University Archives

Gendered racial microaggressions (GRM) have harmful effects on Black women’s health, but resilience, or the ability to bounce back from such stressors, is a rarely studied outcome. Emotion regulation difficulties are associated with both increased experiences of GRM and lower resilience and may partially explain the relation between these constructs. However, little research has examined these dynamics specifically among Black women. The Strong Black Woman (SBW) Schema is theorized to strengthen resilience in the face of gendered racial discrimination but has been associated with reduced self-care and greater emotion regulation difficulties. It has also been shown to moderate the relation between GRM and adverse outcomes. The present study examined emotion regulation difficulties as a mediator between GRM and resilience, as well as the SBW Schema as a moderator of this relation and that between GRM and emotion regulation difficulties, in a community sample of Black women (N=429; Mage=33.28). Results supported emotion regulation difficulties as a significant mediator, but the SBW Schema did not moderate the associations, and the overall moderated mediation was non-significant. However, serial mediation analyses revealed that both emotion regulation difficulties and the SBW Schema explained the relation between GRM and resilience, as increased GRM experiences were associated with greater difficulties in emotion regulation, which were in turn associated with greater endorsement of the SBW Schema, which was finally associated with lower resilience. Findings suggest interventions targeting emotion regulation difficulties, as well as Black women’s relationship with the SBW Schema, may strengthen resilience in the face of GRM.

Key words: Gendered racial microaggressions, resilience, Strong Black Women Schema