“Who am I?”: utilizing a scoping review of the literature to explore relevant Black-youth-identity models for social work practice

The identity and well-being of Black adolescents is often explored in the context of racial development, with emphasis on their deficits. Subjected to “adultification,” racism, and anti-Blackness in the United States, Black youth face unique challenges that interventions and theories do not account for. With the Grand Challenges of Social Work regarding healthy development of youth, eliminating racism, and decreasing social isolation in mind, a scoping review was conducted to answer the following question: In what ways do interventions in the literature nurture Black youth identity and well-being? Informative themes emerged but the nurturance of Black identity was not present. Assuming identity development is a monolithic and universal experience, literature has failed to examine the complexities of intersecting identities for developing Black youth. This article guides scholars and practitioners on how to thoughtfully move forward.