African American women bear an unequal and unfair burden of poor mental health in this country. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate factors associated with the mental health of single, low-income African American mothers with young children.
This dissertation is composed of three manuscripts. The first paper was a review of the state of measurement of self-esteem. Three commonly used scales were critically reviewed: Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, the Tennessee Self-concept Scale, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The second and third papers used existing data from a sample of 98 low-income African American single mothers with children ages 2-6 years. In the first of these two studies, the psychometric properties of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, the most commonly used measure of self-esteem, were examined. In the second study a model of predictors of depressive symptoms in low-income single African American mothers was tested using path analysis.
These papers provide an overview of factors influencing the inequitable mental health of African American women. Self-esteem, a critical and unique element of their overall mental health, was defined differently for African American women and included racial esteem. The measurement of this important factor is to date a contextual and should be reexamined. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, considered a gold standard of measurement for self-esteem, while showing adequate internal consistency, lacked construct validity in this sample. Self-esteem, chronic stressors, and negative thinking were strong predictors of depressive symptoms. Negative thinking mediated the relationships of chronic stressors and self-esteem with depressive symptoms. These findings can be used to provide direction for further research that addresses the inequitable mental health of African American women.
Keywords . Mental health, African American women, Single mothers, Negative thinking, Depressive symptoms.
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