The Strong Black Woman (SBW) race-gender schema prompts African American women to use self-reliance and self-silence as coping strategies in response to stressors. Utilizing the coping strategies associated with the SBW race-gender schema could trigger anxiety and depression symptoms that may intensify when coupled with negative attitudes toward professional psychological help. The present study investigated whether African American women's endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema predicted increased symptoms of anxiety and depression and whether attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking intensified psychological distress. Data were collected from 95 participants ranging in age from 18 to 65. Hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated significant main effects for the SBW race-gender schema and greater anxiety and depression, respectively. Greater indifference to stigma, 1 dimension of help-seeking attitudes, predicted lower levels of anxiety. African American women's attitudes toward professional help-seeking did not moderate the associations between endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema and anxiety or depression, respectively. Finally, endorsement of the SBW race-gender schema was inversely and significantly associated with 2 facets of help-seeking attitudes: (a) psychological openness and (b) help-seeking propensity. Taken together, these findings provide empirical support for the role of cultural factors, like the SBW race-gender schema, in African American women's experience of psychological distress and potential underutilization of mental health services. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Although strength is often embraced as a vital aspect of African American womanhood, African American women's endorsement of the strong Black woman race-gender schema has received empirical attention because of its association with harmful health outcomes. Thus, there is limited knowledge regarding how African American women simultaneously experience its liabilities (e.g., harmful health outcomes) and benefits (e.g., increased selfefficacy). Qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze data from 13 African American women who discussed the competing messages experienced when internalizing the strong Black woman race-gender schema. Three tensions were identified: (a) be psychologically durable yet do not engage in behaviors that preserve psychological durability, (b) be equal yet be oppressed, and (c) be feminine yet reject traditional feminine norms. These tensions highlighted that the schema simultaneously produced advantageous outcomes with respect to self-efficacy yet unfavorable implications for self-care. Each tension is discussed with respect to its perceived advantages and disadvantages. spite of varying terminologies, the SBW has been consistently described as a "schema" that prescribes an exclusive set of cognitive and behavioral expectations for African American women, notably standing up for oneself, exhibiting selfreliance, and taking care of others (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2007;Settles et al., 2008;Woods-Giscombé, 2010). In sum, the SBW race-gender schema provides African American women with a "blueprint" on how to appropriately perform their intersected race-gender identity. Yet, the SBW race-gender schema's implications for African American women's well-being have not been straightforward.Empirical findings have demonstrated that endorsement of the SBW racegender schema was associated with emotion dysregulation, increased distress, and obesity (Woods-Giscombé's (2010) recent work has brought attention to the benefits of the SBW race-gender schema, such as the preservation of one's self-image and of African American communities and families. Based on the aforementioned data it has become clear that the SBW race-gender schema simultaneously creates liabilities and benefits. Yet, it is unclear how the simultaneous experience of these liabilities and benefits create tensions for African American. This study sought to address this gap in the extant literature; we investigated whether tensions arise due to the simultaneous experience of the liabilities and benefits of the SBW race-gender schema. Addressing this gap is important for two reasons: (a) it can extend the SBW race-gender schema literature beyond binary conclusions and (b) it can inform further theorizing about the SBW race-gender schema and its association with mental health outcomes. The current study, using qualitative methods informed by a critical-realist paradigm, addressed the limitation of the existing conceptualization of the SBW race-gender schema by investigating how the liabilities and benefits inherent in the SBW race-gender schem...

No abstract

The cultural context in the United States is racialized and influences Black Caribbean immigrants' acculturation processes, but what role it plays in Black Caribbean immigrants' acculturation into specific facets of American society (e.g., African American culture) has been understudied in the field of psychology. The present study extends research on Black Caribbean immigrants' acculturative process by assessing how this group's experience of the racial context (racial public regard, ethnic public regard, and cultural race-related stress) influences its engagement in African American culture (i.e., adoption of values and behavioral involvement). Data were collected from 93 Black participants of Caribbean descent, ranging in age from 13 to 45 and analyzed using a stepwise hierarchical regression. The findings highlighted that when Black Caribbean-descended participants perceived that the public held a favorable view of their racial group they were more likely to engage in African American culture. In contrast, when participants perceived that the public held a favorable view of their ethnic group (e.g., Haitian) they were less likely to engage in African American culture. Furthermore, among participants experiencing low levels of cultural race-related stress, the associations between racial public regard and engagement with African American culture were amplified. However, for participants experiencing high cultural race-related stress, their engagement in African American culture did not change as a function of racial public regard. These findings may suggest that, for Black Caribbean immigrants, the experience of the racial context influences strategies that serve to preserve or bolster their overall social status and psychological well-being in the United States.

No abstract