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Do Resilience and Social Support Moderate the Association between Race-Related Stress on Black Women’s Reports of Trauma Symptoms?

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Abstract

Black women uniquely experience a myriad of intersecting oppressions along with racial discrimination that increases their vulnerability to trauma. Experiences of racial discrimination manifest as race-related stress, or worse an emotional wound, race-related trauma. Protective factors that facilitate coping for black women are resilience and social support. Under investigation were black women’s experiences of racial stress, specifically, perseverative cognition (PC) and anticipatory race-related stress (ARRS), and trauma symptoms. PC and ARRS derive from the Prolonged Activation and Anticipatory Race-Related Stress Scale. The moderating effects of resilience and social support were also examined. Data were collected from 216 black female students at a Historically Black College or University. The findings indicate (1) PC was associated with higher trauma symptoms (ß = 4.46; p < .001); (2) ARSS was positively associated with trauma symptoms (ß = 4.82; p < .001); (3) Social support (ß = − 2.04; p < .001) and resilience (ß = − 2.80; p < .05) moderated the association between ARRS and trauma symptoms such that the association between racial stress and trauma symptoms was stronger under the condition of low social support and resilience. Treatment must include culturally relevant interventions and capitalize on protective factors to facilitate healing for black women.

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Fig. 1

Source: Gendered Racism and Well-Being Questionnaire, 2020–2021. Predicted values are based on Table 4, Model 4

Fig. 2

Source: Gendered Racism and Well-Being Questionnaire, 2020–2021. Predicted values are based on Table 4, Model 5

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Data Availability

Data is available upon request from the corresponding author and principal investigator Tiffany R. Williams.

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Funding

This manuscript and the work completed in preparation for this manuscript were supported by funding awarded to Tiffany R. Williams from the American Association of University Women for Postdoctoral Research Leave. This work was also supported, in part, by grant P2CHD042849 awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Erving). No other funding sources, grants, or financial agreements were used.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychological Sciences & Counseling, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Clay Hall 308CC, Nashville, TN, 37209, USA

    Tiffany R. Williams, Fanchen Gao, Taeja Mitchell, Claire Muwele, Reniece Martin & Dana Jennings

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Christy L. Erving

  3. Institute for Medicine and Public Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Miaya Blasingame

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Correspondence to Tiffany R. Williams.

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The original online version of this article was revised. In this article the title was incorrectly given as “Does Resilience and Social Support Moderate the Association Between Race-Related Stress Black Women’s Reports of Trauma Symptoms?” but should have been “Do Resilience and Social Support Moderate the Association Between Race-Related Stress on Black Women’s Reports of Trauma Symptoms?”

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Williams, T.R., Erving, C.L., Gao, F. et al. Do Resilience and Social Support Moderate the Association between Race-Related Stress on Black Women’s Reports of Trauma Symptoms?. Race Soc Probl 16, 198–210 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-023-09401-x

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