Synonyms
Introduction
Black men in the United States are a unique population, and it is important to understand their social, ecological, and historical experiences in order to effectively support them in therapy. Here, the term Black reflects having some African heritage, and the primary focus of this entry will be on African American men. African American men primarily have ancestors who were brought to the United States to be slaves. While many immigrants from African countries, Europe, and the Caribbean who have African ancestry do not identify as African American, the second and third generations of these immigrants often identify as African American and integrate into the larger Black American community. Therefore, for the sake of inclusivity, the term Black is used in this entry. When assessing Black clients, it is important to ask specifically how they identify. Some prefer the term Black, while others prefer African American, and as mentioned some will...
References
Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press.
Chambers, A. L. (2008). Premarital counseling with middle class African Americans: The forgotten group. In M. Rastogi & V. Thomas (Eds.), Multicultural couple therapy. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Chambers, A. L., & Kravitz, A. (2011). Understanding the disproportionately low marriage rate among African Americans: An amalgam of sociological and psychological constraints. Family Relations, 60(5), 648–660.
Cowdery, R. S., Scarborough, N., Knudson-Martin, C., Seshadri, G., Lewis, M. E., & Mahoney, A. R. (2009). Gendered power in cultural contexts: Part II. Middle class African American heterosexual couples with young children. Family Process, 48(1), 25–39.
Haynes, F. E. (2000). Gender and family ideals an exploratory study of black middle-class Americans. Journal of Family Issues, 21(7), 811–837.
Letiecq, B. L., & Koblinsky, S. A. (2004). Parenting in violent neighborhoods African American fathers share strategies for keeping children safe. Journal of Family Issues, 25(6), 715–734.
Livingston, J. N., & McAdoo, H. P. (2007). The roles of African American fathers in the socialization of their children. In McAdoo (Ed.), Black families (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Smith, C. A., Krohn, M. D., Chu, R., & Best, O. (2005). African American fathers myths and realities about their involvement with their firstborn children. Journal of Family Issues, 26(7), 975–1001.
Wester, S. R., Vogel, D. L., Wei, M., & McLain, R. (2006). African American men, gender role conflict, and psychological distress: The role of racial identity. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84(4), 419–429.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gooden, A., Chambers, A. (2016). Black Men in Couples and Families. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_703-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_703-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences