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Factor Structure and Expression of Depressive Symptoms in a Community Sample of African American Adolescents Living in Urban Public Housing

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Handbook of African American Health

Abstract

The last two decades have seen an increased interest in minority youth mental health. Researchers have sought to understand and explicate the expression and structure of depression in minority youth. Researchers have questioned whether urban minority youth express depressive symptoms similar to nonminority urban youth (Davis & Stevenson, 2006; Roelofs, Meesters, Mijke ter Huurne, Lotte Bamelis, & Muris, 2006; Shaffer, Forehand, Kotchick, & The Family Health Project Research Group, 2002). Researchers have also questioned whether the structure of depression differs by race and ethnicity and how, or whether, the structure of depression changes across the span of adolescence (Gullone, Ollendick, & King, 2006; Schraedley, Gotlib, & Hayword, 1999; Wichstrom, 1999; Wight, Aneshensel, Botticello, & Sepulveda, 2005). Using a sample of 788 African American youth, this chapter contributes to knowledge on the expression and factor structure of depressive symptoms in urban African American youth, living in urban public housing developments by evaluating the structural equivalences of depression using the Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale (CES-D). This chapter also assesses differences between females and males and across three age groups of adolescents (early, middle, and late).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA

    Von E. Nebbitt & Andridia Mapson

  2. Graduate School of Education and Human Development, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Ajita Robinson

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  1. Von E. Nebbitt
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  2. Andridia Mapson
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  3. Ajita Robinson
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Correspondence to Von E. Nebbitt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Tenth Ave. 899, New York, 10019, New York, USA

    Anthony J. Lemelle

  2. , Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State, Blacksburg, 24061, USA

    Wornie Reed

  3. , Sociology and Criminal Justice, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, 30314, Georgia, USA

    Sandra Taylor

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Nebbitt, V.E., Mapson, A., Robinson, A. (2011). Factor Structure and Expression of Depressive Symptoms in a Community Sample of African American Adolescents Living in Urban Public Housing. In: Lemelle, A., Reed, W., Taylor, S. (eds) Handbook of African American Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9616-9_8

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