ABSTRACT
African American parents bear the same responsibilities as European Americans for the survival, care, and upbringing of their children, but they are subject to some unique conditions and circumstances that expand their childrearing tasks and increase the challenges of childrearing. For example, compared to their European American counterparts, African Americans are more likely to be rearing their children in the context of adverse economic conditions, single parenthood, significant neighborhood disadvantages, and less favorable employment conditions (e.g., nonstandard or erratic work schedules). These conditions may evoke parenting strategies and adaptations to optimize African American children’s survival and success. However, they can also exact a toll on parents’ psychological well-being (Conger et al., 2002; Gutman, McLoyd, and Tokoyawa, 2005; McLoyd, Toyokawa, and Kaplan, 2008; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009), and some may attenuate the positive effects on parenting behavior of resources such as emotional and instrumental support (Ceballo and McLoyd, 2002).
