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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2026 Jan 9.
Published in final edited form as: J Black Psychol. 2025 Jan 9;51(5):617–641. doi: 10.1177/00957984241308778

The Strong Black Woman Schema and Mental Health: Examining the Role of Personal Mastery

Martinque K Jones 1, Tanisha G Hill-Jarrett 2, Cassandre Jean-Ceide 1
PMCID: PMC12463415  NIHMSID: NIHMS2065985  PMID: 41020148

Abstract

Research has established a direct link between endorsement of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema and negative mental health outcomes. However, few have examined the factors that may explain this association. To address this gap in the literature, we examined personal mastery as a mediator of the relationship between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes in a sample of 135 Black women. We also investigated this mediational pathway among subcomponents of the SBW schema: emotional strength, independence, and caretaking. We found that personal mastery mediated the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes: greater endorsement of the SBW schema was associated with lower mastery, and subsequently more anxiety and depressive symptoms. We identified a similar pattern of results when testing two SBW schema subcomponents: emotional strength and caretaking. Study findings further evidence the deleterious impact of the SBW schema on Black women’s mental health, while illuminating one explanatory factor in this relationship—personal mastery. We conclude by discussing areas for future research and practice with Black women.

Keywords: strong Black woman schema, personal mastery, depression, anxiety

The Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema is a widely accepted gendered-racial archetype of Black womanhood that is traditionally characterized by emotional strength, independence, and caregiving at the expense of one’s own self-care (Woods-Giscombé, 2010). Though revered by Black women, there is a growing body of research that shows that Black women’s endorsement of the SBW schema is associated with a range of psychological consequences, including poorer mental health (e.g., anxiety and depression—Donovan & West, 2015) and delayed help-seeking (Black & Woods-Giscombé, 2012; Nelson et al., 2020; Watson & Hunter, 2015). Although poor coping has been identified as an explanatory factor in this relationship (Abrams et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2021; Watson-Singleton, 2017), few have examined additional factors that may influence the mobilization of specific coping strategies among strong Black women. That said, the current study advances research on this topic through its investigation of personal mastery, an individual’s sense of control over their circumstances and critical resource for the mobilization of adaptive coping (Pearlin et al., 1990; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978), as a factor that may also explain the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes.

Strong Black Woman Schema & Mental Health

Historically, the image of the strong Black woman was one of several gendered-racial stereotypes (e.g., Mammy; West, 1995) that has been used to justify the subjugation and mistreatment of Black women (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2003). This image characterizes Black women as possessing inhuman emotional fortitude and physical strength, and thus able to withstand mistreatment. In modern times, Black women have re-appropriated this image, oftentimes proudly accepting the label “strong Black woman” as homage to their ability to persevere at home and in the workplace, despite daily incivilities. This re-appropriated image is what scholars refer to as the SBW schema (Woods-Giscombé, 2010).

The SBW schema is a gendered-racial archetype characterized by three main features: emotional strength—being able to withstand emotional suffering without complaint or recourse, independence—being self-sufficient, and caregiving—caring for others, often at the expense of one’s own self-care (Woods-Giscombé, 2010). As a schema, it serves as a script for how Black womanhood may be enacted and a lens by which Black women interpret and respond to gendered and racial experiences. Therefore, the schema is widely accepted and relevant across groups of Black women—women who vary in age (Baker et al., 2015), ethnicity (Graham & Clarke, 2021; Jackson & Naidoo, 2012), and even social class (Dow, 2015).

The acceptance of the SBW schema (Jones et al., 2021) is paradoxical considering research showing that endorsement of the schema is associated with negative mental health outcomes among Black women. For instance, studies have reported that greater endorsement of the SBW schema was related to greater symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress among Black women (e.g., Donovan & West, 2015; Watson & Hunter, 2015). Further, a qualitative study of Black women’s perspectives on the schema revealed that Black women participants associated strength with worse mental health. Women in the study specifically related being strong with feeling like they could not seek help when in need and the belief they must sustain and cope with immense emotional trauma (West et al., 2016).

Though studies show a direct link between the endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes (for a full review, see Davis & Jones, 2021; Thomas et al., 2022), additional studies have sought to expand our understanding by investigating the mechanisms explaining this association. Studies of this type have primarily focused on coping, or how women tend to respond and adjust to the demands of life stressors. These studies show greater endorsement of the SBW schema is associated with less adaptive coping, which is related to greater distress among Black women (e.g., Abrams et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2021; Liao et al., 2020; Watson-Singleton, 2017). For example, one study suggested endorsement of the SBW schema may compromise women’s ability to effectively engage their social support networks (Watson-Singleton, 2017), whereas two others showed that women who more strongly endorsed the schema tended to minimally acknowledge and cope with difficult emotions (Abrams et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2021). Researchers propose that the expectations set by the SBW schema may contribute to women minimizing their emotions, being hesitant to share their emotional experiences, and not soliciting support from others.

