Superwoman schema

Uncovering repercussions of coping strategies used among Black women at high risk for HIV

Bibliographic Data

ID12554644
AuthorsGabrielle McDaniel (Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA), Shalom Akinwunmi (Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA), Velta Brenya (Department of Sociology & Health and Society, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA), Heran Kidane (0000-0002-1973-7163, Department of Kinesiology & Health Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA), Liesl A Nydegger (0000-0003-3035-3125, Department of Kinesiology & Health Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume28
Issue6
Pages874-894
Publication date2023-02-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnicity and Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1355-7858 • E-ISSN: 1465-3419
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13557858.2023.2179570
PMID36824000
OpenAlexW4321749108
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited50

The Superwomen Schema (SWS) describes a social framework that encompasses the role that many Black women adopt in response to chronic stress, financial pressures, and an intersection of oppression. Woods-Giscombé (Superwoman Schema: African American Women's Views on Stress, Strength, and Health. Qualitative Health Research 20 (5): 668-683, 2010) characterizes SWS using five tenets: obligation to manifest strength, obligation to suppress emotions, resistance to vulnerability or dependency, determination to succeed despite a lack of resources, and an obligation to help others. The goal of this study is to determine the connection between SWS among Black women and substance use as a means of maintaining mental health, garnering resilience, and coping with external pressures. We aimed to highlight systemic and infrastructural racism and prejudice and how they relate, not only to the adoption of SWS, but also how they may contribute to substance use. This study is a secondary analysis of a larger study on HIV prevention Black and Latine women at high risk for HIV. Only Black participants (n = 10) were included in this secondary analysis. The interviews were conducted 3 times across 3 months. Interviews were coded and analyzed using thematic content analysis in NVivo. Themes of undiagnosed mental health symptoms, medical mistrust, institutional distrust, and aversion to help-seeking were recurrent in our data. Our research confirmed and assessed dual repercussions of SWS among Black women both as a defense that granted resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and as a construct that encouraged substance use as a coping mechanism for compromised mental health. This study contextualized this subset of coping and substance use to address and dismantle systemic contributors

Coping (psychology · Developmental psychology · Mental health · Obligation · Political science · Psychiatry · Qualitative research · Schema (genetic algorithms · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Clinical Psychology · Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations · Migration, Health and Trauma · Psychology · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research · Social Psychology

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