Black women coping with gendered racism: Examining the role of social support.

Black women's experiences of gendered racism contribute to negative mental health outcomes. In the present study, we sought to advance literature on this topic by exploring the direct and indirect effects of gendered racism on depressive symptoms among Black women through social support coping, while also considering how perceptions of social support may influence the associations between these variables. To do this, we sampled 400 Black/African American women (Mage = 42.64 years, SD = 15.92 years), all of whom completed measures assessing gendered racism, social support coping, perceptions of social support, and depressive symptoms. Participant data were analyzed using mediation and moderated mediation analyses. Results showed that more frequent experiences of gendered racism were associated with greater depressive symptoms, and gendered racism was associated with depressive symptoms through one type of social support coping, that is, venting: Black women who reported more frequent experiences of gendered racism reported greater engagement in venting and subsequently more depressive symptoms. However, perceptions of social support did not influence the associations between experiences of gendered racism and depressive symptoms, nor gendered racism and social support coping. In addition, study results challenge how we may conceptualize and operationalize social support coping among Black women. The implications of the present study for future research, clinical practice, and training are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).