Smart and Sassy: The Strengths of Inner-City Black Girls

Empirically based, the daily experience of adolescent black females is explicated within an explanatory model of social context and developmental theory. The author argues that adolescence must be seen from strengths and health perspectives. Self-relatedness or intersubjectivity expressed in assertion, empathy, and recognition is the core matrix of development where social contextual responses can be adaptive or maladaptive.