Suchergebnisse

AbstractAfrican American caregivers providing informal kinship care are vulnerable to chronic stress. Research has indicated stress increases individuals' risk for many adverse physical and mental health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and depression. Given the adverse outcomes related to stress, identifying mechanisms to help these caregivers lower and manage their stress is critical to their overall health and well‐being. This pilot qualitative study aimed to explore the self‐care practices of 12 African Americans providing informal kinship care using a phenomenological approach. Three themes emerged: (a) behaviours to manage stress levels, (b) support network reminding caregivers to take care of themselves and (c) prioritizing my own needs. Specifically, our findings indicate that some caregivers have high‐stress levels and engage in maladaptive coping behaviours. The children they cared for reminded them to take care of themselves by attending doctors' appointments or getting their nails done. Nevertheless, some caregivers prioritized their needs by participating in positive self‐care behaviours, such as listening to jazz and gospel music and exercising. Prevention and intervention programs that focus on improving caregivers' health should consider the role of self‐care practices.

Bullying victimization remains to be a public health concern in the United States, especially among sexual and ethnic minority youth. However, few studies have examined how school outcomes might be associated with bullying victimization among heterosexual and sexual minority African American youth and the factors that may attenuate that relationship. To address this gap, this study surveyed 462 heterosexual and 102 sexual minority African American youth residing in Chicago's Southside neighborhoods, who participated in the Resiliency Project. Study variables included bullying victimization, school outcomes (i.e., school connectedness, and academic grades), and future orientation. Bullying victimization was associated with a significant increase in feeling disconnected from school among both heterosexual and sexual minority adolescents; however, there was no significant association observed between bullying victimization and receiving low grades among either group. Future orientation did not moderate the association between bullying victimization and school outcomes among heterosexual adolescents; however, positive future orientation did attenuate the association between bullying victimization and feeling disconnected from school among sexual minority adolescents. Prevention programs that focus on promoting school connectedness need to consider the role of future orientation for sexual minority youth.