Superwoman Schema: African American Women’s Views on Stress, Strength, and Health

By Cheryl L. Woods-Giscombe. Qualitative Health Research, 2010

727 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Researchers have suggested that health disparities in African American women, including adverse birth outcomes, lupus, obesity, and untreated depression, can be explained by stress and coping. The Strong Black Woman/Superwoman role has been highlighted as a phenomenon influencing African American women’s experiences and reports of stress. The purpose of this study was to develop a preliminary conceptual framework for Superwoman Schema (SWS) by exploring women’s descriptions of the Superwoman role; perceptions of contextual factors, benefits, and liabilities; and beliefs regarding how it influences health. Analysis of eight focus group discussions with demographically diverse African American women yielded themes characterizing the Superwoman role and personal or sociohistorical contextual factors. Participants reported that the Superwoman role had benefits (preservation of self and family or community) and liabilities (relationship strain, stress-related health behaviors, and stress embodiment). The SWS framework might be used to enhance future research on stress and African American women’s health.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Pharmacy, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4bbbb340d9b1465c009e92cd952a80cc695a63a6

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Citations in the corpus

Rethinking Strength (2016, background): “One alternative, well-known image that has received widespread attention is the strong Black woman (SBW) or superwoman role (BeauboeufLafontant, 2005, 2007, 2009; Gillespie, 1984; Wallace, 1990; Woods-Giscombé, 2010).”
Gendered Racism, Coping, Identity Centrality, and African American College Women’s Psychological Distress (2016, background): “Specifically, African American women are often socialized to be strong, resilient, and self-sufficient in the face of adversity due to the stereotypes of the strong Black woman (Lewis & Neville, 2015; Thomas et al., 2008; Woods-Giscombé, 2010; Woods-Giscombé & Black, 2010).”
“I Had To Be Strong” (2016, methodology): “Email: watson26@illinois.edu common terms have been used to describe the SBW: mask (Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2003; Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2007), ideology (Harrington, Crowther, & Shipherd, 2010), schema (Woods-Giscombé, 2010), and script (Black & Peacock, 2011).”
Marked Personas: Using Natural Language Prompts to Measure Stereotypes in Language Models (2023, background): “This seemingly positive narrative has been associated with debilitating effects: the notion of the Strong Black Woman has been linked to psychological distress, poor health outcomes, and suicidal behaviors (Woods-Giscombé, 2010; Nelson et al., 2016; Castelin and White, 2022).”
The Misunderstood Schema of the Strong Black Woman: Exploring Its Mental Health Consequences and Coping Responses Among African American Women (2020, background): “The majority of extant studies that support the link between the SBW schema and negative health outcomes are qualitative studies (e.g., Beauboeuf-Lafontant, 2009; Romero, 2000; Woods-Giscombé, 2010), which can offer unique contributions.”
Strong Black Woman Schema and Psychological Distress: The Mediating Role of Perceived Emotional Support (2017, background): “SBW schema encompasses both cognitive characteristics and stress-coping behaviors, like emotional suppression, self-reliance, and caregiving (Nelson, Cardemil, & Adeoye, 2016; Woods-Giscombé, 2010).”
Stress and Mental Health (2015, background): “This likelihood, however, is somewhat mitigated by previous qualitative findings suggesting that SBW is highly internalized among Black women (BeauboeufLafontant, 2009; Romero, 2000; Shorter-Gooden & Washington, 1996; Woods-Giscombé, 2010).”