Although the role of coping has been relatively established, this body of work is limited. The studies referenced are the few available that have empirically examined the role of coping in the SBW schema-mental health link and suggest that coping has an effect, albeit small, on strong Black woman’s mental health. Moreover, other factors that may influence Black women’s potential for adaptive coping have been minimally explored. For these reasons, there is not only a need to conduct additional research on this topic, but also examine adjacent concepts, like personal mastery, that may predict Black women’s mobilization of coping.

The Role of Personal Mastery

Personal mastery is defined as a global sense of control or the belief that one has control over life circumstances (Pearlin et al., 1990; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). This construct taps into individuals’ subjective, prospective, and global beliefs about their ability to manage their environment. In relation to coping, personal mastery is considered to be a coping resource or characteristic that individuals may draw upon when facing life stressors (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978; Thoits, 1995). Skinner and Zimmer-Gembeck (2011) argue that perceptions of control influence how people appraise and plan to address stressors and note “it is the conduit by which objective control conditions shape coping” (p. 39).

Personal mastery is theorized to influence how individuals cope in two primary ways. First, according to Lazarus and Folkman’s (1984) transactional stress model, those who more positively appraise their ability to cope with a stressor (i.e., have greater sense of personal mastery) may experience a reduced response to stress. For instance, in their investigation of discrimination and depressive symptoms among Black women, Keith and colleagues (2010) found a direct association between discrimination and depressive symptoms that was mediated by personal mastery; women who experienced more discrimination reported more depressive symptoms, in part, because instances of mistreatment undermined their perceived ability to manage stress (lowered personal mastery), leaving them feeling defeated and distressed. Second, those with a higher level of mastery may view their mental health as manageable, and thus actively engage in behaviors that enhance their wellness. Related to this premise are the results of a study investigating race-related factors influencing help-seeking among Black men. Similar to Keith and colleagues (2010), the researchers found that Black men who experienced more racial discrimination endorsed lower levels of personal mastery, and subsequently indicated more barriers to help-seeking (Powell et al., 2016). However, they also found high personal mastery was associated with greater levels of high effort coping, and specifically John Henryism. The latter finding may suggest that if personal mastery were enhanced it may contribute to more positive mental health behaviors, like active coping (Powell et al., 2016), at least in the short term (Robinson & Thomas Tobin, 2021). Though personal mastery is a critical psychological resource for Black men and women, one scholar argued that personal mastery may be especially protective for Black women since they may not experience the “stronger effects of structural racism” facing Black men (Assari, 2019, p. 4), though the authors did not specify the forms of “structural racism” they were referring to. That said, we assert that it is equally, if not more plausible, that personal mastery is bolstered and reinforced in Black women, especially strong Black women, in ways distinct from Black men.

Strong Black Woman Schema & Personal Mastery

Few have examined the potential connections between endorsement of the SBW schema and personal mastery, yet there are strong conceptual linkages between the two. Many of the socialization messages directed to young Black women and girls encourage them to embody the SBW schema and, in sum, harbor a high level of personal mastery. To facilitate their navigation of racism and sexism in society, young Black women and girls are socialized to be independent, embody confidence, and work harder than anyone else (Brown et al., 2017; Sharp & Ispa, 2009). For some Black women, the internalization of these messages and the subsequent embodiment of the SBW schema is associated with increased confidence and self-efficacy to manage life stressors (Watson & Hunter, 2015; Woods-Giscombé, 2010). In fact, Black mothers have been found to have higher levels of personal mastery relative to mothers from other racial and ethnic groups, which researchers attribute to Black culture and specifically the cultural expectations placed on Black women to care for others, even with limited resources (Eshbaugh, 2009).

Though adaptive for Black women, potentially by enhancing their sense of personal mastery, Harris-Perry (2011) notes that the SBW schema is an “empowering image that can quickly become a prison” (p. 185). She explains that Black women endorsing the schema may attribute instances of racism and sexism to a lack of effort (e.g., “If I would have worked harder, I would not have experienced this mistreatment.”) or, said differently, believe that they have greater control over pervasive forms of societal oppression than they actually have. Therefore, high levels of personal mastery among strong Black women may be diminished when women are constantly faced with chronic stressors, like racism and sexism, that test or undermine their perceived imperviousness (e.g., Keith et al., 2010); the pervasive nature of these stressors may cause women to shift how they engage with them. Towards that end, studies show that Black women, because of the limited sense of control they have over instances of racism and sexism, tend cope in ways that allow them to self-protect and disengage from these stressors (e.g., denial, desensitization), but these coping strategies are, unfortunately, related to negative mental health outcomes (e.g., Jones et al., 2021; Lewis et al., 2013).

