2012

The image of the African American woman has been defined differently over time. This change could possibly have a direct effect on African American adolescents. For this paper, adolescents will refer to those 12-17 years of age. As shown in the literature, African American adolescent females are more receptive to group counseling techniques which give the girls a chance to be around adolescents with similar views and experiences. Also found in the research, African American adolescent girls have been found to be more open with minority group facilitators. This gives the adolescents a sense of understanding and safety (Ford et al., 1993). Through this paper, I plan to discuss the historical image of an African American woman, common themes found in the literature pertaining to African American females, identity development in African American adolescent females, effective theoretical frameworks, and the importance of multicultural competence in counselors of African American adolescents.