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Preparing the Way: A Qualitative Study of High‐Achieving African American Males and the Role of the Family
Author(s) -
Maton Kenneth I.,
Hrabowski Freeman A.,
Greif Geoffrey L.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1023/a:1022197006900
Subject(s) - health psychology , public health , qualitative research , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , environmental health , medicine , sociology , nursing , social science
Employed qualitative methods to examine the role of the family in the academic success of very high‐achieving African American males. Findings revealed a complex tapestry of family processes and contexts involved in each youth's journey to outstanding academic achievement. Specifically, the combined importance of parental‐determined academic engagement, strict discipline, nurturance, and community connectedness appeared to counteract potentially negative contextual influences of neighborhood, peers, schools, and society. The qualitative findings tell a multifaceted, rich, and compelling story of the pathways to academic success for Black males, and highlight the need for culture‐specific and ecologically based conceptualization, research, and intervention approaches.