Purpose of the Study

Taken together, studies have established a strong empirical link between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes among Black women (Donovan & West, 2015; Harrington et al., 2010; Stanton et al., 2017; Watson & Hunter, 2015), and have shown particular coping styles, like disengagement, may explain this relationship (Abrams et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2021; Liao et al., 2020; Watson-Singleton, 2017): Black women who strongly endorse the SBW schema tend to engage in less adaptive coping strategies that, although self-protective, undermine their mental health. However, past researchers have understudied the potential effects of coping resources, like personal mastery, which have implications for instrumental action and mobilization of effective coping strategies (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Terry, 1991; Thoits, 1995). We assert that personal mastery is a critical variable to consider in understanding the link between endorsement of the SBW schema and mental health outcomes because it is a coping resource that can be intervened upon to reduce the deleterious consequences of the SBW schema on Black women’s mental health, and specifically the ways Black women cope. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to examine personal mastery as a variable potentially explaining the links between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes among Black women.

We tested the following hypotheses:

  1. Endorsement of the SBW schema will be directly associated with negative mental health outcomes, such that those who more strongly identify with the SBW schema will report greater symptoms of anxiety and depression.

  2. Personal mastery will mediate the direct association between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes, such that greater endorsement of the SBW schema will be associated with lower mastery, and consequently greater symptoms of anxiety and depression.

As an exploratory aim, we also examined the extent to which personal mastery may mediate the direct association between endorsement of subcomponents of the SBW schema (emotional strength, independence, and caregiving) and negative mental health outcomes, but did not make any directional hypotheses given the limited research on these subcomponents.

Method

Participants

The sample included 135 Black college women between the ages of 18 and 28 years old (Mage = 19.90, SD = 1.65 years). Women’s class standing was as follows: first year (n = 37; 27.4%), second year (n = 30; 22.2%), third year (n = 34; 25.2%), fourth year (n = 25; 18.5%), fifth year (n = 8; 5.9%), and sixth year or beyond (n = 1.7%). In terms of the marital and household composition, most participants reported that they were single (n = 97; 71.9%) and did not have children (n = 132; 97.8%). Most women reported their current work status as employed part-time (n = 89; 66.4%) or unemployed (n = 38; 28.4%). Women described their economic resources growing up using the following categories: very poor, not enough to get by (n = 3; 2.3%), barely enough to get by (n = 14; 10.9%), had enough to get by, but no extras (n = 34; 26.4%), had more than enough to get by (n = 41; 31.8%), well to do (n = 30; 23.3%), and extremely well to do (n = 7; 5.4%); six participants did not report on their economic resources.

Procedures

Participants for the study were recruited by two methods. First, undergraduate students were recruited from the psychology department subject pool at a university in the Midwestern region of the United States. Students received a description of the study and an invitation to participate in exchange for course credit. Participants were also recruited via an online advertisement distributed to Black student organizations and groups. All participants received an anonymous link to the Qualtrics online survey. Upon clicking the survey link, women were presented with an informed consent form and the survey instrument, which included measures assessing our variables of interest (i.e., SBW schema, personal mastery, and mental health), as well as mental health stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and racial identity. All of the measures were presented in the same order. The average completion time for the survey was less than 60 minutes. Participants were compensated either with course credit or a $25 gift card.

Measures

Demographic Questionnaire.

Demographic information included women’s age, place of birth, marital status and number of children, employment status, year in school, and socioeconomic status.

Strong Black Woman Schema.

The Strong Black Woman Archetype Scale (Woods, 2013) consists of 36 items that assess the extent to which a woman embodies characteristics and attitudes associated with the SBW schema. The scale is composed of three subscales that capture the defining features of the SBW schema: (a) Mask of Strength (14 items)-assesses emotional strength and women’s tendency to not share or discuss emotional vulnerabilities or negative emotions, (b) Self-Reliance (11 items)-assesses independence and women’s belief that they need to be self-sufficient, (c) Caretaking (11 items)-assesses caretaking and women’s belief that it is their responsibility to take care of others and put their needs before their own. Participants were instructed to respond to the survey items indicating the extent to which they endorse the aforesaid characteristics. Each item (e.g., Mask of Strength: “I find it difficult to ask others for help.” Self-Reliance: “Women of my race have to be strong to survive.” Caretaking: “I am often expected to take care of family members.”) was rated on a 7-point scale (1 = Strongly Disagree; 7 = Strongly Agree). Because we aimed to capture women’s endorsement of the SBW schema as an entire construct and its respective subcomponents, we scored the scale by summing item responses for the entire scale and within each subscale. Higher scores indicated greater endorsement of the SBW schema construct or specific schema subcomponents. The convergent validity of scores on the scale have been supported by its associations with other scales measuring the strong Black woman concept, such as the Stereotypical Roles of Black Women Scale-Superwoman Scale (Thomas et al., 2004) and Strong Black Woman Cultural Construct Scale (Hamin, 2008). Reported Cronbach’s alphas for this scale have ranged from .77 to .92 (Woods, 2013). In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was .92. The Cronbach’s alpha for the subscales were as follows: Mask of Strength α = .85, Self-reliance and Strength α = .89, and Caretaking α = .86.

