The way Black men see themselves after a firearm injury—whether as a survivor or victim—could change over time and have implications on their mental health, according to a Rutgers Health study. The study, published in the Journal of Urban Health , examined the role of racially coded language, sociodemographic and environmental contexts that support labels among Black men who experienced a firearm injury . Rutgers researchers sought to understand how Black men in a hospital-based violence intervention program perceive " survivor " and "victim" labels after experiencing a firearm-related injury.
"The self-identification as a 'survivor' versus 'victim' following violent injury may have salient implications for the mental health of Black men," said Nazsa Baker, a postdoctoral fellow with the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC). "Internalizing a victim identity could exacerbate trauma reactions, negative cognitions about self-worth and powerlessness, feelings of helplessness and other symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder ." In contrast, adopting a survivor identity may facilitate resilience and post-traumatic growth by enhancing self-efficacy, hope, motivation to heal and perceived control, said Baker, adding that some scholars have cautioned that an exclusive focus on one term—survivorship, for example—"for a specific experience could pressure injured individuals to suppress vulnerable emotions or bypass trauma processing in efforts to appe.
