# Presentation: 180563

## PLAYING WITH ANGER:ENGAGING THE EMOTIONAL LIVES OF BLACK BOYS IN SCHOOLS

- Howard C. Stevenson, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor and Chair
- Applied Psychology and Human Development Division
- Graduate School of Education
- University of Pennsylvania
- Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- September 12, 2008

**Notes:**
(1CE) Amphitheater All Levels SeminarHoward Stevenson, PhD, University of PennsylvaniaStevenson received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology fromthe Fuller Graduate School of Psychology and is now anAssociate Professor of Education at the University ofPennsylvania.This talk will present the intervention research strategies ofthe PLAAY (Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression)project for African American Boys with a history ofaggression and anger in schools. Novel interventions thatuse martial arts, basketball, and culturally socializationtherapy to engage the emotions, behaviors, and narrativesof the boys will be demonstrated through videotape. Theimportance of spiritual frameworks that address racism and racial socializationdirectly, in contrast to indirect avoidant strategies toward stereotypes and racism,will be discussed.Learning Objective 1: Participants will be exposed to a model of racial, ethnic, andcultural socialization that aids in identifying culturally relevant engagement withBlack male youth.Learning Objective 2: Learn how racism as a societal phenomenon and culturalsocialization can influence psychological functioning of individuals and families.Learning Objective 3: Learn how cultural relevant thinking, style, and physicalengagement can increase attachments to Black male youth with a history ofaggression.Learning Objective 4: Learn how novel interventions

## Format

- What is the Lion’s Story?
- What theories undergird intervention with Black boys?
- What dynamics undergird Black male emotional life?
- Boys Not Men; Catch 33, Hypervulnerability & Hypermasculinity
- What is the PLAAY Project and what did we learn?
- TEAM, MAAR, CPR, COPE, ROPE
- What are the strategies for engaging emotional lives of Black Boys?
- What’s Your Story?

## “The Lion’s Story will Never Be Known As Long as the Hunter is the One to Tell It” 
	African proverb

- 	African proverb

- Lion’s Story

## Lion’s Story ingredients for Staff Training

- Racial Socialization Experience?
- What I was told about race and race relations and black people while I was growing up?
- Racial Identity Development?
- How have I made meaning of the
**social construction of racism/poverty **and
**cultural history of my ethnic group **in my personal and professional life?
- Racial Interactions?
- What story, lens, images do I bring in my interactions with Black boys and girls? (6p news; Pied piper)
- How I manage my emotional engagement with others around race?

## WHEN YOU SEE BLACK BOYS WHAT DO YOU SEE?

- Who do you see?

## How do depression and stress impact youth of color in ways that may be distinct and relevant for an examination into psychic harm?  

- increased behavioral difficulties and depression symptoms (Brody et al, 2006; Nyborg & Curry, 2003)
- Stereotype threat & underperformance (Steele and Aronson, 1995;) but also potential for learning (Nussbaum & Steele, 2007); microaggessions (Sue, 2007)
- Depression/stress is underdiagnosed in youth of color
- Emotionally nurturing and supportive strategies can mitigate this negative impact of perceived discrimination (Brody et al., 2006)
- Racial/ethnic socialization is our way to assess and intervene to buffer racism experience (Stevenson, 2003; Stevenson, et al, 1997)

**How do depression and stress impact youth of color in ways that may be distinct and relevant for an examination into psychic harm?  **

## Racism, subtle & blatant affects functioning

- Predominantly White independent schools fear “R” word (Arrington & Stevenson, 2006);
- Niceness isn’t kindness; Black male attrition
- Racism awareness promotes stigma consciousness and helps youth of color prepare for overt prejudice

## Racial socialization & Well Being

- Positive relationships with
- Self esteem (Davis & Stevenson, 2006)
- Overall resiliency (Miller, 1999)
- Academic achievement (Bowman & Howard, 1985; Sanders, 1997)
- Inverse relationships with
- Fighting (Stevenson et al., 2002; 2003)
- Lethargy, Low Self-Esteem (Davis & Stevenson, 2006)
- Mediates the impact of
- racism experiences on adverse outcomes
- Cognitive difficulties (Caughy et al., 2006; Coard et al, In Press)
- Depressive symptoms (Coard et al, In Press)
- Behavioral Difficulties
- Urban Stress (Miller, 1999)

