Abstract
Using dyadic youth-adult interviews, the current study explored characteristics, benefits, and challenges of supportive youth-adult relationships for youths living in neighborhoods with high levels of community violence. Thirty-two dyads of youths between the ages 13 to 21 years (63% female, 88% Black) and their self-identified key adult supports in Pittsburgh, PA, completed semi-structured interviews exploring important qualities of youth-adult relationships, aspects which strengthen these relationships, relationship challenges, and intergenerational support. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis and an iterative coding process to identify key themes. For youths and adults, important qualities that constituted supportive relationships included being dependable, nonjudgmental, a best friend, and providing unwavering support. Occasionally, youths and adults found it difficult to communicate and understand each other. Despite these challenges, the intergenerational transfer of knowledge and dynamic, bidirectional support were instrumental in helping youths navigate obstacles and thrive. The study highlighted the importance of youth-adult relationships across family and community contexts in empowering youths in neighborhoods impacted by community violence. Dyadic and network-based interventions should be developed that uplift the strengths of youths and their adult supports while simultaneously being attuned to challenges that minoritized youths and adults encounter in neighborhoods impacted by violence.
Violence continues to be a major issue in the United States, especially for minoritized youths living in lower resourced communities. For over 20 years, Black youth have been significantly more likely to be injured or die by violence compared to other racial groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2019). Protective factors, including supportive youth-adult relationships, may buffer or reduce the likelihood of experiencing violence. Using dyadic youth-adult interviews, the current study explores the characteristics, benefits, and challenges of supportive youth-adult relationships for youths living in neighborhoods with community violence.
Guiding Theories
According to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), child development unfolds amidst a complex system of relationships influenced by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, including family, school, neighborhood, laws, and cultural values. Spencer’s phenomenological variant of ecological systems theory (PVEST) extends this theory and addresses how social, historical, and cultural contexts influence development among minoritized individuals, especially during the process of adolescent identity formation and discusses how violence exposure can influence violence involvement across the lifespan (Spencer et al., 1997; Velez & Spencer, 2018). PVEST also emphasizes the strength and resiliency in historically oppressed populations and highlights how contextual risks may be offset by protective factors such as social support. Youths are embedded within a multilayered ecology, continuously influencing and being influenced by relationships with people (e.g., social support) and the broader environment (e.g., community; Varga & Zaff, 2018). Using these theories as a guiding framework, the aim of this study was to illuminate youths’ and adults’ perspectives on the unique contributions of adolescent-adult relationships, including parental and non-parental adult supports, to the lived experiences of minoritized youths living in neighborhoods impacted by community violence.
Intergenerational Support in the Context of Community Violence
Black youth disproportionately reside in racially segregated neighborhoods with high levels of community violence, where historical and ongoing divestment in communities limit access to resources and increase exposure to neighborhood structural disadvantage and violence (Finkelhor et al., 2015; Silverman et al., 2011; Sumner et al., 2015). Exposure to community violence is often coupled with lack of access to economic opportunities and fewer opportunities for engagement in activities, which contribute to social isolation, emotional distress, and physiological stress (Brenner et al., 2013; Hackman et al., 2012). Over time, as explicated in Spencer’s conceptualization of PVEST, these experiences can impact healthy adolescent development and increase youth violence involvement. The role of trusted adults in supporting youth and nurturing positive experiences is paramount in buffering against these contextual stressors (Hurd et al., 2012; Lösel & Farrington, 2012; Sumner et al., 2015).
Systemic inequities also shape the lived experiences of Black adults living in lower resource neighborhoods, with these same systemic issues impacting families and communities across generations. Frequently, caregivers, extended family members, and natural mentors were raised in the same communities in which youths reside, and therefore have a clear understanding of the community and how to survive in it. Much research on adult support and minoritized youths has focused on how risk factors and intergenerational experiences of discrimination impact physical and mental health across the life course (e.g., Cauce et al., 2011; Priest et al., 2013). Equally important, yet less often illuminated, are the unique strengths that adults bring to these relationships in service of supporting minoritized youths. Adults demonstrate resilience in the face of adversity and incorporate their own experiences into intergenerational support they provide to youths to help them navigate these challenges. Black parents often enable their children to adopt values including nonviolent responses to conflict (E. A. Stewart & Simons, 2006). These supportive relationships can help build youth’s resilience (Calvert, 1997). Research that creates opportunities for dyadic engagement can offer important insights into the most salient relationship characteristics and dynamic engagement processes critical to safeguarding minoritized youth.