Personal Mastery.

The Pearlin Mastery Scale (PMS; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) includes 7 items that assess the extent to which an individual feels confident in their ability to control their life. Participants were instructed to rate the extent to which they agree with a series of statements (e.g., “I can do just about anything I really set my mind to”) using a 4-point scale (1 = Strongly Disagree; 4 = Strongly Agree). The scale was scored by calculating the mean of item responses, with higher scores representing higher mastery. Although further study on the psychometric properties of this scale is necessary, its validity has been demonstrated in studies showing the scale’s factorial consistency and its association with scales measuring other mental health outcomes, like depression (Lim et al., 2022). Studies using this scale with Black Americans reported Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .72 to .77 (Mizell, 1999; Uzogara & Jackson, 2016). In the current study, Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was .77.

Mental Health Outcomes.

The Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1982) is a 53-item scale that serves as a screener tool for psychological disorders. In the current study, we used the Anxiety (6 items) and Depression (5 items) subscales to assess for symptoms associated with these two mental health outcomes. Participants were asked to respond to statements based on the extent to which they experienced symptoms of distress in the past seven days on a scale of 1 = Not at all to 5 = Extremely. Example statements include, “Nervousness or shaky inside” (Anxiety) and “Feeling lonely” (Depression). Scores were calculated by summing the items responses within each subscale, with higher scores indicating greater symptoms of distress and, overall, poorer mental health. The convergent validity of the scale has been established by its associations with scales measuring symptoms of psychological distress, such as the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised scale (Derogatis & Unger, 2010). With a sample of Black Americans, scores of the BSI-18 have shown to be reliable (α = .91; Utsey & Hook, 2007). In the current study, Cronbach’s alphas were as follows: Anxiety (α = .84) and Depression (α = .85).

Results

Data Cleaning

Analysis of the patterns of missing data revealed that fewer than 1.91% of all items for all cases were missing. Considering individual cases, approximately 90.37% of participants had no missing data, and 98.45% of items had no missing data across cases. No item had more than 4.40% missing values. Though the amount of missing data was small, Little’s MCAR test was significant and indicated that data were not missing completely at random, χ2(1293) = 1383.78, p = .039. Considering this, missing data were handled using maximum likelihood imputation (Little & Rubin, 2019), an appropriate technique when data are not missing completely at random (Schlomer et al., 2010). We imputed items for three scales: Strong Black Woman Archetype Scale (Woods, 2013), Pearlin Mastery Scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) and Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1982). Once the data were imputed, we assessed for outliers, skewness, and kurtosis (Hair et al., 2022; Iglewicz & Hoaglin, 1987). Outliers were defined as values that exceeded ±3.0 standard deviations from the mean. Normality of the residuals for outcome variables (anxiety and depression) were tested, and both variables had residual distributions that were right skewed. To address this non-normality, anxiety and depression variables were log10 transformed, which is appropriate when the data are skewed this direction. Regression results are reported with log transformed data with the exception of the mediation analyses that included bootstrapped samples as this approach is robust to violations of normality (Mooney et al., 1993). Before we performed our mediation analyses, we conducted a power analysis that established we had adequate sample size (N ≥123) to proceed using an alpha value of .05, power of .80, and medium effect size estimate (f2 = .15; Cohen, 1992; Faul & Erdfelder, 1992). Then, we conducted our mediation analyses using bootstrapping estimates generated based on 5000 resamples to define the 95% confidence interval, and determined significant effects based on confidence intervals of the indirect effect that did not include zero.

Preliminary Analyses

We first explored survey responses by reviewing descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, standard deviation; see Table 1). Then, we conducted a series of bivariate correlations to examine the associations between key variables, and specifically to assess for covariates. Our results showed that there was a significant association between socioeconomic status and depression, so we controlled for socioeconomic status in the subsequent analyses that included depression as the outcome. For the correlational and linear regression analyses, we used a Bonferroni adjusted p-value of .01 (.05/5 primary comparisons) to correct for multiple comparisons. In terms of mean level endorsement of our key variables, participants reported moderate endorsement of the SBW schema (M = 4.80 [of 7.00], SD = .81), moderate to high levels of personal mastery (M = 3.17 [of 4.00], SD = .57), and low levels of anxiety (M = 8.96 [of 30.00], SD = 4.13) and depressive symptoms (M = 8.71 [of 25.00], SD = 4.27). Based on our adjusted p-value, our preliminary analysis indicated that endorsement of the SBW schema was not correlated with symptoms of anxiety (r = .19, p = .027), but was positively correlated with depression (r = .39, p <. 001). However, this pattern of results differed across subcomponents of the SBW schema. Mask of Strength (emotional strength) and Caretaking (caregiving) were positively correlated with anxiety and depressive symptoms (r = .23 - .43, p = .007 - .001), whereas Self-Reliance (independence) was not associated with these mental health outcomes.