**Notes:**
Compulsive & Emotional Eating mediation not fully supported, but a racial stress linked with compulsive overeating and emotional eating behaviors, and racial socialization associated with positive coping behaviors (Tallyrand, 2002)*

## Racial Socialization, Sociopolitical Empowerment, Transactional Stress Coping

- Theories that undergird culturally relevant interventions for black boys

## Racial Socialization Revised Stevenson, Bentley, & Adams, 2007

- Transmission and acquisition of empowering or diminishing beliefs, knowledge, interactions, and styles regarding
- the **social construction **of racial hierarchy (dealing w/ whiteness)
- the cultural & intergenerational **historical and contemporary storytelling and coping **of one’s ethnic group
- Lion’s Story

## Purpose and Functions of Racial, Ethnic, & Cultural Socialization (RECS)- 

- Cross, 1991- Identity & Socialization
- as Protection
- Protect one’s meaning making from insults/bias/discrimination
- as Being
- Affirm one’s right to exist, self-define and assert Blackness
- as Appraisal
- as Agency
- Propel one’s coping toward talent identification & development in multiple contexts
- Launching and Springboarding to other Politics
- Application of RECs to achievement and striving and survivals
- Toward critical consciousness thinking and behaving
- Competence = reflection plus activism

## Assumptions of Racial Socialization Processes

- _Both_ cultural empowerment and diminishment interactions and reactions to Black cultural style affect socialization & Identity thru peers, society, community, & family
- Without RS across the lifespan, African American youth are vulnerable to maladjustment;

**Notes:**
I tend to work using Both-And Concept.  because I think this is how ppl live.  they live in Perpetual Contradiction and Challenge .  It is a privilege to live without contradiction:  That is, not to be conflicted about racism, sexism, and how much I engage in and protest against these social problems.  Not all white people are alike.  Racism is often white and institutional.  I do not see this as a contradiction.  Afr. Amer empowerment and self-promotion is not the same as being anti-white .  To believe that all white people are alike is to experience a contradiction if you live in a world of diversity 
Both-And Conceptualizations of the World are More Afrocentric and more Humane;  Understands that people live along a series of continua;  Contrasted with Either/OR Dichotomous Conceptualizations

Psychological Health is not simply the Absence of Abnormality ;  We are all crazy given the right moment and context; It is the awareness of and ability to identify your craziness and eventually do something about it.  

## Developing knowledge of and appreciation for Black cultural style

**Style or stylings:**
- “conscious or unconscious manipulation of language or mannerisms to influence favorably the hearers of a message” (Asante, 1987; p. 39).
- “... those crucial therapeutic moments when African Americans display and look for signs from the therapist that the therapeutic context provides a safe environment that allows for full cultural expression of emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and movements.  It is therapists’ ability to understand the significance of African American culture, history, and experience that provide meaning and context for clients’ behaviors and interactions.” (Stevenson, et al., 2005; p. 4)

## How do teachers, authority figures, & society react to Black cultural style?

- “Style Matters”

**Notes:**

Style matters
Boys Not Men
Steppin to
Plaay Fightin
Donovan lashes out
Is This Life?

## What dynamics undergird Black male emotional life?

- “Boys Not Men”; Missed, Dissed, & Pissed; Hypervulnerabilty and Hypermasculinity; Catch 33

## Major Qualitative Findings of PLAAY

- _Boys not Men_
- Adolescent development rarely applied to black male behavior in schools
***Wonderment***-Full range of childhood desires, strivings, expressions- “***feeling aroused by something strange and surprising”***
- Hypervulnerable in Hypermasculine World

## Major Qualitative Findings of PLAAY-Boys not Men, pt 2

- _Patrol and Control strategies are costly _
- Correction at expense of Affection & Protection
- Distrust of Boys toward Authorities
- Boys are “Missed, Dissed, & Pissed”
- _Cultural Relevance Matters_
- Engage cultural stylings of Black youth as tools for healing & as tools for reconnecting them to school and achievement

