Article Critique Differences in Mental Health Resiliency in Young African Americans

SOCIAL ISSUES

Social Issues: Article Critique

Differences in Mental Health Resiliency in Young African Americans

The purpose of the selected study was to examine the differences in resiliency in terms of the mental health of young African Americans. The literature review was quite scarce; the context was, however, relatable to the actual investigation. The significance of the problem was comprehensively laid out with data and statistics. The variables were clearly defined for the secondary research: dependent variables were health resiliency in young African Americans while independent variables were several, to check their differences in effects on resiliency, comprising mindset (education), community connectedness, and religiousness (Wallace, 2012). 

The study design used was qualitative with secondary research methodology to explain the difference in selected variables upon mental health resiliency of the target population. Also, a correlational research design was adopted after collecting data from secondary sources so that correlation and its magnitude could be assessed among different variables; Pearson correlation was used for community connectedness and spirituality, for example. Moreover, the procedures and materials used to carry out the research included data sourcing, which is already explained, selection of the sample, which was a total of 10,778 African American youth related to the selected criteria, recording of mindset with Likert-scale response code, recording of religiousness with the help of subscale of range 1 to 6, and recording of community connectedness in the range of 1 to 7. Data analysis utilized the student’s t-test, variance analysis, and Pearson’s correlation. The analysis tools are valid, and the study is reliable since they measure what the study was aimed at. The statistical techniques used were correct and appropriate since they were selected on three things: the purpose of the study and what it had to measure, type of data collected and its distribution, and nature of observations (Mishra et al., 2019). 

The subjects were African American youth of 15 to 18 years of age, studying in high school, for whom secondary data analysis was run from the Youth Risk Resiliency Survey (YRRS) of 2003. The sample was entirely representable of the identified population. Further, the researcher’s methodology could not be considered appropriate since it has a major limitation mentioned within the article. It says that the data in YRRS is self-reported and such data could be flawed and lacks truthfulness. Hence, authenticity is questioned, and other researchers could not replicate the study methodology. 

The tables were clear as they stated thorough demographics of the population sample along with the ranges used to record each of the indicated variables. The major findings were reported clearly under each distinct heading of the variable to describe the relationship or correlation between them. There was no particular hypothesis, but the research suggests that African American youth feel connected with their surrounding people, open up about their difficulties and gain strength to fight them and be more resilient as they grow up. 

The data supported the researcher’s conclusions as previous studies, and their results were matched this study’s findings to corroborate the results. Implications and limitations were presented at the end of the article to practice its findings but with precautions so that drawbacks in future studies could be taken care of beforehand. 

Reflection

It was learned from the article that the mental health of African American youth should be given a priority so that in adulthood, not only the same issues lingering on could be prevented, but their involvement in drugs and violence, due to stress and depression, could be avoided in early stages. Besides, the do’s and don’ts of the research for this population, secondary data sourcing, analysis, and self-reported data were also understood. The author’s information is agreeable based on one fact that illnesses that are not diagnosed during early life years would extend to later adult years and cause more severe problems. Hence, mental resiliency for African American youth, who have already been a target of racial discrimination, should be coped well. 

The article’s implications for classroom practice for teachers and professionals would encompass stress reduction school-based intervention. Adapted-Coping with Stress Course (A-CWS) has proven useful (Robinson et al., 2015). The article relates to the students in class since high school students who are minorities should be catered with culturally-relevant classroom management skills by the teachers for helping them in their stress, anxiety, depression, etc. at a young age for the prevention of their likely involvement in suicidal thoughts or violence in some serious cases. Apposite connectedness and support at a certain age would be helpful for this purpose.