheed, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Margarett McBride, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill