Recently, research has reported that the rates of suicide among Black children between the ages of 5 to 12-years-old are increasing as they are now more likely to commit suicide than White children. Yet, there are very few, if any, frameworks being used by researchers to explain the risks of suicide among Black children. Suicide research has overwhelmingly been focused on White youth thus leaving a critical gap in suicide research. This conceptual paper provides an integrated framework using the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide and Intersectionality theory, as a guide for researchers, clinicians, and practitioners to incorporate culturally appropriate techniques in their work as a way to prevent suicide among Black children. This framework highlights racial discrimination, mental health, socioeconomic status, and sexual/gender minority status to be the most preeminent, yet understudied factors leading to suicide risk among Black children in the United States.

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Psychological sense of community (SOC) has been examined minimally among youth of color, and as a mediating variable, as well as construct implicated in promoting wellness. Using data from a sample of 401 students of color (M age = 16.55, SD = 1.31; 54.7% female; 57% Hispanic/ Latina [o]) from an underserved northeastern U.S. urban community, we examined the mediating relationship of psychological SOC between social support, participation in youth-based community programs, and outcomes including school belongingness, risk behaviors such as substance use and violent behavior, and psychological symptoms, including depression. Results indicated that access to social supports and youth-based community programs was negatively associated with risk behaviors and experiencing depressive symptoms, through both psychological SOC and school belongingness. Implications include the need for community-based activities for youth that not only foster support but encourage a positive psychological SOC and in-turn offset negative developmental trajectories and risk behaviors.

Using intersectionality theory as a theoretical framework, this qualitative study uncovered the protective factors present among black and Hispanic adolescent girls living in an urban, under-resourced neighborhood in the Northeastern United States. The sample used in this study includes eight focus groups that consisted of adolescent females only (N = 57). Female participants were sampled through six youth-serving summer programs throughout the target city. The female participants were between 11 and 17 years of age, with 73% self-identifying as black (n = 45) and 26% (n = 12) as Hispanic. Thematic analysis using an intersectional approach was used to analyze the narratives of participants in the study. Three main themes arose: environmental context, parent–child communication about drug use, and parental modeling. Participants were critically aware of their environmental context which normalized drug use. However, participants identified protective factors such as parents communicating about drug use and parental modeling to girls in the sample as the most salient factors against substance use in their community. Findings provide insight for researchers, social workers, and interventionists to create and implement family-centered, strengths-based substance-abuse prevention programs that are racial, ethnic, and gender specific for black and Hispanic adolescent girls.

Psychological sense of community is defined as feelings of belongingness and a shared belief that community members will meet one another's needs. Psychological sense of community has four dimensions: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and emotional connection. In this study, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the first and second-order factor structure of the brief sense of community scale (BSCS) between male and female Hispanic/ Latinx adolescents from an urban community (N = 947). To help validate the BSCS model, the second-order factor model was tested with regression to predict the measures of intrapersonal psychological empowerment and ethnic identity, as constructs conceptually related to psychological sense of community. Findings support that: (1) psychological sense of community can be measured through the BSCS and as a fourfactor model among Hispanic/Latinx youth, supporting McMillan and Chavis's (1986) original theoretical discussions;(2) while no differences between genders were present at the model-level, there was path-specific variation; and (3) intrapersonal psychological empowerment and ethnic identity were associated with psychological sense of community.