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Assessing Racial Microaggression Distress in a Diverse Sample

Susan Torres-Harding1, Tasha Turner2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL, USA storresharding@roosevelt.edu.

Evaluation & the Health Professions
|September 20, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Racial microaggressions cause distress, impacting health for people of color. The Racial Microaggression Scale effectively measures this stress, aiding culturally competent care.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Racial microaggressions are subtle, everyday racially-related insults and invalidations.
  • These experiences represent a form of perceived racism that can negatively affect the health and well-being of people of color.
  • Assessing the distress caused by microaggressions is crucial for understanding their impact.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the reliability and validity of the Racial Microaggression Scale distress subscales.
  • To measure the perceived stressfulness of six types of microaggression experiences in a diverse sample.
  • To identify potential racial/ethnic group differences in distress responses to microaggressions.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a racially and ethnically diverse sample.
  • Assessed the internal consistency and convergent validity of the Racial Microaggression Scale distress subscales.
  • Analyzed distress levels in relation to microaggression types and racial/ethnic group membership, controlling for exposure frequency.

Main Results:

  • The distress subscales demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency.
  • Convergent validity was supported, with distress subscales correlating positively with other measures of stressfulness.
  • Racial/ethnic differences emerged: Latinos reported higher distress for certain microaggressions, while African Americans reported higher distress for Environmental microaggressions compared to other groups.

Conclusions:

  • The Racial Microaggression Scale distress subscales are reliable and valid tools for assessing microaggression-induced distress.
  • Findings highlight the need for culturally competent care, with specific considerations for African American, Latino, and Asian American clients.
  • The scale can assist health professionals in diagnosis and treatment planning for individuals experiencing racial microaggressions.
Keywords:
distressracial microaggressionsreliabilitystressfulnessvalidity

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