Social Support
The current study utilized House’s (1981) categorization of social support which includes emotional, informational, and instrumental support. Relationships between youths and adults are important sources of emotional support, defined as support that strengthens an emotional bond, such as listening, showing empathy, compassion, and general concern (Cohen & Wills, 1985). The youth-adult relationship can also include informational support (e.g., adult giving advice, guidance, and useful information to youth) and instrumental support (e.g., adult assisting youth in tangible ways such as helping them find jobs or with homework; Cohen & Wills, 1985).
According to Bronfenbrenner (1979), family is the most proximal environment to adolescents and one of the most influential factors in adolescent adjustment (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In line with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, parent and family support play a protective role for adolescent health and development (Barr et al., 2012; Goodrum et al., 2020; Gorman-Smith et al., 2004; Resnick et al., 1997, 2004). For example, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that parent-family connectedness was protective against a host of adolescent health risk behaviors such as emotional distress, substance use, suicidality, and violence (Resnick et al., 1997). Furthermore, parent and/or family emotional support has been found to be a protective factor against adolescents’ community violence exposure (e.g., witnessing violence and violent victimization; Hardaway et al., 2016). Additionally, in a nationally representative sample (i.e., the National Survey of Adolescents-Replication), family cohesion reduced the impact of witnessing community violence on subsequent delinquency in adolescents (Barr et al., 2012). Similarly, Gorman-Smith et al. (2004) found that Black and Latinx adolescents who reported high-functioning families (i.e., family cohesion, monitoring, and effective discipline) were less likely to engage in violent behavior than those from families with lower functioning.
Researchers have also stressed the importance of caring and connectedness through naturally occurring relationships with extended family, teachers, coaches, etc. These relationships are often classified as natural mentorship and are related to positive academic, social-emotional, physical, and psychosocial outcomes in youths (e.g., DuBois & Silverthorn, 2005; Hurd & Zimmerman, 2010; Hurd et al., 2012; Van Dam et al., 2018; Zimmerman et al., 2002). Specifically in Black families, familial interdependence tends to be emphasized; thus it is common for Black families including Black adolescents to rely on extended families for support and consider extended family as trusted adults (Billingsley et al., 2022; P. Stewart, 2007; Taylor et al., 2015) which has been shown to have beneficial outcomes for adolescents. For example, among Black adolescents, reporting a relationship with a natural mentor has been found to be associated with higher educational attainment (Hurd et al., 2012), greater psychological well-being (Hurd & Zimmerman, 2014), lower depressive symptoms, and fewer sexual risk behaviors (Hurd & Zimmerman, 2010). Particularly salient for youth residing in neighborhoods impacted by community violence, both familial social support and natural mentoring have been found to be protective against violence perpetration and victimization (Culyba et al., 2019; Gorman-Smith et al., 2004; Jain & Cohen 2013; McDonald et al., 2011).
Similar to the ideas of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and the PVEST model that state that various systems (e.g., family, peers, school) interact with each other, according to Varga and Zaff’s (2018) web of support framework, the support provided by one adult may impact the support provided by another adult within an adolescent’s web of relationships. Consistent with this framework, research has found that support from natural mentors has also been shown to benefit parent-youth relationships (Rhodes et al., 2000). For example, Black youth with natural mentoring relationships were likely to report more positive relationships with their parents (Hurd et al., 2013) and a greater sense of connectedness to parents during adolescence (Billingsley et al., 2022). Researchers suggest that youth may learn how to communicate more effectively with important adults, such as their parents, through their mentoring relationships (Rhodes, 2005) and may confide in their mentors regarding difficulties with their parents, further strengthening their bond with their parents (Keller, 2005). Given the benefits of parental support and natural mentors, it is important to increase understanding of factors that may promote or inhibit positive adult-youth relationships across a variety of contexts.
Current Study
Adolescent-adult relationships, including with parental and non-parental adults, have been proven to be protective factors against youths’ violence experiences. However, a reoccurring limitation of research among minoritized youths is focusing on risk factors and negative mental and physical health outcomes (e.g., consequences of violence exposure), with relatively less emphasis placed on salient factors that promote resilience (Swanson et al., 2003). Additionally, fewer studies (e.g., Billingsley et al., 2021) have taken a dyadic interview approach that incorporates the simultaneous perspectives of both youths and their key adult supports to examine ways social support can foster resilience among Black youths exposed to high levels of community violence. Considering the PVEST model, particularly how adolescents’ development may be impacted by the protective nature of social support in the context of adverse environmental conditions, the current study builds upon the literature by taking a dyadic interview approach and obtaining a dual perspective of both youth and adult supports to establish a broader understanding of the breadth of assets offered through the Black-adult-youth relationship. The goal of this study was to uplift the strengths of adolescent-adult relationships, while also learning from youths and adults how we can design programs to best support intergenerational networks in the context of high levels of community violence. The following research questions guided our study: (1) what are the characteristics, (2) benefits, (3) challenges of supportive youth-adult relationships, and (4) how can these relationships inform community-based interventions.
