Some might argue that the movies and television depicting African-American and white adolescent girls reinforces stereotypes and can only negatively affect body image. This argument is supported by the fact that the vast majority of media and film sexualizes young women, African-American or white (Baker 13-15). It is true that women are held to a higher ideal because of advertising and media. However, the difference in the advertising of African-American and white women is the submissive sexiness of white women opposed to the independent sexiness of African-American women (Baker 13-15). It is true that both back and white girls feel compelled to emulate sexiness. However, African-American girls are also given an ideal that includes the tools for self-acceptance. That is, the independence and assertiveness found in the advertising depicting African-American women helps girls to feel confident and self-assured.
Close family relationships may be another factor in positive body image in young African-American girls. No matter how many differing opinions and views of women they see in the media, a girl who has a strong role model who encourages healthy behavior is more likely to feel good about herself ("Girls' Body" 51). Healthy behavior might include good personal habits, self-assuredness, and not responding to peer pressure. It also might involve eating right and being healthy in general, something that is rarely portrayed as "sexy" in the media.
Rosenthal, Smith, and de Visser point out that girls often become sexually active to make themselves feel like they are good looking or confirm that they are "okay" (319). This need for self-assuredness is more likely where girls feel bad about themselves. Logically, this would make it seem like girls with poor self body image and low self-esteem are more likely to have sex to reassure themselves that they are good and attractive to others. That may explain why girls who have strong family support, specifically a strong female relative, are less likely to have sex at an early age (Rosenthal, Smith, and de Visser (319). Other factors listed by Rosenthal, Smith, and de Visser are friendship/support networks and religious ties (319). Both of these home-life factors may stem from family relationships,...
Depression in African-American Adolescents Etiology of Depression Mental illnesses like depression can be very difficult to diagnose or to recognize: There is no serum to test for when looking for depression. In some real if rather vague way, mental health is simply the absence of mental disorders. And in the reverse we define mental illness as the absence of mental health. The circularity of this definition is certainly confusing, but it reflects
For adolescents living in the Delta, health education on modifiable risk factors is mandatory if any change is to be seen. FINDINGS of the REVIEW of LITERATURE Findings of the literature reviewed in this study include the key roles of mothers, cafeterias in schools, physical education teachers and food accessibility in overweight African-Americans. Community initiatives which are combined and integrated with school and home initiatives focused toward healthier eating have been
African-American Academics African-American Students and Success and Failure in the School Setting Do African-American students use different strategies to achieve academic success than other groups? The strategies suggested by African-American students themselves have a lot of merit, in the matter of their own academic achievement. In a research study published by Child Study Journal (Tucker, et al., 2000), 22 elementary and 21 high school students completed an open-ended questionnaire delving into the question
Unit IV: The media world had advanced a lot near the half of the twentieth century, and this made it possible for African-Americans to be heard through means such as the television, the radio, and the newspaper. The culture and trends promoted by black people no longer seemed to be resentful for the white public. Even if the majority of black people continued to experience financial problems, they did not feel
However, conventional beliefs that there is low rate for African-American involvement in suicidal activities, there exists minimal focus on learning the possible suicide patterns among African-Americans. Social workers are not aware of the risks and protectiveness among African-Americans. This gives room for misinterpretation of facts concerning self-destructive activities of African-Americans. The research further stresses the importance of social workers to the study of suicide among African-Americans. They also have the
Disparities with Mental Health among African American YouthIntroductionAfrican American youth continue to face various disparities with regard to their mental health challenges. For instance, black American youth are less likely to receive mental health treatment as compared to white adolescents. According to Lindsey et al. (2012), the said unwillingness to offer treatment is usually not due to financial reasons. Rather, is due to the fact that they are black. Essentially,
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