Psychosocial Wellbeing of Black Youth in the Age of Hip-Hop: From Theory to Practice

Introduction: Throngs of young people are disengaging from public “schooling”, opting instead for an alternate reality depicted in popular youth culture (PYC) and popular youth music multimedia (PYMM), in particular. This alternative reality is disturbingly real with images, messages, and stereotypes that may be perceived as promoting highly risky, problem behaviors, while often failing to present the consequences of these behaviors. Adolescents most at risk for negative outcomes in public schools are also most at-risk for negative health and social outcomes, both in and out of school. Clinicians and practitioners concerned with improving health outcomes by promoting healthy lifestyles must address the psychosocial wellbeing of these vulnerable youth. Leveraging the ubiquitous appeal of PYMM for health-enhancing, prosocial learning offers key stakeholders culturally-relevant and culturallyresponsive options that require critical thinking about prevailing themes and messages in popular music. Objective: Two research questions were explored: 1) What are students’ perceptions about the potential influences that PYMM may have on their self-image and identity development, values, communication norms, and coping skills? and 2) What are students’ perceptions about the potential influences that faith, hope, love, and optimism may have in facilitating self-awareness, personal responsibility, social awareness, and social responsibility? Method: Students completed an onsite post-intervention survey that consisted of thirteen questions graded on a nominal scale (i.e., yes/no) indicating the degree of agreement with the statements. Results: Findings suggest black youth in Baltimore are aware of the potential influences that PYMM has on their attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors and welcome the opportunity to have critical discussions about the role of PYMM in their lives. Discussion: This study and its results offer additional evidence supporting use of PYMM for culturally-relevant and culturally-responsive teaching and learning to promote health, and specifically address the psychosocial wellbeing for urban youth