She Ain No Crack Ho', She's Her Baby's Mama: Counternarratives of Drug Addiction, Parent -Child Interactions, and Academic Achievement From African American Mothers

304 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.The purpose of this dissertation is to enhance awareness about prenatal drug use, drug addiction, parent-child interactions, and academic achievement from the African American mothers' perspectives. Black feminist thought, critical race feminism, and resilience were used as theoretical frameworks for this study. Five African American mothers who used crack, powder cocaine, crank, and/or heroin participated in a series of three in-depth, face-to-face interviews. A constant-comparative method was used to analyze and interpret the data. Findings suggest that kinship networks and strong religious beliefs were significant to their resilience. The mothers provided counternarratives of drug addiction, parent-child interactions as well as their perceptions of their children's academic achievement. Important insights were provided regarding the mothers' perspectives of their maternal roles and their contributions to their children's development and academic achievement. The mothers provided self-definitions of their expressions of warmth, responsiveness and love to their children as they spoke about parent-child interactions. Counternnarratives from mothers who were prenatal drug users and no longer use drugs bring a unique perspective to understanding the impact of prenatal drug exposure on child competence. Gaining insight into how these mothers contribute to or interfere with their child's progress will assist in establishing and maintaining home-school partnerships with families impacted by prenatal drug exposure.LimitedRestricted to Closed Access indefinitely by request of the author. Request approved by Thesis Office because dissertation was ingested as a legacy item, prior to mandatory electronic deposit