School of Public Health
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1633
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
Note: Prior to July 1, 2007, the School of Public Health was named the College of Health & Human Performance.
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Navigating a Relational Bind: Black and Latino Emergent Adult Men’s Negotiation of their Relational Needs in a Masculine Context(2024) Hedelund, Adam Jens; Roy, Kevin; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Emergent adulthood is a period of discovery and transition for humans aged 18 to 29 that often requires many practical as well as relational resources. Black and Latino emergent adult men from low socioeconomic backgrounds often navigated through this time period through alternate pathways because of a lack of resources. They may have also experienced substantial stress in childhood that prompted the reliance on hegemonic masculinity as a guide for how to cope with these stressors. This study sought to examine how Black and Latino emergent adult men negotiated their relational needs and abilities within the context of their masculine identities. Using semi-structured life history interviews, Black and Latino young men were interviewed from two youth development centers in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. Findings suggested that the impact of the provider role as adultified children, as well as exposure to violence, increased the participant’s likelihood of hegemonic masculine disconnection from family and friends in emergent adulthood. However, this disconnection was often complicated given their human desire for closeness and support as well as obligations to family members. This complexity was conceptualized as a type of relational bind. Participants used a variety of strategies to resolve this bind that often left them more isolated.Item Fathering After Incarceration: Navigating the Return of Young, Black Men to Families, Jobs & Communities(2017) Hart, John Rennie; Roy, Kevin M.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Incarceration, and reentry after incarceration, is the most common experience for young, low-income Black men across their life course (Tierny, 2014). While most Black men work, go to school, get married and start families, others, especially those who are low-income are at a higher risk to experience incarceration. As a result, incarceration challenges these men’s ability to reconnect with social institutions such as work, school, and marriage post release. More importantly, incarceration separates these men from their families for extended periods of time. This dissertation utilized social ecological theory and life course theory to examine the lives and families of these Black fathers. I recruited 40 incarcerated fathers for life history interviews in a local department of corrections, and I analyzed how incarceration re-arranged the lives of these men as well as the development of their children, and how men reentered their families and communities after incarceration.Item Peer Homicide and Traumatic Loss: An Examination of Homicide Survivorship among Low-Income, Young, Black Men(2013) Smith, Jocelyn R.; Roy, Kevin M.; Family Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Community violence remains a critical public health concern in the United States and a chronic threat to the well-being of boys and men of color. Homicide is the leading cause of death for Black males ages 15-34 (CDC, 2011). This health disparity simultaneously places them at risk for experiencing the traumatic loss of a peer and becoming homicide survivors. The likelihood that Black youth will have someone close murdered is 7.8 times that of Whites (Finkelhor et al., 2005), and previous research evidences significant mental and behavioral health consequences for surviving loved ones of homicide victims (Hertz et al., 2005; Zinzow et al., 2009). However, insufficient attention has been paid to experiences of surviving youth in urban contexts, and the experiences of Black male homicide survivors have been almost entirely overlooked. Grounded in a Life Course Perspective (Elder & Giele, 2009), this study used an ethnographic approach, including life history calendar methods, to investigate the lived experiences of young, Black male survivors of peer homicide in low-income, urban contexts. Specifically, this study examined: 1) how the context of place shaped young men's exposures to violence, traumatic loss, and perceptions of safety and vulnerability; 2) the frequency and timing of peer homicide(s) across the life course; and, 4) survivors' grief, coping, and recovery strategies and processes. In-depth interviews and field observations were conducted with 40 young, Black men (ages 18-24) in Baltimore City, Maryland. Data were analyzed using a modified grounded theory approach and the data were coded in three waves: open, axial, and selective. Study findings indicate that chronic and unpredictable violence in young men's Baltimore neighborhoods constantly positioned them vulnerable to witnessing, experiencing, surviving, or dying from violence. Young men on average survived three homicide deaths across the life course, revealing the disparity of traumatic loss among this group. A contextually relevant, trauma-informed framework of homicide survivorship emerged from participant narratives of grief, vulnerability, coping, and recovery. These findings indicate peer homicide and traumatic loss as multidimensional threats to healthy transitions to adulthood for young Black men, and present implications for multilevel systems research, prevention practice, and policy development.