Africentric Cultural Values: Their Relation to Positive Mental Health in African American Adolescent Girls

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to test a path model exploring the relationships among Africentric cultural values, self-esteem, perceived social support satisfaction, and life satisfaction in a sample of 147 African American adolescent girls. This investigation also examined the possible mediating effects of self-esteem and perceived social support satisfaction in the relationship between adherence to Africentric cultural values and life satisfaction in this sample. Although no significant mediating effects were found, results indicated that greater adherence to Africentric cultural values among African American adolescent girls was predictive of higher levels of both self-esteem and perceived social support satisfaction. Higher levels of self-esteem were then significantly predictive of greater life satisfaction. However, perceived social support satisfaction was not significantly predictive of life satisfaction in this sample of girls. Future research directions are identified.