Toward the Development of the Stereotypic Roles for Black Women Scale

Abstract

Preliminary findings on the validation of the Stereotypic Roles for Black Women Scale (SRBWS) are presented. A sample of 186 African American women took the SRBWS along with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Racial Identity Attitude Scale–B. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-factor structure of the scale, and moderate reliability estimates were found for each of the interrelated but distinct subscales. Stepwise regression analyses revealed that Mammy and Sapphire images were significant predictors of self-esteem scores and that the internalized stereotypic roles contributed unique variance over racial identity attitudes in understanding self-esteem in Black women. Suggestions for future research and validation of the SRBWS are discussed.