Black Mothers' Cognitive Process of Finding Meaning and Building Resilience after Loss of a Child to Gun Violence

Women's Mental Health

“…Literature on resilience building in traumatic loss (e.g., Bonanno, Moskowitz, Papa, & Folkman, 2005 ;Connor et al, 2003 ) has demonstrated that salient factors such as social support and access to coping resources are necessary for resilience development and reintegration. However, research with Black mothers and other African American homicide survivors has shown that their resilience trajectory occurs concurrently with lack of social support, economic depravities, racial stigma, and poor access to coping resources (Bailey, Hannays-King et al, 2013 ;Johnson, 2010 ;Sharpe, 2015 ). In the absence of these important facilitators, many have awakened their intrinsic strength and their spiritual resources.…”

“…In particular, parents who lose children to gun homicide suffer complicated grief, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and prolonged depression (Armour, 2002 ;Currier, Holland, & Neimeyer, 2006 ). These psychological vulnerabilities are intensifi ed among Black parents who grapple disproportionally and concurrently with social depravities associated with gun violence such as poverty, social stigma, discriminatory treatments, and racism (Bailey, Hannays-King et al, 2013 ;McDevitt-Murphy, Neimeyer, Burke, Williams, & Lawson, 2012 ;Sharpe, 2015 ).…”

“…Racism is of particular importance in Black mothers' grieving and resilience processes. When race intersects with gun violence stigma, shame, and fear of judgment, mothers were rendered vulnerable and victimized (Bailey, Hannays-King et al, 2013 ). As observed in mothers' narratives, these factors were rooted in their stress experiences, but also prevailed in their resilience.…”

“…The lack of fi nancial resources also forced some mothers to forgo professional counselling, which affected their resilience outcomes (Bailey, Hannays-King et al, 2013 ). This warrants changes in criminal compensation policies.…”

“…Research demonstrated that Black mothers' posthomicide experiences are grounded in social and cultural complexities which shape their bereavement trajectory. A number of coexisting factors such as living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, lack of social support, and poor access to community resources intersect to complicate Black mothers' grief and resilience process (Bailey, Clarke, & Salami, 2015 ;Bailey, Hannays-King et al, 2013 ;Hannays-King, Bailey, & Akhtar, 2015 ). Studies conducted with Black mothers in Canada who lost children to gun violence showed that the stigma of gun-violent death in combination with race infl uenced how these mothers construed their loss and built resilience Bailey & Velasco, 2014 ).…”