The Social Success of Black Youth

The task of training and motivating Afro-American youth in the various tenets of success is one of the primary functions of the socializers in a child's environment (Porter, 1974). Through their influence children and youth acquire the behaviors, values, habits and attitudes necessary to function competently. It is this important role which led theorists to designate these influencers as significant others. The term significant others is used by various theorists to denote those persons who exercise a major influence on the attitudes of individuals by (1) communicating the norms, values, and expectations of the culture or society in which they live; (2) defining the behavior that is considered to be appropriate to the culture or society in which the individual resides; (3) modeling the appropriate attitudes and behaviors; and (4) providing the necessary information about the environment to the individuals under their influence (Woefel and Haller, 1971). For Afro-Americans these significant others are more than just the immediate family. They include a rather large and extensive network made up of parents, siblings, cousins, aunts,