Method
Participants
The participants included 32 dyads that consisted of youths between the ages 13 and 21 years old and their self-identified key adult supports. Youths who had completed one of two community-based sexual violence prevention studies in 20 neighborhoods impacted by community violence in Pittsburgh, PA, were invited to participate in this study of youth-adult social networks and violence prevention. Experiences of violence were common among participants. In the past 30 days, 71% of the youth reported violence victimization (e.g., being harmed by someone else) and 92% reported witnessing violence (e.g., hearing gun shots, seeing someone be harmed). Roughly two-thirds (63%) of youth participants were female and the majority of youths (88%) self-identified as Black, whereas 9% identified as multiracial and 3% as White. Adult supports commonly included parents (31% mother-son dyads, 31% mother-daughter dyads, and 13% father-daughter dyads) and grandparents (9% maternal grandmother-granddaughter dyads). Three percent included coaches and other family members.
Procedure
Participants in this study were drawn from a larger social network study that consisted of surveys and interviews; this paper focuses on the dyadic interview data. In partnership with community-based youth-serving organizations, we recruited 106 youth, ages 13 to 21 years old, across 20 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA with high levels of community violence. After survey completion, youth participants were asked to identify a key adult support they wanted the research team to recruit to the study. Forty youth identified an adult who they wanted to invite, and all 40 of these adults completed a complementary survey. Thirty-two of the forty dyads also expressed interest in participating in a dyadic interview and all 32 dyads who expressed interest completed the interview and comprised the participant sample for the current manuscript.
Interviews were conducted in a private research office between 2019 and 2020. Due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions, the final two interviews were conducted remotely over a three-way phone call. The interviews lasted 45 to 60 min and explored topics that included important adolescent-adult relationship qualities, things that strengthen these relationships, relationship challenges, and intergenerational support. Trained interviewers asked open-ended questions and utilized narrative interviewing techniques to facilitate effective discussion. Questions were often directed at youth first to limit adults overshadowing youth participation in the interviews. Interviews were audiotaped, de-identified, transcribed, and stored on a password protective server. After each interview, the interviewer completed an emotional distress check-in with both participants. Youths and adult participants were compensated $30 for their participation. The study was approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board with a waiver of parental permission for youth participants and a waiver of written documentation of consent for youth and adult participants.
Data Analyses
Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis and an iterative coding process to identify key themes (Braun, 2006). First, the lead analyst and lead investigator identified provisional themes through line-by-line review of transcripts. The lead analyst reviewed these themes to create conceptual codes, which were then applied to blocks of text in all interview transcripts. Throughout the coding process, the lead analyst met weekly with the lead investigator reassessing and refining themes to create the final codebook, which was then applied to all transcripts. A second analyst separately reviewed and coded the transcripts. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion among the two analysts and the lead investigator. Interviews were coded using Dedoose software.
Results
Structure of Results
The results are structured based on the key themes that emerged from the thematic content analyses: (1) key attributes of adult supports; (2) interactions that strengthen relationships and support youths’ needs; (3) challenges with intergenerational communication; and (4) intergenerational support/social networks. Direct quotations from the dyadic interview transcripts are presented together to highlight both youths’ and adults’ perspectives.
Key Attributes of Adult Supports
In the context of dyadic connections between youths and adults, key attributes of adult supports identified by youths included being dependable, nonjudgmental, and a best friend. Adults also discussed how they manifest these attributes.
Dependable
One theme that emerged when discussing key attributes of adults was adults that were dependable. One youth exclaimed that his key supporter (his coach) was his “go-to” (Youth-11), suggesting that he can depend on his supporter and can go to him about anything: “knowing that he’s there. . . he’s busy but he still keeps in touch and just knowing that if I need somebody to talk to, say if I’m feeling down. . ..” (Youth-11). When asked what youths valued about their relationship with their key supporter, many of the youths stated, “just being there” (Youth-6). When mentioning his coach, another youth stated, “I’ve just grown and he’s been there no matter what just helping me always. If I need anything, I just ask him” (Youth-12). Dependability was tightly linked to unwavering support for their dyadic relationship.
