Same-race practice: Do we expect too much or too little?

To add to same-race practice knowledge, this article explores practitioners' perceptions, expectations, and service recommendations for troubled youths age 12 and age 16 along racial, gender, and age dimensions. A random sample of African American members of the National Association of Social Workers rated case analogues in which client characteristics varied by experimental design. The more positively social workers perceived the youths, the higher the social workers' expectations of outcomes after intervention. Social workers' expectations for better outcomes were more forceful than their perceptions of those outcomes. Male social workers' expectations for African American male youths emphasize within-group male hopefulness. Additionally, African American social workers recommend intervention more strongly for Caucasian youths than for African American youths. Practice implications of these findings are discussed.