2/10/20151 Urban Youth Sexual Orientation

2/10/20152 Child Development and Environment Ecological risk factors Conditions or situations within children and adolescents’ developmental contexts (e.g., family, community, or school) that are associated with negative development outcomes (Roth & Johnson, 1990)

2/10/20153 Child Development and Environment Research has shown that it is the cumulative or combined impact of risk factors, rather than any single risk factor, that is most predictive of youth adjustment (Luthar, 1993; Rutter, 1979; Sameroff et al., 1997)

2/10/20154 Child Development and Environment Urban environment Risk factors rarely occur in isolation Urban youth are typically exposed to several sources of risk Despite living in high-risk contexts, many children appear to overcome adversity and evince healthy development (e.g., Werner, 1989)

2/10/20155 Predictive Variables Research suggests that three clusters of variables may be important to the positive adjustment of children in high-risk contexts Personal attributes Family support Extra-familial support (Masten & Coastsworth, 1998)

2/10/20156 Protective Factors and Promotive Factors Protective factors The attributes of persons, environments, situations, and events that appear to temper predictions of psychopathology based on the individual’s at risk status (Garmezy, 1983) A protective factor is evident when individuals under high-risk conditions, who also have high levels of the protective factor, function better than those individuals under high-risk conditions with low levels of the protective factor (Sameroff, 2000)

2/10/20157 Protective Factors and Promotive Factors Promotive Factors Promotive factors have a positive effect on both high and low risk populations Comparing protective and promotive factors A promotive factor is evident when a variable has a positive effect on adjustment irrespective of risk status (Rutter, 1987) A protective factor would be evidenced by having either no effect in low-risk populations or be magnified in the presence of the risk variable (Rutter, 1987)

2/10/20158 Protective Factors and Promotive Factors Personal attributes, family support, and extra-familial support may function either as protective factors or as promotive factors.

2/10/20159 The Role of Context The context affects whether or not a variable functions as a risk, promotive, or protective factor Variables such as trustworthiness, school motivation, peer delinquency, supervision, and relationships with parents were likely to show both protective and risk effects depending on the combination of variables and the population being studied (Stouthamer- Loeber et al., 1993).

2/10/ Ethnic Identity A positive sense of one’s ethnic group A potentially positive personal attribute for adolescents in high risk contexts (Phinney & Kohatsu, 1997) Ethnic identity has been positively linked to self- esteem, coping, a sense of mastery, and optimism in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents (Robers et al., 1999) Higher levels of ethnic identity were observed for minority youth (Roberts et al., 1999)

2/10/ Ethnic Identity Evidence for the potentially protective effect of ethnic identity High levels of ethnic identity were associated with both low risk and low substance use, suggesting that ethnic identity functions as a protective factor for African American and Hispanic youth (Scheier et al, 1997) The protective effect on youths’ adjustment by increasing their perceptions that they will be able to obtain their goals through legitimate means rather than by illegitimate means (Smith et al., 1999)

2/10/ Family Factors Family factors, such as parenting behaviors, is found to be particularly important to the healthy development of adolescents in high-risk, low-resource environments.

2/10/ Family Factors Parenting practices consisting of maternal monitoring, maternal support, and mother-child discussions prospectively predicted child competence and adjustment through self-regulation (Brody et al., 2002) Supportive parenting practices, a composite of maternal involvement, maternal monitoring and maternal acceptance, was associated with lower adolescent internalizing symptoms (Barrera et al., 2002) Fewer externalizing problems (Klein & Forehand, 2000) and less involvement with deviant peer groups (Pettit et al., 2001) were also found to be associated with family factors.

2/10/ School Context School connectedness The extent to which students feel connected to their school, teachers, and schoolmates, has been linked to lower substance use among adolescents in economically advantaged communities (Dornbusch et al., 2001) The potentially protective effect of school context was also identified(Kuperminc et al., 2000).

School and Family Characteristics According to Frey et al. (2009), adolescents are vulnerable to becoming involved in problematic behaviors, disengaging academically, and dropping out of school. School attachment is associated with lower levels of violent delinquency and aggressive beliefs as well as with academic motivation; Perceived teacher support is associated with positive perceptions of school climate and with academic motivation; Parental control was associated with lower levels of violent delinquency and negative perception of school climate. 2/10/201515

Sexual Orientation Who is gay? What does being gay, lesbian, or bisexual mean? What does being gay, lesbian, or bisexual mean to you? Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and found that your gender or sexual orientation had changed. How would that affect how people perceive you and treat you? How would it affect how you see yourself? 2/10/201516

Definitions (Developed by Youth Pride, Inc., 1997) Sexual orientation: A person’s emotional, physical, and sexual attraction and the expression of that attraction Homosexuality: A sexual orientation in which a person feels physically and emotionally attracted to people of the same gender Heterosexuality: A sexual orientation in which a person feels physically and emotionally attracted to people of the opposite gender Bisexuality: A sexual orientation in which a person feels physically and emotionally attracted to people of both genders 2/10/201517

Definitions (Developed by Youth Pride, Inc., 1997) Transgender identity: The experience of having a gender identity that is different from one’s biological sex. A transgender person may identify with the opposite biological gender and want to be a person of that gender Sexual minority: A person who may identify as homosexual, gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, or transvestite. All gay and lesbian youth are members of a sexual minority, but not all sexual minority persons are gay 2/10/201518