Posttraumatic Slave Syndrome, the Patriarchal Nuclear Family Structure, and African American Male–Female Relationships

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.