“For You, I Will”: The Strong Black Woman Schema and Black Women’s Romantic Relationships

Much of the current research regarding Black women’s romantic relationships focusses on maladaptive relational dynamics that Black women experience, which further contributes to negative stereotyping of Black women. In this study, I used a phenomenological qualitative framework, through a paradigmatic lens including Black Feminist Thought epistemology (Collins, 2000) and Intersectionality theory (Crenshaw, 1989). The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding and offer a nuanced point of view of how Black women experience their romantic relationships when the Strong Black Woman Schema (SBW) identity is endorsed. The SBW schema is described as a Black woman who is emotionally resistant, always strong, and is a caretaker for those around her, often to her own detriment (Geyton et al., 2022). The SBW schema has been shown to have adaptive and maladaptive characteristics for Black women. In this study I used semi-structured individual interviews with 17 participants who self-identified as cisgender Black women currently in heterosexual and monogamous romantic relationships. Through the data explication process including thematic analysis, in-vivo member checking, and review with my dissertation chair; the results found six themes that showcase Black women’s experience in romantic relationships. Six phenomenological themes emerged from the data including: Societal Expectations, Soft Girl Era, Struggle Love, Independence, Gendered Racial Socialization, and Therapeutic Needs. I will discuss the implications of these findings in this dissertation. This study fills a gap in the literature due to its deliberate focus on the SBW schema and its impact on Black women in romantic relationships. I centered Black women's experiences in romantic relationships and plan to disseminate this information for the purpose of creating a basis of knowledge to build therapeutic interventions that support Black women who are presenting to therapy with concerns related to their romantic relational dynamics.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

Texas Woman's University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Glasper, KaLynn

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Williams, Marlene

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Mollen, Debra
• Smith, Gabrielle

• Psychology
• Black women
• Strong Black woman schema
• Romantic relationships
• Qualitative

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/11274/17316

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:twu-ir.tdl.org:11274/17316