"I can do bad all by myself": Indirect effect of social support beliefs on the Strong Black Woman schema and depressive symptoms.

Objectives: The Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema, a multidimensional construct that promotes self-reliance, self-silencing, self-sacrificial caregiving, and resilience, has been linked to depressive symptoms in Black women. Yet, additional research is needed to examine the mechanisms through which this association exists. The present study examines the indirect effect of social support beliefs on the relationship between the SBW schema and depressive symptoms.

Method: Data from a sample of 194 Black women (M_age = 37.53, SD = 19.88) were collected using an online survey assessing internalization of the SBW schema, depressive symptoms, and social support-seeking beliefs.

Results: A primary dimension of the SBW schema, the expectation to manifest strength, was significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms and negatively correlated with social support seeking. Depressive symptoms were also significantly negatively correlated with social support beliefs. In addition, an indirect effect of support-seeking beliefs was observed between the expectation to manifest strength and depressive symptoms (ab = .12, 95% CI [.02, .24]).

Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that Black women experience impairing depressive symptoms, which can be explained by race and gender-specific stress-coping ideologies and behaviors, specifically, the SBW schema. Furthermore, the SBW schema is a factor that may contribute to adverse mental health outcomes among Black women vis-à-vis decreased support-seeking beliefs. We discuss the implications of these findings and how these results can help facilitate culturally competent care for Black women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).