Playing with Anger

This volume presents unique, culturally relevant interventions that can teach coping skills to African American boys with a history of aggression. Stevenson provides the history and current events for readers to understand why these youths perceive violence as the only way to react. Interventions and preventative actions developed in the PLAAY project (Preventing Long-Term Anger and Aggression) are presented. These include teaching coping skills and anger management via athletics such as basketball and martial arts. Frustrations and strengths in those athletics illuminate the players' emotional lives, and serve as a basis for self-understanding and life skill development.

Howard C. Stevenson Jr. is associate professor with tenure in the School, Community, and Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Pennsylvania. His five-year PLAAY project (Preventing Long-Term Anger and Aggression in Youth) was sponsored by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Preface
Acknowledgments
I. "An Hour of Play": Theoretical Frames for the PLAAY Project
Introduction-Boys, Not Men: Hypervulnerability in African American Youth
Howard C. Stevenson Jr., Gwendolyn Y. Davis, Teresa Herrero-Taylor Russell Morris
1 Remembering Culture: The Roots of Culturally Relevant Anger
Howard C. Stevenson Jr. Garland Best Elaine F. Cassidy Delores McCabe
2 Why Black Males Need Cultural Socialization
Howard C. Stevenson Jr., Gwendolyn Y. Davis, Robert Carter, SoniaElliott
II. "If We Must Die": Examples of PLAAY Project Interventions
3 "If We Must Die": CPR for Managing Catch-33, Alienation, and Hypervulnerability
Elaine F. Cassidy Gwendolyn Y. Davis Howard C. Stevenson Jr.
4 PLAAY Fighting in Martial Arts
Nimr Hassan Elaine F. Cassidy Diane M. Hall Gale Seiler Howard C. Stevenson Jr.
5 Emotions in Motion: Teaching Emotional Empowerment through Basketball
Howard C. Stevenson Jr. Gwendolyn Y. Davis Chad Lassiter Juana Gatson
6 COPE: Community Outreach through Parent Empowerment
SaburahAbdul-Kabir TeresaHerrero-Taylor Howard C. Stevenson Jr. Pamela C. Zamel
7 Life After PLAAY: Alumni Group and Rites of Passage Empowerment (ROPE)
Gwendolyn Y. Davis Pamela C. Zamel Diane M. Hall Erick Espin Vernita R. Williams
8 Raising Boys to Be Men: Distance Does Not Make the Heart Grow Fonder
Howard C. Stevenson Jr.
Index
About the Contributors