Adults also described the importance of being there for the youths and supporting them no matter what. One mother explained, “Be there for them, through any type of situation it is, whether it’s good, bad, always be there for them” (Adult-16). Another mother shared, “I just feel like I always got their back no matter what, then we’ll figure it out. Tell me the truth? I got your back bud, you know what I mean? It’s always the truth with me and then we’ll figure it out” (Adult-2). Another father reflected, “We have had our, you know, ups and downs and differences. But, at the end of the day he knows that no matter what I still got his back” (Adult-7). Being reliable and available as a resource when challenges arise was a foundational quality youth sought in selecting key adult supports and was echoed by adults as fundamental to these relationships.
Nonjudgmental
Youths valued a nonjudgmental adult who listens to them and their concerns and who they can trust in all situations. For example, one youth stated, “I think adults need to, again, not be judgmental because like ‘okay I’m here and everybody’s fighting or everybody’s getting high, ‘well you shouldn’t have been there’, that’s not the time to argue, it’s ‘okay I’m on my way.’ You’re calling me so you’re asking for help, don’t, ‘you’re on punishment because you shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’ You reached out for help and a lot of kids don’t do that so just taking that punishment and judgment out of it” (Youth-20). In this reflection, the youth described perceived supportive and unsupportive ways that adults engage with youth during times of challenge and offered a roadmap for engagement. Youths also described how these qualities make them more likely to come to these adults for support due to previous positive experiences.
Adults also mentioned the importance of being nonjudgmental and open to youths’ ideas. One mother stated, “I think that, definitely listening, being open-minded I think as adults we think ‘oh, well you shouldn’t feel that way.’ Don’t diminish what they’re actually feeling because it may, it’s intense to them even though it doesn’t impact you the same way. You kind of have to treat it at that level that they’re having the barrier or the crisis with it. You don’t want to go over the top but don’t diminish like ‘oh that’s nothing.’ If it’s serious to them you need to respond in a serious manner and try to work them through that process” (Adult-20). Adults described the importance of empathetic, nonjudgmental engagement that transcends their own perspective to recognize how youth perceive challenges and to offer support attuned to youths’ experiences.
Best Friend
Many youths described the intimacy of these relationships akin to being close like a best friend. One youth talked about her mother as her best friend: “I guess because she’s not only my parent, but my best friend. I always go to her for support and she’s just my BFF” (Youth-27). Another youth discussed her relationship with her grandmother: “I tell her about everything that happens when I need advice and stuff” (Youth-14). Due to the close “best friend” relationship the youths have with adult supporters, they feel more open to express themselves and communicate.
Many adults used similar language to describe closeness and friendship in their dyadic relationships. One mother reflected, “I value our closeness. I value even what we’re saying now. Like I’ve known it, but to really hear it, even in front of a stranger, like that I’m his best friend and I’m that top go to person. That just makes you feel as a parent that you’ve partly arrived. Like as he’s growing, he understands that your parents should be your first go to person to give guidance and understanding. So, I value our closeness and especially just being mother-son, male-female, to be able to talk about absolutely almost anything is very genuine to me” (Adult-12). Additionally, a mother noted, “Me and him we’re very close. He’s like my best friend. We talk about everything. Girls, whatever. And I’m the person he goes to, I’m his backbone. Like we’re very very close” (Adult-3). Reflections captured through the dyadic interviews highlight the dynamic and bidirectional support that both youths and adults experience.
Interactions that Strengthen Relationships and Support Youths’ Needs
The individuals in the dyads reported participating in activities together that strengthen their bond by providing support to youths. Themes that emerged in this domain centered on multiple dimensions of support including emotional, instrumental, and informational support. Personal activities such as talking about daily challenges and spending time together engaged in activities played a key role in strengthening adolescent-adult relationships.
Emotional Support
Emotional support, defined as support that strengthens an emotional bond, such as listening, showing empathy, compassion, and general concern, was frequently cited by youths as a critically important feature of their key adolescent-adult relationships. Youths highlighted how key supporters showed emotional support through conversation, which played an important role in fostering relationships. One youth expressed her appreciation for the communication she had with their mother, “She’s always busy and. . . I appreciate that time a lot with us together and everybody or just her and my dad so I just appreciate the time we just talk about it and have some inside jokes” (Youth-27). Another youth discussed how she turns to her stepfather for emotional support instead of her friends, “You can’t go to your friends about anything so why not go to your dad and they have the more communication and understanding than like a friend does” (Youth-32). When asked about the type of emotional support youths need from adults, one youth stated, “I guess going back to being open, more people being honest especially in adults and teachers, not, kind of feeling like, kind of making the younger person feel like there’s no one to turn to or you’re afraid to ask, even to go to the bathroom they can’t turn to them so I guess just being open” (Youth-26). Youth thus described everyday conversations with trusted adults who made time to listen to their concerns as foundational to their most meaningful relationships.
