Urban Girls Revisited: Building Strengths / Edition 2

by Bonnie J. Leadbeater, Niobe Way

Overview

Urban Girls, published in 1996, was one of the first volumes to showcase the lives of girls growing up in contexts of urban poverty and sometimes racism and violence. It spoke directly to young women who, often for the first time, were seeing their own stories and those of their friends explained in the materials they were asked to read. The volume has helped to shape the way in which we study girls and understand their development over the past decade.
Urban Girls Revisited explores the diversity of urban adolescent girls' development and the sources of support and resilience that help them to build the foundations of strength that they need as they enter adulthood. Urban girls are frequently marginalized by poverty, ethnic discrimination, and stereotypes suggesting that they have deficits compared to their peers. In fact, urban girls do often“grow up fast,” taking on multiple adult roles and responsibilities in contexts of high levels of adversities. Yet a majority of these girls show remarkable strengths in the face of challenges, and their families and communities provide many assets to support their development. This new volume showcases these strengths.
Contributors:Amy Alberts, Natasha Alexander, Murray Anderson, Elizabeth Banister, Cecilia Benoit, Kristen Boelcke-Stennes, Ana Mari Cauce, Elise D. Christiansen, Brianna Coffino, Catherine L. Costigan, Karin Coyle, Anita Davis, Jill Denner, Sumru Erkut, Kenyaatta Etchison, Michelle Fine, Yulika Forman, Emily Genao, Mikael Jansson, Chalene Lechuga, Stacey J. Lee, Richard M. Lerner, Nancy Lopez, Ann S. Masten, Jennifer McCormick, Jennifer Pastor, Erin Phelps, Leslie Prescott, Jean E. Rhodes, Ritch C. Savin-Williams, Anne Shaffer, Renee Spencer, Pamela R. Smith, Carl S. Taylor, Jill McLean Taylor, Virgil A. Taylor, Maria Elena Torre, Allison J. Tracy, Carmen N. Veloria, Martina C. Verba, and Janie Victoria Ward.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814752135
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	02/12/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	381
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.97(d)

About the Author

Bonnie J. Leadbeater is Professor of Psychology at the University of Victoria and co-author, with Niobe Way, of Urban Girls and of Growing up Fast. She is also co-editor of Investing in Children, Youth, Families and Communities: Strengths-Based Research and Policy, Resilience in Children, Families, and Communities: Linking Context to Intervention and Policy, and Ethical Issues in Community-Based Research with Children and Youth.

