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Download File African Americans and Racial Microaggressions: Coping, Psychological Well-Being, and Physical Health Chantea D. Williams Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the Executive Committee of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Chantea D. Williams All rights reserved Abstract African Americans and Racial Microaggressions: Coping, Psychological Well-being, and Physical Health Chantea D. Williams There has been a recent surge in research on microaggressions in the lived experiences of persons who are members of historically oppressed and marginalized groups in the U.S. Research on African Americans have identified racial microaggressions such as assumptions of intelligence, assumed criminality, and social/cultural isolation that arise in educational, mental health, community, and work place settings. These incidents are particularly harmful because it is reminder to African Americans of their history of racism and their perpetual second-class status in society. Scholars propose that microaggressive incidents are injurious to targets and this can be reflective in the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive reactions to these events (i.e., microaggressive stressors). Existing research on discrimination and well-being suggests that racial discrimination contributes to disparities in mental and physical health. However, there is a need for more research to understand the impact of subtle, ambiguous racism and to identify effective strategies for buffering the effects of microaggressions. The present study investigated microaggressions experienced by African Americans, the correlation to psychological and physical health outcomes for those who report microaggressions, and coping as potential buffer to the effects of these events. A correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis examined these relationships for a sample of 268 African American men and women. The results indicated support for the theory on the deleterious effects of microaggressions with the relationship between microaggressions and outcomes for psychological and physical health among African Americans. The study contributes to the literature on microaggressions by providing evidence that these encounters are harmful to African Americans. However, the moderation model did not support coping as a buffer to the effects of racial microaggressions, and it is suggested that future research investigate factors that will effectively mitigate the injurious effects of microaggressions. Table of Contents ! List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iii! List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. iv! Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi! Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1! Literature Review .......................................................................................................................... 13! Racism ....................................................................................................................................... 13! New Face of Racism ................................................................................................................. 15! Racial Microaggressions ........................................................................................................... 19! Stress and Stressful Life Events ................................................................................................ 26! Stress and Racial Microaggressions .......................................................................................... 32! Coping with Racial Microaggressive Stress ............................................................................. 39! Methods......................................................................................................................................... 48! Participants ................................................................................................................................ 48! Measures ................................................................................................................................... 50! Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 59! Data Analysis Plan .................................................................................................................... 61! Results ........................................................................................................................................... 63! DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 75! Overview ................................................................................................................................... 75! Summary of Research Study ..................................................................................................... 75! Overview of Major Findings ..................................................................................................... 77! Limitations for the Study .......................................................................................................... 84! Implications for Theory, Research and Practice ....................................................................... 88! Summary and Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 94! References ..................................................................................................................................... 96! Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 112! Appendix A: Demographic Questionnaire .............................................................................. 112! Appendix B: Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS) ......................................... 113! Appendix C: Racism-Related Coping Scale (RRCS) ............................................................. 115! Appendix D: Mental Health Inventory (MHI) ........................................................................ 119! i Appendix E: Physical Health Questionnaire (PHQ) ............................................................... 121! Appendix F: Tables and Figures ............................................................................................. 123! ii List of Figures Number ………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 1 Categories of and Relationships Among Racial Microaggressions……………………...30 2 Stress Response Perspectives……………………………………………………….........35 3 Racial Microaggressions Experienced by African Americans………………..…………42 4 The Microaggressive Process Model……………………………………….....................52 iii List of Tables Number ………………………………………………………………………………………..Page 1 Forms of Subtle, Covert Racism…………………………………………………………24 2 Racial and Ethnic Microagressions Scale (REMS) Subscales…………………………...59 3 Racism-Related Coping Scale (RRCS) Subscales………………………………….........62 4 Summary of Self-Reported Demographic Information…………………………….........57 5 Self-Reported Marital Status……………………………………………………………135 6 Self-Reported Employment Status……………………………………………………...136 7 Self-Reported Location Within U.S……………………………………….....................137 8 Skewness and Kurtosis Statistics for Study Variables…………………………….……..73 9 Means, Standard Deviations, Reliability, Number Items, Range Minimum and Maximum………………………………………………………………………….……..74 10 Pearson Correlation Between Study Variables…………………………………………..75 11 One-Sample Statistics for Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales.....................141 12 One-way Analysis of Variance of Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales………………………………………………………………………………..142 13 Hierarchical Multiple Regression: Moderation Effect of Racism-Related Coping on the Relationship Between Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales and Physical Health………………………………………………………………........................…...143 14 Hierarchical Multiple Regression Coefficients: Moderation Effect of Racism-Related Coping on the Relationship Between Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales and Physical Health……………………………………………………………...............….144 iv 15 Hierarchical Multiple Regression: Moderation Effect of Racism-Related Coping on the Relationship Between Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales and Psychological Well-being……………………………………………………………………………....145 16 Hierarchical Multiple Regression Coefficients: Moderation Effect of Racism-Related Coping on the Relationship Between Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Subscales and Psychological Well-being…………………………………………………………...….146 17 Multivariate Analysis of Demographic Variables for Complete and Incomplete Responses………………………………………………………………………….……..71 18 Table of Research Questions & Hypotheses with Corresponding Analyses…………….80 v Acknowledgements “‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.” –Alice
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