Hogg Foundation for Mental Health

Texas A&M Professor Receives Research Grant to Study Ethnic Differences in Youth Aggression

June 1, 2009

AUSTIN, Texas – Dr. Jamilia Blake, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, is one of 10 tenure-track faculty members in Texas to receive research grants totaling $150,000 from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.

The one-year grants are capped at $15,000 each. The foundation received 35 proposals from faculty at 16 colleges and universities in Texas.

Blake plans to study parental socialization practices that may contribute to ethnic differences in youth aggression.

“A child’s display of aggression and response to aggression in others can lead to conflict, isolation and disciplinary problems in school and other social settings. Identifying cultural differences in aggression may lead to more appropriate and effective techniques to manage behavior,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the foundation.

Nearly 30 percent of youth in schools across the United States engage in aggression and experience victimization, and African American and Latino youth are at greater risk of both, Blake reported in her proposal. A possible link may be messages communicated by parents of color to their children about the acceptability of aggression.

“I will examine processes that contribute to ethnic differences in youth aggression and identify familial factors that may discourage youth from engaging in aggression,” Blake said. “I hope my research will influence development of future aggression interventions and encourage existing intervention and prevention programs to become more culturally responsive.”

Blake, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, specializes in the social development of ethnic minority children and violence intervention and prevention.

The Hogg Foundation was founded in 1940 by the children of former Texas Governor James Hogg to promote improved mental health for the people of Texas. The foundation’s grants and programs support mental health consumer services, research, policy analysis and public education projects in Texas.