Urban African-American Single Mothers Using Resiliency And Racial Socialization To Influence Academic Success In Their Young Sons

This research study was conducted as a qualitative case study of five resilient single African-American mothers of successful young sons who attended an elementary school in a large urban school district. The study was designed to hear the voices of these mothers and their lived experiences using racial socialization to influence school readiness and academic achievement in their young sons. The intent of this case study was to broaden the limited qualitative research base on this population and inform administrators, educators, and other single parents about factors that may contribute to more positive academic outcomes for African-American males.

This qualitative study used the actual words of the participants to tell their stories, as it provided rich descriptions of their lives. Data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the mothers' responses shaped the phenomena under study. Analysis occurred immediately after each interview, and analytic conclusions were formulated by coding and categorizing ideas or statements of experiences from the data to ensure that important constructs, themes, and patterns were noted.

The results of this study yielded the following as it related to the voices of these resilient single African-American mothers: (1) these single mothers believe that their ability to overcome adversity positively influences their son's academic success; (2) these mothers also believe their upbringing has influenced their parenting style; (3) family, church members, and friends play an important role in supporting these mothers and sons; (4) church attendance and faith in God help these mothers to persevere in difficult times; and (5) racial socialization is a tool these mothers used to help their sons to be successful in school.