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics and Intercorrelations for Key Variables (N = 135).

Variable Range α M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Age 18.00–28.00 -- 19.90 1.65 --
2. SBW schema 2.69–6.72 .92 4.80 .81 −.03 --
3. Mask of strength 1.79–6.64 .85 4.44 1.00 −.02 .88* --
4. Self-reliance 3.11–7.00 .89 5.72 .93 −.08 .70* .42* --
5. Caretaking 1.00–6.82 .86 4.34 1.05 .01 .83* .64* .36* --
6. Personal mastery 1.43–4.00 .77 3.17 .57 .00 −.20 −.24* .14 −.32* --
7. Anxiety 6.00–24.00 .84 8.96 4.13 −.02 .19 .23* −.14 .32* .40* --
8. Depression 6.00–23.00 .85 8.71 4.27 −.03 .39* .43* .08 .39* .50* .69* --
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Note. SBW, Strong Black woman schema.

*

p ≤ .01.

Primary Analyses: Linear Regression and Mediation

To test our first hypothesis, we conducted a simple linear regression controlling for socioeconomic status where appropriate. We found that endorsement of the SBW schema significantly predicted depressive symptoms, β = .45, t(110) = 5.21, p < .001, but not anxiety symptoms, β = .19, t(133) = 2.18, p = .031. And, endorsement of the SBW schema explained a significant proportion of the variance in depressive symptoms (R2 = .22, F(2, 110) = 15.57, p < .001). Therefore, in partial support of our first hypothesis, greater endorsement of the SBW schema was associated with greater symptoms of depression.

As it pertains to our second hypothesis, we used PROCESS Model 4 (Hayes, 2018) to test personal mastery as a mediator in the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and anxiety and depressive symptoms, separately. We included socioeconomic status as a covariate when testing the mediational model with depression as the outcome. In support of our second hypothesis, we found that personal mastery mediated the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and anxiety. More specifically, greater endorsement of the SBW schema predicted lower levels of personal mastery, which in turn, was associated with higher levels of anxiety (ab = .08, SE = .04, 95% CI [.01, .17]) (see Table 2, Figure 1). We also found that personal mastery mediated the relationship between endorsement of the SBW schema and depression; women who endorsed the SBW schema at higher levels had lower personal mastery, which was associated with greater symptoms of depression (ab = .08, SE = .04, 95% CI [.01, .16]) (See Table 3, Figure 2).

Table 2.

Coefficients for the Anxiety Mediation Model.

Consequent
M (personal Mastery) Y (Anxiety)
Antecedent Coeff. SE p Coeff. SE p
X (SBW schema) a −.24 .06 .006 c’ .13 .46 .148
M (personal mastery) - - - b −.34 .66 <.001
Constant i M 4.02 .30 <.001 i y 13.92 3.43 <.001
R2 =.06 R2 = .15
F(1, 124) = 7.79 F(2,123) = 10.73
p =.006 p <.001
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Note. Reported coefficients are standardized. Refer to Figure 1 for a visualization of this mediation model.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Personal mastery as a mediator of the relationship between the SBW Schema and anxiety. Note. Standardized regression coefficients for the relationship between endorsement of the SBW schema and anxiety symptoms as mediated by personal mastery. SBW schema endorsement significantly predicted personal mastery (a = −.24); personal mastery significantly predicted anxiety symptoms (b = −.34); the effect of SBW schema endorsement on anxiety symptoms was significantly mediated by personal mastery (ab = .08). N = 126. *p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01 ***p ≤ .001.

Table 3.

Coefficients for the Depression Mediation Model With Social Class as a Covariate.

Consequent
M (personal Mastery) Y (Depression)
Antecedent Coeff. SE p Coeff. SE p
X (SBW schema) a −.23 .06 .010 c’ .33 .41 <.001
M (personal mastery) - - - b −.36 .62 <.001
C (social class) f .19 .04 .029 g −.04 .28 .646
Constant i M 3.61 .33 <.001 i y 9.41 3.18 .004
R2 =.09 R2 = .30
F(2, 119) = 6.14 F(3,118) = 16.87
p =.003 p < .001
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Note. Reported coefficients are standardized. Refer to Figure 2 for a visualization of the mediation model.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

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Personal mastery as a mediator of the relationship between the sbw schema and depression. Note. Standardized regression coefficients for the relationship between endorsement of the SBW schema and depressive symptoms as mediated by personal mastery with social class as a covariate. SBW schema endorsement significantly predicted personal mastery (a = −.23); personal mastery significantly predicted depressive symptoms (b = −.36); the effect of SBW schema endorsement on depressive symptoms was significantly mediated by personal mastery (ab = .08). N = 122. *p ≤ .05. **p ≤ .01 ***p ≤ .001.

