Microaggressions, negative affect, and alcohol use behaviors among Black undergraduates: A daily diary study

Although psycho-socio-cultural models of health disparities concerning alcohol among Black Americans posit that these differences arise in part due to the interplay of environmental (e.g., racism) and individual (e.g., negative affect) variables, there is a dearth of research testing whether these variables are proximally related to drinking. Thus, the present study used daily diary methodology to test whether experiences of race-based microaggressions were related to experiencing negative affect, greater drinking to cope with microaggressions-related negative affect, and other alcohol-related outcomes among Black adults.

The sample consisted of 148 Black undergraduates who endorsed past-month alcohol use who completed assessments of experiences of microaggressions, negative affect, and drinking behaviors once per day for two weeks.

After controlling for non-racist daily stressors, days on which microaggressions were experienced had greater likelihood of alcohol use and more negative affect and alcohol craving. Further, experiencing more microaggressions was statistically significantly related to more negative affect and alcohol-related problems. Microaggressions were indirectly related to alcohol problems and to coping motivated alcohol use via negative affect.

This is the first known study to identify that experiencing race-based microaggressions is proximally related to alcohol use, more negative affect, coping-motivated alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems.