Bridging Strength: Comparing the Strong Black Woman Schema in Black Adolescent Girls and Emerging Adult Women

The Strong Black Woman (SBW) Schema describes expectations of resilience, self-reliance, and emotional restraint placed on Black women and has been linked to anxiety and depression. Although extensively studied among adult women, limited research has examined how the schema operates during adolescence or across development. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, this study examined SBW Schema endorsement and internalizing symptoms among 94 Black adolescent girls (ages 12–17) and emerging adult women (ages 18–25) and explored how participants understood and experienced strength. Quantitative findings showed comparable SBW endorsement and internalizing symptoms across age groups; greater SBW endorsement was associated with internalizing symptoms, and age did not moderate this relationship. Qualitative findings indicated that both groups viewed strength as a mostly unquestioned cultural expectation. However, adolescents described strength as compatible with emotional expression, whereas emerging adults more often equated strength with suppressing vulnerability and experienced the strength label as burdensome. These findings suggest that the emotional meaning of strength may differ across adolescence and emerging adulthood, highlighting the need for culturally responsive intervention and future longitudinal research.