“Keeping Our Sons Safe: Father-Son Communication for Preventing Violence Involvement and Victimization”

“Keeping Our Sons Safe: Father-Son Communication for Preventing Violence Involvement and Victimization”

Professor Waldo E. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D., MSW (‘77, CLAS) will present a lecture highlighting the findings of his Fathers and Sons Communication Study, a pilot dyad qualitative study that documents African American father involvement via the lens of father-son communication among 28 African American fathers (and father figures) and their adolescent sons (ages 13-20) in seven of Chicago’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods and three suburban communities. Specifically, the study examined fathers’ aims to build confidence, resilience and safety awareness among their sons. The study also examines the sons’ perspectives regarding the challenges the youth face in meeting those aims and the utility of their fathers/father figures’ advice and strategies for maintaining their safety against the backdrop of neighborhood economic decay and gentrification, the lure of toxic masculinity socialization versus the challenges associated with healthy masculinity adoption and their developmental transitions to young adulthood.