The image of African American women as presented by American mass media and popular culture: Interpretations by urban African American adolescent females regarding their life chances, life choices, and self-esteem

The aim of this study was to investigate the image of African American women in popular culture and gain an understanding of how those images are interpreted by urban African American adolescent girls (N=40) between the ages of 13-19 years old. Black magazine covers and hip-hop/rap music videos that display images of African American women were viewed by the participants. Questions were asked of the girls that explored whether popular culture media images of African American women affect the interpretation of their self-esteem, choices they make, and future chances in life. Specifically, I sought to understand: 1) Do images of African American women shown in popular culture influence the interpretation of life chances and life choices of urban African American adolescent girls, and if so, how?; and 2) Whether portrayals of African American women in popular culture influence the interpretation of the self-esteem of urban African American adolescent girls. A mixed method research process was used to gather data that represents the participants' perspectives. Results from the questionnaires suggest that some participants perceive that popular culture images of African American women influence their life chances and life choices, while others also resist the image on some level. The quantitative findings from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale indicate that the participants either have high or normal self-esteem.