Rethinking the Superwoman Framework: New Study Highlights the Importance of Contextualizing Resilience for Black Women and Girls

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Bentley-Edwards, K. L., & Adams, V. N. (2024). I am not (your) superwoman, Black Girl Magic, or beautiful struggle: Rethinking the resilience of Black women and girls. American Psychologist, 79(8), 1036–1048.

Background
The study critically examines the concept of resilience in the lives of Black women and girls, scrutinizing the narratives of “Black Girl Magic” and the “Strong Black Woman” schemas. These frameworks, though celebrated, often glorify resilience and hardship, potentially undermining essential support systems and dismissing vulnerability. The authors argue that resilience for Black women and girls is too often perceived as a static trait rather than a dynamic, contextual process. Through an exploration of resilience frameworks and alternative approaches, the article calls for a nuanced understanding that includes the structural challenges impacting these individuals.

Theoretical Models and Findings
The authors leverage two primary models to dissect resilience:

  1. Luthar’s Resilience Framework: This model views resilience as a dynamic process that requires substantial adversity to warrant a resilience response. Luthar’s model is reframed here to challenge interpretations that overly focus on positive outcomes as validation of resilience, sometimes implying that success is derived from adversity itself. For Black women and girls, this model underscores the importance of situational factors and social contexts over individual “hardiness.”
  2. Spencer’s Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST): PVEST emphasizes a dual-axis model of vulnerability and resilience, identifying how various risk and support factors interact across developmental stages. This framework suits Black girls’ and women’s experiences as it integrates a cycle of identity development influenced by context. PVEST shows that resilience in Black women and girls is heavily contingent on support systems and recognition of their unique experiences, rather than on any inherent “strength.”

Results and Implications
The study reveals that conventional interpretations of resilience often obscure the chronic stress and health risks faced by Black women and girls. Positive adaptation under adversity, which some view as “resilience,” can entail long-term health costs, such as heightened allostatic load. Black feminist thought and womanism are presented as frameworks that acknowledge systemic challenges and foster holistic support, arguing that the field should pivot from merely reinforcing resilience to actively dismantling oppressive barriers.

Implications and Discussion
The authors recommend a shift from solely fostering resilience to creating environments that actively reduce adversity for Black women and girls. Mentoring programs, psychological interventions, and policy initiatives should aim for a two-pronged approach that both addresses immediate psychosocial needs and seeks to alter systemic structures that perpetuate disproportionate adversity.

Implications for Mentoring Programs:

  • Recognize and Challenge Resilience Narratives: Encourage mentees, especially Black/African American girls, to embrace vulnerability and seek support rather than internalizing the expectation to be perpetually resilient.
  • Adopt a Strength-Based and Contextual Approach: Understand resilience as contextual, promoting strength by acknowledging systemic barriers rather than framing challenges as tests of individual fortitude.
  • Develop Safe and Affirming Spaces: Create spaces where Black girls feel validated and supported, providing a refuge from societal pressures and stereotypes.
  • Develop Trainings for Mentors On Nuances of Working with Black/African American Girls: Provide training and supervision to mentors around common contextual challenges, concepts of resilience and strength, and strategies to best support their mentee’s achieve their goals.

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