Similarly, the key adult supports mentioned the importance of communication and expressed the personal joy and meaningful bidirectional connection they experience through talking with the youths. One mother stated, “We talk about very private things that she probably wouldn’t talk to most people about and I can trust her to talk to her as well” (Adult-27). A youth’s father mentioned, “I just, I value that I can come to him with, I can talk to him like he’s one of my boys. [Mhmm] You know, like he’s one of my friends. That’s how I’d see him. I mean, I know he’s my son, but I can talk to him like he’s one of the guys on the street and without him getting offended or whatever” (Adult-7). Another mother mentioned the importance of not only talking to youths, but also stressed that listening to youths is just as important, “Listen to your children. Put down the cell phones, put down the computers or whatever you’re doing, and listen to your children” (Adult-2). Open, authentic communication emerged as one of the most important interactions that strengthen youth-adult relationships.
Informational Support
The dyads also discussed how informational support, defined as adults giving advice, guidance, and useful information to youth, is valued and implemented within their relationships. In particular, youths illuminated the importance of advice from trusted adult mentors in their personal growth and decision-making. One youth stated, “Keep giving us good advice, pushing us the right direction and then having us like if we do something wrong making us learn our wrong and then building to our right so next time, we know that wasn’t a good idea or anything” (Youth-32). Additionally, when describing one of her teachers from school, one youth expressed, “She’s very open. Like she understands people a lot when she’s talking. Like not understands people, she has good advice. She’ll help people a lot” (Youth-30). Another youth mentioned how she appreciates communicating with her grandma rather than her peers, “I can talk, that’s one of the only people I can talk to that’s not my age group. It’s different talking to my grandma than it is talking to my best friend, because my best friend ain’t gonna give me the same advice my grandma is gonna give me and sometimes I need to hear both sides to that instead of hearing my peer’s side because my peer’s side don’t be the best of the best sometimes” (Youth-25). Youths affirmed the importance of trusted adults as their primary touchpoints for wise advice, and a counterpoint to advice they received from peers, when navigating challenging scenarios.
Similarly, adult participants discussed ways in which they provided informational support to the youths and pride they experienced when youths engaged with their advice. One coach mentioned his enjoyment in offering advice to youths, “And I think him taking my advice is something that I admire too. Like him doing music, I encourage him to keep doing music. There was a time that he was like ‘I’m really not feeling it,’ and I was like ‘bro, you’ve got to go after it and don’t be fearful. I don’t care if you’ve got a show set up, let’s go do it or if you’re supposed to meet this producer, go after it.’ I value that he listens to that advice” (Adult-11). Providing and receiving informational support was seen as a primary mechanism through which both youths and adults deepened their bonds and fostered meaningful engagement.
Instrumental Support
Youth also reflected on the importance of instrumental support, defined as adults assisting youth in tangible ways such as helping them find jobs or with homework, in their dyadic relationships. A key theme emerged around instrumental support focused on finances, education, and jobs. For example, one youth stated, “Because like when I grow up, I’ll know how to manage and stuff and can look back to him and it will be like you actually taught me like something like valuable, and it’s not to spend your money all the time. Cause they’re paying bills and stuff and now, but it’s going to turn around I’m going to have to pay bills and stuff and know how to not get ripped off or anything and make sure my checks and stuff are looking the way they’re supposed to. The main thing is, he always checks my checks and makes sure they look how they are supposed to look” (Youth-32). Another youth discussed how she works in a football office and the coach helps her with both personal and educational needs, “Like I work at a desk just like this and it’s like an office so people walk in and out and he’ll walk in every day and ask me how I’m doing, if I need anything, if I’m hungry, how are my grades? And if I say my grades are bad, he actually gave me a list of tutors for different subjects and who to go to if I’m having problems in those classes” (Youth-31). When asked about some of the most important things that adults can do to support youths, a male youth stated, “I think finances are a big part of it, offer a job, offer work, offer, and offering jobs and work also offer knowledge and the ability to attain a skill or even a trade or a certificate as big as that may sound. Yeah mostly stuff like that, or even just offering your own money sometimes can be helpful” (Youth-4). Youth frequently reached out to their key adult supports to learn important financial literacy skills and relied on their adult supports to identify educational and job opportunities.