To test our third and exploratory hypothesis, we used PROCESS Model 4 (Hayes, 2018) to assess whether personal mastery mediated the association between SBW schema subcomponents (i.e., emotional strength, independence, and caregiving) and mental health outcomes. We found that Mask of Strength (emotional strength) and Caretaking (caregiving) were associated with increased anxiety through their relationship with personal mastery (Mask of Strength: ab = .09, SE = .04, 95% CI [.02, .18]; Caretaking: ab = .10, SE = .04, 95% CI [.03, .19]). Higher scores on the Mask of Strength (emotional strength) and Caretaking (caregiving) subscales predicted lower personal mastery, which was associated with greater anxiety symptoms. In contrast, this mediational pathway was not significant for Self-Reliance (independence) (ab = −.02, SE = .03, 95% CI [−.09, .05]).

Last, we tested whether personal mastery mediated the association between SBW schema subcomponents and depressive symptoms. We found that personal mastery was a mediator for two models (Mask of Strength: ab = .09, SE = .04, 95% CI [.02, .17] and Caretaking: ab = .11, SE = .04, 95% CI [.03, .19]). The directional pattern observed for each subcomponent and its relationship to anxiety symptoms was correspondingly observed for depression symptoms. Specifically, higher scores on Mask of Strength (emotional strength) and Caregiving (caregiving) subscales predicted lower personal mastery and more symptoms of depression. This mediational pathway was not significant for Self-Reliance (independence) (ab = −.03, SE = .04, 95% CI [−.12, .05]).

Discussion

The current study sought to advance our understanding of the factors that may explain the association between the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes through an investigation of personal mastery. As hypothesized, we found greater endorsement of the SBW schema and specific schema subcomponents were related to lower levels of personal mastery, and subsequently greater anxiety and depression symptoms. What this practically suggests is that Black women who internalize traditional notions of strong Black womanhood may be limited in their access to important resources for effective coping and optimal mental health. In the following paragraphs, we detail our study findings and conclude by discussing areas for future research and implications for clinical practice with Black women.

Previous studies show women who strongly endorse the SBW schema tend to report more negative mental health outcomes (e.g., Donovan & West, 2015; Watson & Hunter, 2015), and this was mirrored in our current study, thereby conferring the negative implications of the SBW schema. However, the current study is distinct and builds upon past works because it is one of a handful of published studies examining the relation between the endorsement of the SBW schema with anxiety and depression symptoms (for exceptions, see Castelin & White, 2022; Liao et al., 2020) and one of the only to make such linkages between endorsement of SBW schema subcomponents (emotional strength, independence, and caregiving) and these two mental health outcomes. Anxiety and depression are prevalent and chronic among Black women (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010; Himle et al., 2009; Lacey et al., 2015). Although both conditions may be difficult to detect and intervene upon in strong Black women, anxiety, relative to depression, may be particularly challenging. For instance, moderate or severe depression may manifest in ways that conflict with the SBW schema (e.g., emotional lability [crying], decreased ability to independently care for oneself and others, and a lack of confidence or self-criticism; Perez et al., 2022) and these symptoms may be easily detectable by strong Black women and those around them. On the other hand, anxiety may be less easily discernible because anxious behaviors may align with the performance of strength (e.g., harboring fears of negative evaluation and then overperforming) and these behaviors are often reinforced, or even expected, by others. For these reasons, existing instruments used to assess anxiety may not adequately capture manifestations of anxiety in Black women (e.g., feelings of overwhelm from managing insurmountable responsibilities or stress resulting from limited support; Neal-Barnett et al., 2011). Also, the differences in the nature and consequences associated with anxiety and depression may explain why our results showed endorsement of the schema predicted depression, but not anxiety symptoms. Nevertheless, study results signify the costly performance of strength and its connections to negative mental health outcomes.

Results of our mediation also complement previous scholarship, thereby suggesting coping, and related constructs, like personal mastery, may further explain the negative psychological consequences associated with the SBW schema (Abrams et al., 2019; Jones et al., 2021; Liao et al., 2020; Watson-Singleton, 2017). We found that personal mastery mediated the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and anxiety and depressive symptoms. In both instances, the effects of personal mastery were small, but were comparable to the effects reported in previous studies (Abrams et al., 2019; Watson-Singleton, 2017). Altogether, the results showed that greater endorsement of the SBW schema was associated with lower levels of personal mastery, and in turn, greater anxiety and depressive symptoms.