Niobe Way, Ed. D., is Professor of Applied Psychology in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University. She is also the founder of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (pach.org) and the past President for the Society for Research on Adolescence. She received her doctorate from Harvard University in Human Development and Psychology and was an NIMH postdoctoral fellow in the psychology department at Yale University. Way’s has been studying the social and emotional development of adolescents in cultures around the world for the past three decades. In addition to almost a hundred academic journal publications and dozens of blogs written for mainstream media outlets, Way has written numerous books that include her sole-authored: Everyday Courage: The Lives and Stories of Urban Teenagers (NYU Press, 1998); and Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection (Harvard University Press, 2011). Her co-edited or co-authored books include: Urban Girls: Resisting Stereotypes, Creating Identities (NYU Press, 1996); Adolescent Boys: Exploring Diverse Cultures of Boyhood (NYU Press, 2004). and her award-winning Growing up Fast: Transitions to Adulthood among Inner-City Adolescent Mothers (Erlbaum Press, 2001). Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, The National Science Foundation, The William T. Grant Foundation, The Spencer Foundation, and by numerous other foundations. Way is an internationally recognized leader in the study of social and emotional development and adolescence as well as in the use of mixed methods.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xi
Preface   Niobe Way     xiii
Introduction: Urban Girls: Building Strengths, Creating Momentum   Bonnie J. Leadbeater     1
Resituating Positive Development for Urban Adolescent Girls
The Many Faces of Urban Girls: Features of Positive Development in Early Adolescence   Richard M. Lerner   Erin Phelps   Amy Alberts   Yulika Forman   Elise D. Christiansen     19
From Urban Girls to Resilient Women: Studying Adaptation Across Development in the Context of Adversity   Anne Shaffer   Brianna Coffino   Kristen Boelcke-Stennes   Ann S. Masten     53
Safe Spaces Revisited
Makin' Homes: An Urban Girl Thing   Jennifer Pastor   Jennifer McCormick   Michelle Fine   Ruth Andolsen   Nora Friedman   Nikki Richardson   Tanzania Roach   Marina Tavarez     75
"They Are Like a Friend": Othermothers Creating Empowering, School-Based Community Living Rooms in Latina and Latino Middle Schools   Nancy Lopez   Chalane E. Lechuga     97
To Stay or to Leave? How Do Mentoring Groups Support Healthy Dating Relationships in High-Risk Girls?   Elizabeth Banister   Bonnie J. Leadbeater     121
Caring Connections: MentoringRelationships in the Lives of Urban Girls   Jean E. Rhodes   Anita A. Davis   Leslie R. Prescott   Renee Spencer     142
Latina Girls: "We're Like Sisters-Most Times!"   Jill McLean Taylor   Carmen N. Veloria   Martina C. Verba     157
Culture, Parents, and Protection
Changes in African American Mother-Daughter Relationships During Adolescence: Conflict, Autonomy, and Warmth   Catherine L. Costigan   Ana Mari Cauce   Kenyatta Etchison     177
The "Good" News and the "Bad" News: The "Americanization" of Hmong Girls   Stacey J. Lee     202
Resistance: Personal and Political
"Don't Die With Your Work Balled Up in Your Fists": Contesting Social Injustice Through Participatory Research   Maria Elena Torre   Michelle Fine   Natasha Alexander   Emily Genao     221
Uncovering Truths, Recovering Lives: Lessons of Resistance in the Socialization of Black Girls   Janie Victoria Ward     243
Claiming Sexuality in Relationships: Taking Stock and Gaining Control
"If You Let Me Play...": Does High School Physical Activity Reduce Urban Young Adult Women's Sexual Risks?   Allison J. Tracy   Sumru Erkut     263
Condom Use Among Sexually Active Latina Girls in Alternative High Schools   Jill Denner   Karin Coyle      281
Girl-on-Girl Sexuality   Ritch C. Savin-Williams     301
When Adversity Is Overwhelming-Then What?
Understanding Health Disparities Among Female Street Youth   Cecilia Benoit   Mikael Jansson   Murray Anderson     321
Businesswomen in Urban Life   Carl S. Taylor   Pamela R. Smith   Virgil A. Taylor     338
About the Contributors     361
Index     365

Editorial Reviews

"Coming from multiple disciplinary perspectives and employing diverse methodologies, the contributors emphasize the girls’ and young women’s strength in creating safe spaces with family, friends, and mentors; claiming their sexuality; and developing personal and public resistance strategies. Taken together, the essays are a valuable contribution to the field of gender studies, urban ethnography, and adolescent development, and would appeal to various readers, including activists and undergraduates."

Choice

"Offers a significant contribution to the field of gender and adolescent development. Using cutting edge theory and research, it opens windows into the lives of a diverse group of adolescent girls. By emphasizing the social context of these girls’ lives, the contributors illustrate the complex interplay between individuals and the relationships with which they engage and the choices they make."

Lauren E. Duncan

"This new edition of Urban Girls is a rare gem. In fact, you won't find another book that comes even close to offering the range and depth of understanding you'll read in these pages. This is a book about the complexity of urban girls lives that situates their struggles, hopes, and dreams in relationships with friends, families, schools, neighborhoods, and community centers. Anyone who wants to have a real conversation about policies and practices that support girls strengths and resilience should read and use this book."

Lyn Mikel Brown