Resilience in Formerly Incarcerated Black Women: Racial Centrality and Social Support as Protective Factors

Abstract

The United States incarcerates a larger percentage of its population than any other country in the world. Women are entering prison at higher rates than men in recent years, especially Black women, who are underrepresented in the criminal justice literature. Very little is known about formerly incarcerated Black women, who experience unique sociocultural challenges such as disproportionate rates of mental health issues, gendered racism, intimate partner violence, and recidivism to prison. This study examined how social support and racial centrality played a role in challenges faced by a sample of 54 formerly incarcerated Black women living in a large metropolitan city in the mid-Atlantic. Two multiple hierarchical regressions were used to explore whether social support and racial centrality moderated the relationship between gendered racism and depression. There was no evidence to indicate that racial centrality predicted depression or acted as a moderator between gendered racism and depression. However, social support was found to moderate the relationship between the variables. Implications for practice and future directions are discussed.