What’s There and What’s Not: Measuring Daily Hassles in Urban African American Adolescents

Objective: A review of current empirical research on adolescent stress reveals that measures of stress were developed using primarily suburban adolescents. However, there has not been a thorough examination of stressors that specifically affect urban minority adolescents. This article discusses the findings from the Urban Hassles Scale (UHS). Method: A nonrandom sample of 131 African American adolescents was surveyed to assess the stressors within their environments. Results: Findings suggest that the UHS has construct and concurrent validity with a Cronbach’s alpha of .85. Conclusions: The UHS has practical implications for practitioners providing services to adolescents residing in the urban milieu. Social worker researchers can utilize the UHS to further study the cumulative effect of constant stress on adolescents living in such environments.