Citation

St Vil NM, St Vil C, Fairfax CN. Soc. Work 2019; 64(2): 139-146.

Affiliation

Noelle M. St. Vil, PhD, and Christopher St. Vil, PhD, are assistant professors, School of Social Work, University at Buffalo. Colita Nichols Fairfax, PhD, is professor, Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, National Association of Social Workers)

DOI

10.1093/sw/swz002

PMID

30722067

Abstract

African American marriages and relationships have strived to model the white patriarchal nuclear family model, but the experiences of slavery and contemporary structural racism have prevented the attainment of this model. Posttraumatic slave syndrome offers a framework that allows social workers to place African American experiences within a trauma-informed perspective and think about their implication for trauma-specific interventions. This article provides a brief overview of the traumatic experiences of African Americans as they relate to African American relationships, integrates the historical experiences of African Americans into a trauma-informed perspective to help social workers recognize the manifestations of trauma in African American relationships, and discusses implications for trauma-specific interventions to strengthen African American relationships.

Language: en