## “CATCH-33”

- Racism as systemic, historic, routine, unpredictable, serendipitous, and emotionally debilitating

## JUST DAMNED SCENARIOS

- Suspensions and Expulsions of African American Youth

## From “Education on Lockdown: Schoolhouse to Jailhouse,”Advancement Project, 2005

- Zero Tolerance applies “Broken Windows” Theory
- Result is 2 types of profiling
- _Zero-tolerance_- targets small-time offenders
- _Racial_- targets youth of color based on stereotypes
- “the data shows that Black and Latino students are more likely than their White peers to be arrested in school, regardless of the demographics of the school’s enrollment.”
- “Researchers conclude racial disparities cannot be accounted for by the SES of students. “
- No “evidence that Black and Latino students misbehave more than their White peers.

## PreK Left Behind- Expulsion Rates in State PreK Systems- (Gilliam, 2005, Yale Child Study Center)

- “Prekindergarten students are being expelled at a higher rate than K-12 students.  (Expulsion is defined as complete & permanent removal of a student from an entire education system.)”
- African American preschoolers are twice as likely to be expelled as white or Latino children and five times as likely as Asian Americans (Dobbs, 2005; Gilliam, 2005)
- Pattern of risk for expulsion with African-American students K-12 (Holzman, 2004).
- Pattern is suggestive of disproportionate control and punitive actions taken by authority figures that consciously and/or unconsciously may be egregious overreactions driven by their biased expectations and fears of these youth

## How do we Manage Catch-33?

**Racial, Ethnic, & Cultural Counter-Socialization Skills**
- To manage the stress of public humiliation
- To reject definitions of Self from paradigms that demonize
- To counteract in Contexts that see you only as a Problem
- Reappraising Stress as Challenge, not Threat and Asserting Knowledge
**Critical Consciousness **in 3 categories of self-knowledge
- _Transcendent/Divine_
- Spiritual and Worldview self-knowledge/wisdom
- What do I know about my Creator and my World?
- _Affective-symbolic_ –Cultural/Other Self-knowledge/wisdom
- What Do I Know about my People?
- _Phenomenological_-Personal Style self-knowledge/wisdom
- What Do I Know about My Self?

## PLAAY Goals, Dynamics, and Strategies to Building Relationships

- Dynamics- _*Nihilism*_
- Hypervulnerability
- Hypermasculinity
- Hopelessness
- Goal- _*Cultural Attunement*_
- Cultural attunement/**relationship-building**
- Cultural **style appreciation/engagement**
- Racial/Ethnic/Cultural **socialization** teaching
- Strategies- _*Love*_
- Affection
- Correction
- Protection

## PLAAY -Preventing Long-term Anger and Aggression in Youth

- _TEAM -__ __Basketball_
- Teaching Empowerment through Athletic Movement
- Intervening with Emotion during Play
- _CPR_- Cultural Pride Reinforcement
- Anti-Violence Cultural Socialization Curriculum
- _MAAR_- Martial Arts Anger Reduction
- _COPE_ -Community Outreach through Parent Empowerment
- _ROPE_- Rites of Passage Empowerment

## In-the-moment skills

- Cultural Relevance
- Engages with and integrates cultural style, movement, & communication during “in-the-moment” interventions on court, hallway, etc
- Uses own personal style to influence others
- Black barbershop passionate argument-style to CPR sessions
- Target cultural knowledge & academic stress management

## MAAR-Key aspects

- Self-defense (physical and mental)
- “Testing Limitations” increases _frustration tolerance_
- Internal self- & anger-awareness & control
- Awareness of body control & balance
- “_Heart_” - courage to face oneself (Bell, 1998)
- Focus, breathing, moving meditation

## TEAM-  Basketball

- African psychology view of movement (Boykin & Toms, 1985)
- During “play,” frustration tolerance can be expanded
- Stressful when one can’t meet manhood demands
- We want to be there before, during and after conflicts occur between kids

