Document Type

Article

Abstract

Introduction

The marginalization of intersecting racial, gender, and rural identities compounds the structural vulnerabilities (e.g., discrimination, stigma, health disparities) experienced by Black women in South Carolina’s rural areas. Discriminatory experiences can deteriorate mental health; however, resilience can potentially reduce the ill effects of discrimination by decreasing associated psychological distress. This study examines the mediating role of resilience in the association between discrimination and psychological distress among rural, Black women in South Carolina in the post-pandemic era.

Methods

Black women (n = 300, mean age = 48.6) living in rural South Carolina were recruited from January to February 2024 using a cluster sampling method. Participants completed surveys assessing experiences of discrimination, resilience, and psychological distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, PTSD). A structural equation modeling analysis was performed using the Lavaan package in R.

Results

Discrimination was negatively associated with resilience (β = − 0.107, p <  .05) and positively associated with psychological distress (β = 0.387, p <  .001). Discrimination had a reduced, positive indirect effect on psychological distress through the path of resilience (β = 0.042, z = 2.004, p <  .05), after controlling for participants’ demographics. The model fit was satisfactory (RMSEA = 0.038; CFI = 0.986; TLI = 0.979; SRMR = 0.042; chi-square/df = 22.867/16, p = .117). Age (β = − 0.182, p <  .001) was found to act as a moderator between discrimination and psychological distress.

Conclusion

The findings reveal that resilience significantly reduces psychological distress among rural Black women, in the context of the adverse effects of discrimination on well-being. Aging appears to exert a protective influence on mental health outcomes, in the presence of discrimination, perhaps as related to generational differences in experiences, perceptions, and coping. In alignment with the advancement towards racial equity, reducing discrimination and fostering process-oriented resilience that is multilevel and multidimensional emerge as potential strategies to lessen the negative impacts on psychological well-being.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02559-7

Rights

© The Author(s) 2025 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

APA Citation

Garrett, C., Aggarwal, A., Xia, H., Tam, C. C., Bankole Olatosi, Wilcox, S., Li, X., & Qiao, S. (2025). Resilience Mediates the Association Between Discrimination and Psychological Distress Among Rural, Black Women in South Carolina: A Structural Equation Model. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02559-7

Download

Share

COinS