“We Don't Complain, We Just Survive”: Black Mothers’ Experiences of Depression, Racism, and Violence in Chicago

Several socioecological factors have been studied as determinants of mental health disparities among Black Americans. However, while recogzing the unique challenges of mothering within urban neighborhoods characterized by concentrated disadvantage, the relation between the experience of oppression at the intersection of race, class, and gender and mental health among Black mothers has been understudied and undertheorized. Guided by the public health critical race praxis, neighborhood stress process model and weathering hypothesis, this study was designed to address a series of questions regarding depression among Black mothers. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, this study examined three specific aims; first, the differences in depressive symptoms over time among a sample of Black mothers, and the relation of patterns of depression to biological age, experiences of racial discrimination and community violence exposure, and perceptions of community belonging. Second, analyses were conducted to examine the extent to which perceptions of community belonging buffers the impact of racial discrimination on worsening depressive symptoms. Third, through focus groups and individual interviews, data were gathered to examine how Black mothers make sense of depression, motherhood, racism, community violence, and community belonging in the context of high burden urban communities. Longitudinal quantitative and in-depth qualitative data, collected from two distinct samples of low-income Black adult mothers who resided in Chicago, were analyzed and merged to provide a nuanced and contemporary understanding of how low-income Black mothers’ mental health is uniquely impacted and shaped by exposure to neighborhood stressors and contextual risk. The following set of key findings emerged from the study. First, meaningful heterogeneity exist in the experience, expression, and course of depression among low-income Black mothers who live within high-burden neighborhoods. Next, findings suggest exposure to community violence, fear of violence victimization, experiences of racial discrimination, and structural racism—to varying degrees—negatively affect the mental health of low-income Black mothers. This study provides evidence of the firsthand experiences of low-income Black women mothering in urban neighborhoods characterized by concentrated socioeconomic disadvantage, reveals their perceptions of stressors in the community context, and provides insight into how Black mothers experience and navigate racism, depression, and the strong Black woman stereotype. These findings support the need for transdisciplinary multilevel mental health interventions that consider the historical and present-day sociocultural contexts of low-income Black mothers. This study also has important implications for direct and community level social work practice concerned with dismantling structural racism to achieve mental health equity for racially marginalized communities