As youths spoke about their desire for financial and educational opportunities, adult participants reflected on strategically providing youths with instrumental support to strengthen their dyadic relationships, help youths learn new skills, and create opportunities for pro-social engagement aligned with their individual interests. Specifically, one mother mentioned how providing instrumental support could be a strategy used to keep youths safe and out of trouble, “I think it’s important to be an advocate. Like if you see something wrong going on, ‘Hey, my friend, you know, you know that that’s not right.’ You gotta speak up. You know, keeping them safe by doing things with them. Providing them with resources that they can, whether it’s AAU basketball, you know sports, if they’re into sports, or if they’re into dance, ballet, whatever, just providing them with something better. I believe that if you see better, you’ll try to do better” (Adult-5). These reflections are particularly salient in giving voice to the challenges both youths and their key adult supports face in linking youth with opportunities in the context of neighborhoods with few resources and high levels of community violence. Seen through this contextual lens, instrumental support is paramount to positive youth development and to providing youth with opportunities for safe, meaningful engagement.
Challenges With Interpersonal and Intergenerational Communication
Comparable to most close relationships, especially when family is involved, dyads experienced interpersonal challenges, particularly with effective communication. Some of the dyads discussed specific challenges within their relationships while others mentioned broader intergenerational challenges. Overall, youths and adults were generally in agreement on salient relationship challenges.
Many of the youths mentioned the difficulty of talking to adults, particularly those they perceive as close-minded, closed off, or “super strict” (Youth-31). A few youths mentioned going to an adult for support, and the adult “instantly yelling” (Youth-22), “chew me out” (Youth-7) or getting upset. One youth explained, “I think the one, well coming from [my] own experience and also kind of speaking for the kids in my neighborhood, when it, I guess when it comes to them going to an adult or somebody or dealing with any type of problem it always ends up with them arguing and yelling at each other and I know kids, a lot of kids my age, they don’t like being yelled at all. They feel like that’s not gonna get you anywhere and there’s no point for you to go to anybody for advice if they’re just gonna yell at you so I think that might be the problem” (Youth-21).
Communication challenges also emerge in the context of familial relationships. A son and father dyad discussed the difficulty of communication within the family. The son stated, “Have you ever taken a ride with mom at midnight whenever she driving you home? It is a stressful experience. I’d rather catch the bus” (Youth-22). The dad agreed, “Cause my wife she goes off the handle. There’s no build up. It’s BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. And you know that’s what deters him from going to her because she doesn’t seem to understand that people make mistakes and that’s the way I see her. I got other people and I don’t even talk to her about certain things” (Adult-22). Youths focused on adults’ reactivity as a key deterrent to seeking support during challenging times, and as motivation to seek out adult supports who they perceive as dependable and non-judgmental.
Many of the key adult supports also stressed the challenge of communicating with youths in general, focusing on differences in communication approaches across generations. Mirroring youths’ responses, adult participants mentioned that youths do not listen to adults. Specifically, one grandmother stated, “they don’t listen. . . you tell them something over and over again, you know, just to get them to do something but if they don’t want to do anything, they’re not gonna do it” (Adult-14). Another grandmother stated, “Yeah, and they’re very disrespectful. See I don’t, I don’t care how old I would have been I’d have never disrespect my mother, I don’t care how old I would have been, it’s just a different generation now” (Adult-23).
Echoing reflections provided by youths, adults also described specific interpersonal challenges they have experienced within the dyad’s relationship. One mother mentioned how tempers affected their communication, “I think me and him both have tempers. Sometimes we butt heads, me and him. We react first. . . He’s more of ‘mom, just calm down, it’s okay’ and I’m like [clap] shooter. He’s a shooter, he’s the calm one. Things like that, I think that makes us bump heads” (Adult-6). Relational volatility and reactivity on the part of both youths and adults often interfered with interpersonal communication and impacted the provision and receipt of support in those moments.
Intergenerational Support: Shared Experiences Shape Interactions
The idea of an intergenerational transfer of knowledge was interwoven throughout the interviews. Many adults in the dyads, specifically family members such as parents, learned about positive life choices from their family when they were younger. In some situations, adults learned from their childhood what they felt was not helpful to them in learning and growing as an adult and use this knowledge to guide themselves in being protective and positive adult supports. One stepfather stated, “That’s right. That’s how it goes. You got to be proud of like the knowledge that you have and you got to let your kids know and they teach their kids the same things and it goes on and goes on until the next generation goes happening and stuff cause nowadays a lot of young kids don’t listen to their parents and it’s kind of difficult because it makes you feel some type of way but you know that you got a good one on your hands and you got to do the right thing so you want to make sure you know everything is okay and stuff” (Adult-32).
