Self-Esteem, Problem Solving, and Family Coping Responses: Determinants and Consequences for Black Women

Stress is a significant contributor to disease and often worsens pre-existing conditions. Little research to date has focused on stress and coping in black families, particularly black women. The present study examined how self-esteem affects family coping and problem solving among mothers and daughters (N = 119). Results indicate that black mothers had significantly higher amounts of self-esteem than did daughters, potentially signifying that many issues that reduce self-esteem have been resolved for mothers, whereas daughters might still be dealing with issues that lower their self-esteem. Black mothers scored significantly lower than their daughters on perception of ability to solve problems, suggesting that black daughters might still be facing issues that they are actively using problem-solving skills to address. A significant difference between mothers and daughters on the amount of stress they experienced further supports the intergenerational nature of stress, problem solving, and lower self-esteem in the sample of daughters. The results suggest that black women with spouses or domestic partners are better able to adapt to stress than those who are not in partnerships or married. This study provides a more in-depth understanding of intergenerational family processes related to stress and coping among black women.