The fact that greater endorsement of the SBW schema predicted lower personal mastery among women in the current study highlights one of the greatest myths associated with the SBW schema: being a strong Black woman is protective. Often Black women are given messages related to strength and strong Black womanhood that are intended to fortify and “armor” them from the ills of society (e.g., Bell & Nkomo, 1998). However, our study results indicate the embodiment of SBW schema, at least how it is traditionally defined, may not actually translate into a greater sense of personal mastery among Black women. It may be the case that Black women are socialized in ways that may predispose them to feeling confident and well-equipped to manage life’s stressors (or having high levels of personal mastery) (e.g., Brown et al., 2017; Jones et al., 2024), but instances of identity-based mistreatment may diminish their perceived mastery (Keith et al., 2010; Muruthi et al., 2022). Occurrences of identity-based mistreatment, like gendered racism, are pervasive in Black women’s lives (Jones et al., 2022; Lewis et al., 2017). More frequent experiences of oppression may erode women’s sense of mastery (e.g., Keith et al., 2010), thereby illuminating the aspects of their lives that are outside of their control, like people’s negative biases and systems of oppression. Therefore, it is important to examine personal mastery in context, considering how societal factors, like racism and sexism, may influence personal mastery among individuals from marginalized groups.

Our results also suggest that personal mastery may be one additional factor that provides insight as to why Black women’s enactment of strong Black womanhood is associated with negative mental health outcomes. Although we did not assess for coping style, it is likely that personal mastery predicts negative outcomes through its impact on coping, such that those with lower levels of mastery engage in more maladaptive coping behaviors that contribute to negative mental health (e.g., Boals et al., 2011). In these instances, individuals with low mastery may feel ill-equipped or have limited emotional resources to deal with stressors and may engage in avoidance; this pattern may be especially relevant for strong Black women who contend with many stressors and may have limited emotional resources to cope due to the frequency at which their identities are assailed (e.g., Jones et al., 2022).

We identified a similar pattern of results when examining the endorsement of two SBW schema subcomponents (i.e., emotional strength and caregiving), such that greater alignment with these two subcomponents tended to take a toll on women’s sense of mastery and their mental health. We surmise that because emotional stoicism may lead women to deny or minimize life stressors, strong Black women may have fewer opportunities to build coping efficacy simply because they are not acknowledging their stressors. Further, limited coping efficacy may be a threat to high personal mastery. As for caregiving, Black women’s sense of personal mastery may be diminished as a result of multiple and unrelenting caregiving expectations, tasks, and roles (e.g., Baker et al., 2015; Samuel-Hodge et al., 2000). In contrast, personal mastery did not mediate the association between independence and mental health outcomes, nor was there an association between independence and these outcomes. This was an unexpected finding considering past research showing how strong Black womanhood, and specifically expectations to be independent, may contribute to a sense of self-efficacy among Black women (e.g., Watson & Hunter, 2015). We suspect that there may be both methodological and statistical explanations for this result. Methodologically, items comprising the Self-reliance subscale were positively (or at least neutrally) valanced (e.g., “The women in my family are survivors”), whereas all but two of the Personal Mastery Scale items were negative (“I have little control over the things that happen to me”). Therefore, even though these constructs may appear to be conceptually linked, women may have been more forthcoming when responding to the positive items compared to the negative items, which may explain why these scales did not relate in the way we expected. Further support for this assertion is an item analysis that showed 8 of the 11 items on the Self-reliance subscale were positively correlated with the two positively worded items, but not the negatively worded items, in the Personal Mastery Scale. Relatedly, we suspect there was a ceiling effect with the Self-Reliance subscale that contributed to us having reduced variability in our dataset and, in turn, less power to detect meaningful connections between independence and personal mastery. In all, these results highlight how different components of the SBW schema have differing effects on Black women, and highlight the importance of understanding the impacts of the schema in its aggregate and disaggregate forms.

Limitations

Conclusions derived from the current study must be considered in light of its limitations. First, study results have limited generalizability because they are based on a relatively homogenous sample of Black college women who were recruited from either the psychology subject pool or their broader campus community. Because of the archival nature of the dataset, which did not include a variable denoting recruitment site, we were unable to make comparisons between two recruitment sites. It is possible, though unlikely based on past studies (Harrington et al., 2010; Woods, 2013), that women recruited from the psychology subject pool may perceive or endorse the SBW schema differently from other women. As it pertains to their demographics, a majority of the women sampled identified as single and without children. Although the SBW schema is similarly endorsed across groups of Black women (Harrington et al., 2010), it is also the case that specific subcomponents of the schema, like caregiving, may have a greater bearing on the mental health of women who are partnered or with children (e.g., Baker et al., 2015; Nelson et al., 2016). Second, and also because we used an archival dataset, we were limited in terms of what variables were available and how they were measured. For instance, we focused on personal mastery and measured this construct using the Pearlin Mastery Scale (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). Though this scale has been shown to correlate with several psychological outcomes, there are few studies that attests to its validity (for an exception see, Lim et al., 2022), and more specifically its construct validity with Black people, nor Black women. Additionally, because the study measures were presented in the same order, there is the risk of an order effect (Strack, 1992) in that women’s responses to questions about the SBW schema may have influenced how they rated their level of mastery and mental health.

