Date of Award
2018
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Graduate Group
Education
First Advisor
Howard C. Stevenson
Abstract
Young adult African-American men face some of the most challenging social and health disparities compared to other age, race, and gender groups. They must endure the stress of emerging adulthood through the intense and clashing demands of race and masculinity politics. An unaddressed question in the literature is “Do distinct racial-gender identity subgroups of Black emerging adult men experience different patterns of risk taking and health risk?” Drawing on the baseline data of a “Barbershop-Based HIV/STD Risk Reduction for African American Young Men” (Jemmott, Jemmott, Coleman, Stevenson, & Ten Have, 2009; Jemmott, Jemmott, Lanier, Thompson, & Baker, 2017), a cluster-randomized comparison of two risk-reduction interventions (sexual health risk and violence retaliation) with 597 African American men aged 18 to 24, this secondary analysis study was conducted. Using the method of latent profile analysis, the results of this study found (a) four distinct identity profiles of Black men based on three key identity factors (manhood stress, hypermasculinity, and awareness of Black manhood vulnerabilities) representing distinct subgroups of Black men (diffuse, 4.5%; balanced, 62%; strained, 30%; and distressed, 3%); (b) demographic and emotional and protective factor differences among the profiles; and (c) behavioral outcome differences by profile in the health risk categories of violence, substance use, weapon exposure, alcohol use, and sexual health risk. Findings suggest that the ways that young Black men engage in risk taking occur in complex but discernable patterns. Implications for the study of within-group variations in identity in shaping patterns of risk taking and health risk in emerging adult Black men are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Talley, Lloyd Matthew, "Exploring Diverse Profiles Of Identity, Risk Taking, And Health Risk In Urban Black Emerging Adult Men" (2018). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 3189.
https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/3189
Included in
Developmental Psychology Commons, Educational Psychology Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons