This application is a request for a Scientist Development Award for New Minority Faculty (K01) that will enable Dr. Nyborg to continue to develop her programmatic line of research in the prevention of aggressive/violent behaviors in males of African descent. African American males are particularly at risk for negative outcomes. Fifteen percent of youth under the age of 18 are African American, but they are overrepresented in criminal and victimization statistics. Data point to a need for culturally relevant prevention programs that specifically address the psychological well-being of African American males. Dr. Nyborg's training goals are to (1) further develop her knowledge of creating culturally sensitive interventions for African American youth, (2) acquire knowledge of and experiences with public policy creation, analysis, and advocacy, (3) increase knowledge of and experiences with school based mental health interventions, specifically violence prevention and school-based mental health services, (4)advance her knowledge of scale development, (5) acquire knowledge with regard to qualitative data collection and analysis, and (6) improve her grant and manuscript writing. These training goals will be achieved through (1) the resources available at Brown University, (2) the high quality of mentorship provided through Dr. Anthony Spirito, Dr. Cynthia Garcia Coil, Dr. Marion Orr, Dr. Kenneth Dodge, and the assembled expertise of the consultant team, (3) focused coursework and clinical experiences, and (4) the proposed project. The proposed project extends the natural progression of Dr. Nyborg's research. The project will focus on three related sub-studies with African American adolescent males. First, an adolescent hypermasculinity scale will be developed. Second, the relations among experiences of racism, hypermasculinity, and aggressive behavior will be examined. Third, an intervention development trial will be conducted. The intervention will be designed to teach positive coping strategies in dealing with experiences of racism via anger management, and problem solving skills, as well as activities intended to promote feelings of empowerment (e.g., having prominent African American men speak on their experiences with racism). ? ?