***TEAM-****  Basketball*
**Play as the medium of expression**

## CPR-Cultural Pride Reinforcement

- 12 one-hour weekly sessions
- Cultural Socialization focus
- Teaching, Acting, Talking
- Teaching culturally relevant critical consciousness through
-  music, video, hip-hop, role-play, current events
- Violence alternative, cultural socialization curriculum
- Culturally relevant atmosphere
- Black barbershop passion and argument/debate
- Teaching Targets
- cultural and historical knowledge
- academic and educational stress management
- stigma identification and healthy rebuttal

## Does CWT/PLAAY Training mediate the effects of  stress/rejection on Black youth/Parent functioning? 

- Achieve	ment,
- Competition
- & Racial
- Stress/Rejection

- Can We Talk?
- PLAAY
- (Racial/Ethnic
- Socialization)

- Physiological
- Emotional
- Academic
- Health

## “YOU CAN DISCOVER MORE ABOUT A PERSON IN AN HOUR OF PLAY THAN IN A YEAR OF CONVERSATION.”

***Plato (427– 347 BC)***

- Stevenson, H. C. (2004)._ Boys in men’s clothing: Racial socialization and neighborhood safety as buffers to hypervulnerability in African American adolescent males _ (pp 59-77). In Niobe Way & Judy Chu, (Eds.) *Adolescent boys in context*. New York University Press: New York.

**Notes:**
Using K-means cluster analytic strategy, student responses on the five TERS factors were clustered into four meaningfully distinct groups from low to high levels of cultural socialization across the five factors

## Time*PLAAY 

- Wilks lambda=.934
- F (1,72) = 5.05*
- Control n =31
- PLAAY n =43

**Notes:**
Within-subjects repeated measures analysis.; 
Multivariate Tests(b)

Effect	 	Value	F	Hypothesis df	Error df	Sig.	Partial Eta Squared	
time	Pillai's Trace	.014	1.059(a)	1.000	72.000	.307	.014	
 	Wilks' Lambda	.986	1.059(a)	1.000	72.000	.307	.014	
 	Hotelling's Trace	.015	1.059(a)	1.000	72.000	.307	.014	
 	Roy's Largest Root	.015	1.059(a)	1.000	72.000	.307	.014	
time * plaay	Pillai's Trace	.066	5.047(a)	1.000	72.000	.028	.066	
 	Wilks' Lambda	.934	5.047(a)	1.000	72.000	.028	.066	
 	Hotelling's Trace	.070	5.047(a)	1.000	72.000	.028	.066	
 	Roy's Largest Root	.070	5.047(a)	1.000	72.000	.028	.066	
a  Exact statistic
b  Design: Intercept+plaay  Within Subjects Design: time

## Slide 33

## Implications for PLAAY

- Sensitivity to rejection may serve a *protective *function.
- Racial socialization can be *protective*.
- Intervention development should
- Focus on increasing emotional processing and preparation of actual and perceived rejection
- Focus on explicit racial socialization strategies

**Notes:**
Sensitivity to rejection may be protective. It may help young Black males feel prepared for interpersonal conflict.
Racial socialization may also be protective. It may help these youth process conflicts before they arise.
These youth may benefit from opportunities to discuss feelings of rejection. This may help them cognitively process and emotionally prepare for conflict with peers and others.
Discussions, which include racial socialization messages, may be useful for intervention.

1. This is consistent with the literature which states that racial socialization may help prepare youth for conflict
This preparedness may help these youth avoid loss of control, as expressed as angry overreactions (I.e., aggression)
3. These are good candidates for intervention
4. Age-appropriate, gender-specific discussions may be especially useful in anti-violence interventions

## Summary

- Failure to apply developmentally appropriate knowledge and accurately understand stereotypes and Black cultural communication dehumanizes, distances, and disrespects Black boys
- Contributes to disidentification from schooling
- Missed, Dissed, & Pissed
- Boys can learn alternative ways to problem solve the challenges of urban street culture

## Recommendations 

- Use recreation therapeutically
- Affinity groups for black males
- Role play in the groups for dissing in classrooms with teachers
- Practice skills of assertiveness and voice,
- Practice, practice, practice;
- Integrate cultural knowledge
- Allow students to add cultural style to the skills
- Do same with teachers
- Role play moments of student-teacher conflicts
- Give feedback on developmental and cultural knowledge; different perceptions