The present study is a qualitative examination of manhood meaning among African American men. Both the narrative process and definitions assigned were examined among 152 African American men residing in 5 metropolitan areas. Participants provided written responses to an open-ended question about the meaning of manhood. A content analysis was conducted using an open coding method (A. Strauss & J. Corbin, 1990), which revealed 15 distinct categories of meaning. Responsibilityaccountability emerged as the most frequently endorsed category, with 48.7% of the respondents suggesting that manhood among this sample primarily means being responsible and accountable for one's actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Findings from the present study also suggest that manhood meaning among African Americans is relationally constructed.

This qualitative study examines the ways in which African American women use religion/spirituality to cope and to construct meaning in times of adversity. Content analysis of the narratives of a sample of African American women respondents (n = 23) revealed a set of eight nonoverlapping themes that explicate religiosity/spirituality's role in meaningmaking and coping. Findings suggest that religion/spirituality help women to (1) interrogate and accept reality, (2) gain the insight and courage needed to engage in spiritual surrender, (3) confront and transcend limitations, (4) identify and grapple with existential questions and life lessons, (5) recognize purpose and destiny, (6) define character and act within subjectively meaningful moral principles, (7) achieve growth, and (8) trust in the viability of transcendent sources of knowledge and communication. Narrative examples are used to elucidate each theme. Findings point to the importance of relationships and intimacy in the meaning-making enterprise. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

These two qualitative studies explore the meanings of spirituality for African American women and the distinctions that women make between spirituality and religiosity. In Study 1, content analyses of women’s (N = 128) written narratives reveal 13 categories of meaning that are assigned to spirituality. In Study 2, indepth interviews with a subsample of women (N = 21) reveal three key differences between religiosity and spirituality. First, whereas religiosity is associated with organized worship, spirituality is defined as the internalization of positive values. Second, religion is conceptualized as a path and spirituality as an outcome. Finally, whereas religion is tied to worship, spirituality is associated with relationships.

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Demographic correlates of subjective religiosity are examined using data from five large national probability samples (i.e., Americans Changing Lives, n = 3,617; General Social Survey, n = 26,265; Monitoring the Future, n = 16,843; National Black Election Survey, n = 1,151; and National Survey of Black Americans, n = 2,107). In analyses of data involving both Black and White respondents, race emerges as a strong and consistent predictor of various indicators of subjective religiosity with Black Americans, indicating that they had significantly higher levels of subjective religiosity than Whites. Analyses using African American respondents only indicate that subjective religious involvement varies systematically by gender, age, region, and marital status. The findings are discussed in relation to research on religious participation among African Americans and future research and theory concerning the meaning of religion within discrete subgroups of this population.Religion and religious institutions have been instrumental in the development and maintenance of political resistance and activism, social, emotional, and economic support, as well as the intellectual, educational, and artistic development of African Americans (Lincoln & Mamiya, 1990). Churches serve as arenas in which Black men and women can develop and assert personal and organizational leadership skills that are discouraged elsewhere.