SPIRITUALLY STRONG AND MENTALLY SERENE

YOUNG AFRICAN-AMERICANS REAP THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS FROM RELIGIOUS FAITH

Based on the changes in traditional social mores and the continued popularity of secular entertainment, the strength of traditional religious beliefs among any group of young people may not seem to be the norm.

But an ongoing research project led by Dr. Pamela Martin at Prairie View A&M University reveals not only that devout religious faith is strong among young African-Americans, but also functions as an effective form of therapy for many of these young people.

“We found that adolescent girls who actively seek out a relationship with God are better able to cope with racial stigmas or discrimination that they might experience.”

– Dr. Martin

Dr. Martin, a professor in PVAMU’s College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology, researches African American Protestant faith communities and primarily focuses on black adolescents and the role of faith in their daily lives. Martin’s research is funded by a $1 million grant from the Hogg Foundation, with $102,582 specifically covering a three-year span of research at PVAMU.

Martin has been researching the role of faith in black lives since the late 1990s when she was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research where she worked with the renowned scholars Dr. James Jackson, Robert Sellers, and Cleo Caldwell known for his research on African-Americans.

Martin’s research includes an examination of two segments of African-American adolescents — those who are of Caribbean descent and those who are not. “We found that religion was a coping factor only for Caribbean-descended black adolescents,” Martin says. “Religion functioned in the way we thought it would, but it did not function that way for (non-Caribbean) African Americans. “Even though African-Americans are known to be more devoutly religious than other groups,” she continues, “there’s also this trend of a growing number of people in African-American communities who are un-churched.”

From the earliest years of the African presence in North America, the Christian faith and the Protestant church in the daily lives of black people has been well-documented. In prior decades, African-Americans were literally raised in the tradition of regular church attendance and having an active prayer life. “But we’re finding that some African-Americans don’t have those social network bonds to their faith communities anymore,” says Martin.

A recent work, written by Martin in the summer of 2018 and titled, “Religious Beliefs Among African-American Adolescent Groups,” takes a more extensive look at religious faith trends among young African-Americans.

“We decided to broaden the conversation about religion among African-American faith communities,” Martin notes. “In religious literature, three standard questions are asked. One: ‘Do you go to church? Yes or no? Do you pray? Yes or no? And finally, How religious are you on a scale from one to five?’”

Martin says a huge body of research has been done based on those three questions. Martin’s research focuses on generating a more in-depth discussion by asking questions like: “How do you communicate with God?” and, “How do you have a relationship with God?” Notably, Martin says “asking those types of questions gave us more information about the role of religion in that particular population’s lives.”

Across the board, Martin’s research found religiously active African-American adolescent girls of all backgrounds — Caribbean, non-Caribbean and so on — cited faith as a consistently positive force in their lives. “We found that adolescent girls who actively seek out a relationship with God are better able to cope with racial stigmas or discrimination that they might experience,” she says.

The National Science Foundation Award funded the research on adolescent girls in the African-American community, and Martin is preparing to apply for another award for further research in that area. “We’ve always known religion could function in a variety of different ways,” Martin says. “But to actually see how adolescent girls incorporate it into their sense of self and also use it as a way to cope with the negative messages related to race was not expected.” Before arriving at PVAMU, Martin became the first African-American tenured professor in North Carolina State University’s psychology department. Next, she took an administrative role at North Carolina Central University as a department chair before coming to PVAMU as an associate dean. After being personally inspired within the last year by the passionate approach of PVAMU’s new president, Ruth Simmons — who often stresses having high-quality faculty in classrooms, and who also has said teaching is “God’s work” — Martin chose to leave her administrative position and resume teaching.

“Simmons’ words really just resonated with me, so I decided to return to the classroom,” Martin adds. “I can devote all my energies to teaching, research, and service, and I’m very excited about that.”

Recently, Martin’s faith research project added one more dimension — the role of religion in hiphop music. Specifically, PVAMU junior Clarence Williams is currently working on a manuscript about the lyrics and social themes voiced by Chance the Rapper.

In spring 2018, Williams presented a preliminary analysis about Chance the Rapper at the Underground Research Symposium.

Once completed, Martin says Williams’ manuscript will be submitted to the Journal of Hip Hop Studies. Meanwhile, in October of 2018, PVAMU hosted a Hogg Foundation Display of Visual Art Work featuring ten African American churches involved. o