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Racial microaggressions are subtle (often unintentional or unconscious) forms of racial discrimination that negatively affect victims' mental health. Utilizing an undergraduate student sample (N = 225), the current study examined the relationship between racial microaggressions and self-esteem. Results indicate that racial microaggressions negatively predict a lower self-esteem, and that microaggressions that occur in educational and workplace environments are particularly harmful to self-esteem. Finally, findings reveal that individuals of various racial and ethnic minority groups experience racial microaggressions differently. Implications for student development and recommendations for further research involving racial microaggressions and college students are discussed.
Since the civil rights movement, there has been a push for equality and the end of racial discrimination in the United States. While many forms of racial discrimination (e.g., hate crimes, segregation, employment inequities) have been outlawed at the federal, state, and local levels (Foster, 2005), many researchers have noted that the legacy of overt discrimination is now found in subtle prejudiced behaviors (Foster, 2005; Nadal, 2011; Sue, 2010; Sue, Bucceri, Lin, Nadal, & Torino, 2007). Unlike overt discrimination, there is no legal recourse for victims of subtle discrimination (De Jesus-Torres, 2000; Foster, 2005), making it challenging for members of society to recognize the possibility of victimization and injury to those who experience it (DeJesus- Torres, 2000; Foster, 2005; Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007). In recent years, there has been a growing amount of literature focusing on the negative impacts of this type of covert discrimination, otherwise known as "microaggressions." Racial microaggressions are "subtle statements and behaviors that unconsciously communicate denigrating messages to people of color" (Nadal, 2011, p. 470). The term was originally conceived as "subtle, stunning, often automatic, and non-verbal exchanges which are 'put downs'" (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978, p. 66), initially describing covert racial discrimination only toward African Americans. Over the past several years, microaggression research has been extended to include other target groups, including other people of color, women, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minority groups, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals (see Nadal, 2011, for a review).
Sue, Capodilupo, and colleagues (2007) identified three forms of microaggress ions: microassaults, microinsults, and micro- invalidations. A microassault is most similar to overt racial discrimination and consists of targeting a person of...