Future Directions

The results of the current study illuminate several potential areas for future research. First, there is a need for researchers to explore how the SBW schema is experienced differently across subgroups of Black women (e.g., Black women representing various age or ethnic groups) and consider how the SBW schema-mental distress link may differ across these groups. Although quantitative studies suggest that the SBW schema is experienced similarly across Black women (Harrington et al., 2010), there are qualitative reports that show perceptions and experiences of strong Black womanhood may vary based on age (Bailey, 2018; Baker et al., 2015), marital status (Nelson et al., 2016), and social class (Dow, 2015). It may be the case that women who are older, married, or of a lower-class background and hold themselves to the expectations of the SBW schema may have boundless caregiving responsibilities (e.g., caring for a family with or without a partner) and this may contribute to negative mental health outcomes.

Second, because we were only able to hypothesize about how discrimination targeting strong Black women may impact their levels of personal mastery and mental health, future research may consider building upon past studies (Keith et al., 2010; Powell et al., 2016) and empirically testing this hypothesis. Studies of this type may include measures of mastery that have greater levels of psychometric support (for a review of measures, see Brady, 2003), as well as an assessment of gendered racism, and explore longitudinally whether experiences of identity-based mistreatment diminish personal mastery among strong Black women over time.

The majority of past studies have focused on the negative effects of the SBW schema on Black women’s mental and physical health (e.g., Abrams et al., 2019; Black & Woods-Giscombé, 2012; Liao et al., 2020). However, it is equally important that future researchers investigate how the SBW schema may translate into positive outcomes, like self-esteem or self-care (Adkins-Jackson et al., 2022; Watson & Hunter, 2015; Woods-Giscombé, 2010). Advances in this area will not only help researchers and practitioners understand the nuances of the SBW schema among Black women (Watson & Hunter, 2015), but also push against the tendency to pathologize this, not necessarily protective, but rather functional (Davis & Jones, 2021), aspect of Black womanhood.

Practice Implications

Study findings have implications for mental health practitioners working to support Black women’s wellness. Because of the damaging psychological effects associated with endorsing the SBW schema, mental health practitioners working with Black women may consider interventions that challenge women to explore their perceptions of strong Black womanhood. Interventions may include querying women about how they define strong Black womanhood and working with them to shift their beliefs about strength from what has been shown to be psychologically harmful to what may be beneficial (e.g., emotional silencing → emotional vulnerability). Additionally, practitioners may support women in critically reflecting on the messages they received about strong Black womanhood that may influence their sense of mastery (e.g., messages emphasizing to young Black women and girls that they are “Black girl magic” and can rely solely on themselves for all their needs; Adams-Bass et al., 2020) and directly assessing women’s level of mastery. In instances when mastery is low or waning, mental health practitioners may think of ways to bolster and fortify mastery in Black women clients; this may include asking women to consider the extent to which they believe they have control over life stressors and supporting women in having a full and accurate view of what may be within their control. For instance, if a woman is dealing with microaggressions from coworkers, a practitioner may empower her to confront the coworker who inflicted the microaggression, while reinforcing to her that uprooting systemic racism in her workplace is a goal she cannot achieve single-handedly as a “strong” Black woman. With an accurate sense of what can be controlled and changed, Black women may begin to allocate their psychological resources accordingly, thereby making choices and investing in situations and people that enhance their mental health. The stated intervention strategies are aimed at helping practitioners support Black women in sustaining in spite of gendered racism, but they do little in terms of minimizing the pervasive nature of this form of oppression on Black women (e.g., expectations placed on Black women by others to be strong or marginalizing spaces that necessitate a strong stance). That said, it is paramount that effort be placed on ameliorating the systemic and societal forces that contribute to the marginalization of Black women. With such efforts, Black women will have even greater agency to engage strong Black womanhood in new and novel ways.

Conclusion

In sum, findings derived from the current investigation add depth to our understanding of the association between endorsement of the SBW schema and negative mental health outcomes among Black women, and suggest that personal mastery (or limited coping resources) may be an explanatory factor in this relationship. Although findings further confirm the negative effects of the SBW schema on Black women’s mental health, we also recognize that the SBW schema is linked to some psychosocial benefits (Watson & Hunter, 2016; Woods-Giscombé, 2010). To that end, we encourage researchers, practitioners, and others to recognize that the SBW schema is not all good, nor all bad, but it is functional, meaning that in some instances and contexts embodying the SBW schema facilitates Black women’s survival (Davis & Jones, 2021; Watson & Hunter, 2015). In consideration of its functionality, researchers and practitioners must seek to support women in leveraging strength in a way that eliminates its damaging effects and optimizes its benefits for Black women’s wellness.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Kathryn Conner for her assistance in preparing this manuscript for publication.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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