Publications by authors named "Sharde McNeil Smith"

Objectives: This study examines whether Black parents' and adolescents' experiences with racial discrimination (RD) combine to create distinguishable subgroups, whether demographic variables predicted membership into the derived subgroups, and whether membership into these subgroups influence parents' and adolescents' mental health and family social support.

Method: Using data from Black parent-adolescent dyads ( = 401), a three-step latent class analytic approach was employed to examine study objectives.

Results: Four distinguishable parent-adolescent subgroups were identified based on who experienced RD: (1) both parent and adolescent (parent-adolescent RD subgroup), (2) parent only (parent RD subgroup), (3) adolescent only (adolescent RD subgroup), and (4) neither parent nor adolescent (no parent-adolescent RD subgroup).

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Despite increasing research, the links between racial discrimination and Black Americans' romantic relationship dynamics remain unclear. Guided by models of mundane extreme environmental stress (Peters & Massey, 1983), sociocultural family stress (McNeil Smith & Landor, 2018), and Black marital outcomes (Bryant et al., 2010), we conducted a systematic review of the literature examining racial discrimination and relationship dynamics among Black Americans in same-race and interracial romantic relationships.

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The present study was designed to examine the complex bidirectional associations between relationship quality and depressive symptoms among African American couples. Informed by the Marital Discord Model, particular attention was devoted to understanding the unique associations of positive and negative dimensions of relationship functioning with depressive symptoms over time, the time frames over which these effects occur, and the model's applicability for African American couples. One hundred seventy-four African American couples ( = 348 individuals) provided information on depressive symptoms, relationship satisfaction, ineffective arguing, and partner support four times over a 25-month period.

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Article Synopsis
  • The Biobehavioral Family Model (BBFM) has been shown to affect health, but previous studies often lack representation of Black/African American individuals.
  • Discrimination is a significant stressor impacting African American families, and this study used data from the MIDUS Milwaukee project to explore how discrimination interacts with family dynamics and health.
  • Findings indicate that family support plays a crucial role in mental and physical health and mediates the effects of discrimination, highlighting the need to consider discrimination and familial relationships beyond romantic partners in health research for African Americans.
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Empirical evidence demonstrates that racism is a source of traumatic stress for racial/ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans. Like race and racism, skin tone and experiences of colorism-an often overlooked form of discrimination that privileges lighter skinned over darker skinned individuals, although not uniformly, may also result in traumatic stress. This article proposes a new conceptual model of skin-tone trauma.

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Homeless families in transitional housing face a number of distinct challenges, yet there is little research seeking to guide prevention and intervention work with homeless parents. Informed by the tenets of community-based participatory research, the purpose of this study was to identify relevant components to include in a parenting intervention for this population. Data were gathered from 40 homeless parents through semistructured individual interviews and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

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Objectives: Parents experiencing racial discrimination are likely to transmit racial socialization messages to their children to protect them from future injustices. This study was conducted to better understand the role of parents' racial discrimination in their racial socialization practices for 2-parent African American families.

Method: Using a sample from the Promoting Strong African American Families (N = 322 couples) program, we examined the effects of experienced discrimination on one's own and one's partner's racial socialization practices with male (n = 154) and female (n = 168) offspring.

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Although batterer intervention programs (BIPs) are often mandated for perpetrators of intimate partner violence, the precursors and mechanisms of change operating within these programs remain unclear. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of participants in a diverse, group-based male BIP to better understand factors facilitating positive change. Data were gathered through individual interviews with 15 men and were analyzed using grounded theory.

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This study examined whether five specific parenting practices (i.e., monitoring, discipline, skill encouragement, problem solving, and positive involvement) were associated with reduced child externalizing behaviors among a sample of Latino immigrant families.

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