Environmental Stressors, Social Support, and Internalizing Symptoms Among African American Youth

The relations among chronic environmental stressors, social support, and anxiety and depressive symptoms among urban, African American youth are unclear. In this study, we test theoretical models of support and examine the specific relations between community violence exposure and neighborhood disadvantage and three types of anxiety symptoms as well as depressive symptoms. Participants included 188 African American youth in Grades 5 through 8 from 2 low‐income urban schools. Results suggest victimization and neighborhood disadvantage were most significantly associated with symptoms, and in the context of these stressors, parent support was associated with fewer fear and concentration and depressive symptoms. Parent and friend support buffered the effects of stressors on depressive symptoms. These findings contribute to the literature in terms of testing specific stressor‐psychopathology relations and theory‐based social support models with urban, at‐risk youth. Implications for intervention are discussed.