Adults often described the intergenerational transfer of knowledge in a way that referenced contextual challenges impacting communities across generations. One coach stated, “Well you know, I think I’ve got a good gauge on what he needs just through our relationship. I don’t think he would ask me for something if he really didn’t need it. He really doesn’t, he’ll ask even if it’s indirectly, but he knows that I’m going to offer too. . . I can almost hear it in his voice or the tone of his texts, I can understand what he’s going through and like I said, being in the same community, you kind of know what the kids who are close to you are going through and when they’re in certain binds. I’m comfortable enough with him when he reaches out to know what is going on” (Adult-11). The coach’s reflections, echoed by other adult participants, recognized the critical importance of adults with historical roots in communities in understanding the challenges youth face and offering individualized guidance in navigating neighborhoods with few resources and high levels of community violence.
In many of the interviews, youths and adults both reflected upon the importance of youths’ extended social networks, including more distant family and community members, in supporting them. One youth stated, “Yes, yeah I definitely talk to, everyone around my family is pretty cool. I can talk to my cousins, sisters, aunts” (Youth-26). One adult support mentioned his unique role as an uncle, “So as an uncle, you can provide support and reinforcement that the parents can’t due to emotional bias and like that. I don’t have the same I guess they bury what they may have. Something that they may be annoyed with I don’t. So, I can dive right in. I try to provide clarity on that. On a topic they may have heard from their parents but it didn’t really sink in and I give the why and not just the do. So that’s what I try to do” (Adult-30). Additionally, a mother mentioned how her son’s coach was like a father-figure, “Cause like your basketball coach used to, for your dad, fully stepped up, your basketball coach used to be like, you know, on you hard about school and education so you really can’t say somebody. You and him really, you didn’t even like him, you see what I’m saying, but he cares so much for you and you didn’t even see that” (Adult-3). These reflections highlight the unique relational contributions of non-parental adults in shaping youths’ support networks.
Adult supports, especially non-parental adults, described intentionally seeking out opportunities to support youths. When asked why he chose to be a mentor, one coach discussed the importance of his mother’s advice and giving back to the community, which highlighted the reciprocity in these bidirectional relationships: “I grew up in a similar community and I said, you know, for me to be able to accomplish my dreams and goals and aspirations, I want to set them an example. It was something that my mother embedded in me before she passed away on how to give back and make sure that you take care of your village or community who supported you and that was my way of giving back to the community. So, like I said, I started up a non-profit foundation and a mentoring program” (Adult-11). In this way, intergenerational support came full circle and motivated key adult supports to share their knowledge and lived experiences to uplift and empower youths in their communities.
Discussion
Using semi-structured dyadic interviews among 32 youths and their self-identified key adult supports, this study sought to illuminate the role of adolescent-adult relationships in supporting youths in communities impacted by high levels of violence. Key themes centered on attributes of adult supports, interactions that strengthen relationships and support youths’ needs, challenges with intergenerational communication, and the importance of intergenerational support networks. Youths and adults shared similar ideas regarding important qualities including being dependable, nonjudgmental, a best friend, and providing unwavering support. Additionally, the dyads discussed various interactions that strengthen their relationships and enhance emotional, informational, and instrumental support. Both youths and adults felt as though it was difficult to communicate and understand each other. Despite these challenges, intergenerational support networks were instrumental in helping youths navigate challenges and thrive.
These themes are congruent with previous research that stresses the importance of adult supporters, including family and natural mentors, in Black youths’ lives (e.g., DuBois & Silverthorn, 2005; Hurd et al., 2012; Van Dam et al., 2018; Zimmerman, 2010). Previous research has found that Black individuals place high value on the family and have strong connections to extended relatives (Billingsley, 1992) which is salient in the current study’s themes. For example, one theme that emerged from the interviews is the close relationship that the adolescents had with their parent (e.g., mother) or family member (e.g., grandmother) and how they spent a lot of time together. This theme also aligns with previous research that states that Black family’s cultural values are oriented toward collectivism (Larson et al., 2001) and Black adolescents spend considerably more time with family compared to White adolescents (Larson et al., 2001), highlighting the prominent role family support including extended family support has on Black adolescents. However, adolescence is also a time of increased parent-child conflict (e.g., De Goede et al., 2009), which was echoed in the current reflections wherein many youth-parent dyads reported challenges with intergenerational communication. Although both youth and adults mentioned a host of key attributes and qualities that strengthen their relationships, there are still areas of improvement regarding their communication.
