COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Stressors and Black Mothers’ Mental Health

We conducted a convergent mixed-methods study to assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black mothers’ mental health. Black mothers ( N = 88) completed measures of pandemic-related stressors, mental health, racial centrality, and social support; 44 mothers participated in focus groups assessing mothers’ pandemic-related stressors and coping strategies. Results of bootstrapped hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that pandemic-related stressors were positively related to anxiety and depressive symptoms. Social support significantly improved predicted variance in anxiety and depressive symptoms above and beyond pandemic-related stressors, slightly attenuating their association with negative mental health outcomes in a compensatory fashion. Results of reflexive thematic analysis generated the following themes and subthemes: work (job loss, essential workers), health (mental health, relational health, healthcare), housing (neighborhood violence, rat and insect infestation), parenting (child behavioral challenges, lack of support), race-based stressors (anger, hurt, and desensitization), and protective strategies to combat stress (well-being strategies, community cohesion). While Black mothers experienced a multitude of pandemic-related stressors associated with increased mental health symptoms, they identified social support and well-being strategies to combat stress.