Not heard or remembered: A daily assessment of experienced intersectional invisibility

Intersectional invisibility is the experience of not being remembered, attended to, differentiated, or given credit for contributions, and is most likely to be experienced by people with multiple stigmatized identities. In the present study, we used a smartphone-based longitudinal daily diary design to examine the frequency and downstream consequences of experienced invisibility as they unfold in daily life. Over the course of 10 days, 301 participants reported their daily experiences of invisibility, sleep quality and positive affect, and pre- and post-diary measures of well-being and academic outcomes. As predicted, number of stigmatized identities positively predicted daily experiences of invisibility. For each additional stigmatized identity, the odds of reporting any instance of invisibility on any given day increased by 18%. Daily experienced invisibility was associated with poor outcomes, especially for those with multiple stigmatized identities, including reductions in daily positive affect and sleep quality, and pre- to post-diary decreases in well-being and academic outcomes. There was also evidence of cumulative effects on a short timescale: experienced invisibility from the previous 3 days predicted lower positive affect and worse sleep on the present day. This research suggests invisibility is a chronic experience with negative consequences, experienced by people with multiple stigmatized identities.