While the focus of the interviews was on interpersonal relationships, we intentionally selected guiding theories that acknowledged how adolescent-adult relationships must be understood within broader social and environmental contexts. We specifically sought to illuminate youths’ and adults’ perspectives on the unique contributions of adolescent-adult relationships, including parental and non-parental adult supports, to the lived experiences of minoritized youths living in neighborhoods impacted by community violence. Uniquely salient to experiences among dyads in communities impacted by high levels of violence, and resonant with PVEST, dyads uplifted youth-adult relationships as fundamental to their wellbeing. Youths and adults both gave voice to the importance of relationships with adults who themselves have roots in communities and who provide guidance based on their own contextualized experiences. This finding aligns with Spencer’s focus on the relational protective factors that foster resilience and buffer experiences of violence among minoritized youth. Themes that emerged in the current study spotlight the imperative that research moves beyond focusing on risks and/or negative social influences among youths in communities impacted by violence (e.g., Wallace et al., 2017) to also highlight a different yet equally important narrative about the intentionality of adults in supporting and uplifting youths using intergenerational knowledge and relationships.
The primary focus of our analyses was to understand adult-adolescent relationships on an interpersonal level. However, the adult and adolescent interviews were often shaped by their context. These outer layers of the social ecological model came up implicitly in the interviews. For example, it was important to adults that youth listened to them about safety and also the importance of adults understanding community contexts and the stressors youth endure was a central theme for both youths and adults. Therefore, it is important to consider how interpersonal relationships and contexts are both are important in designing interventions to address Black youths’ lived experiences (Woods-Jaeger et al., 2019).
This study also highlights the importance of conducting dyadic interviews to illuminate the dynamic process of mutual support. This work complements findings from studies conducting individual interviews with youths and mentors. Many of the key themes that emerged resonate with findings from Varga and Deutsch (2016); such that both youth and their mentors reported similar positive characteristics of relationship qualities such as authenticity (which was congruent with our code for nonjudgmental), companionship (congruent with our code for best friend), and collaboration (congruent with our social support code). However, a dyadic approach can offer additional insights into shared perspectives on bidirectional experiences of support and gratitude for these relationships. Participants in the current study expressed the benefits of contributing to this research and how these interviews created an opportunity for authentic acknowledgment of the importance of their relationships. Communication is an important feature of parent–youth and natural mentoring relationships (Collins & Laursen, 2004; Van Dam et al., 2018), and interviewing participants together can offer important insights into the transformational power of relationships. Therefore, future research should continue to conduct dyadic youth-adult interviews.
Creating spaces for interactions and conversations where youths and adults can both reflect may help build intergenerational connections to be stronger and fulfilling. For youths without existing connections to positive adult supports, dyadic and network-based interventions should be developed that recognize and uplift the strengths of youths and their adult supports while simultaneously being attuned to challenges that minoritized youths and adults encounter in neighborhoods impacted by high levels of community violence (CDC, 2016; David-Ferdon et al., 2014). It is imperative to create these pathways for youths to foster authentic, meaningful, and lasting relationships with adults who can serve in this critical role.
Limitations and Strengths
Participants were predominately Black from a single geographic area and included fewer non-familial adult supports. Key themes that emerged may not reflect the experiences of youths and adults of other racial and ethnic backgrounds and geographic areas, nor the full range of strengths/challenges within other dyadic relationships (e.g., youth-teacher, youth-faith leader). A strength of the study was the utilization of dyadic interviews incorporating the perspectives of youths and their key adult supports and positive aspects of these relationships. However, perhaps due to the nature of dyadic interviewing, the dyads tended to focus on areas of agreement and interviews elicited less around discordant perspectives. Using this qualitative method illuminated both youth and adult support voices, providing a rich and contextualized understanding of intergenerational relationships.
Conclusions
Among youth-adult dyads in communities impacted by violence, participants shared rich insights into how intergenerational relationships provide mutual emotional, informational, and instrumental support to help youth thrive. Future dyadic and social network-based approaches attuned to lived experiences of youth and their adult supporters should simultaneously seek to uplift relationships and address contextual drivers of violence.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Grant Office; the National Institutes of Health [grant number K23HD098277-01]; the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant number T32HD087162]; and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [grant number T32 AA007453].
