SENIOR THESIS RMAS

PERCEPTION IS REALITY 1
Perception is Reality:
Racial Microaggressions Towards Students of Color at Historically White Institutions
Ashley R. Delgadillo
Menlo College
Thesis PSY401

Abstract
Racial microaggressions are subtle verbal or behavioral acts that discriminate against people of
color. This literature review evaluates, critiques, and makes recommendations for the field of
study of racial microaggressions towards students of color at historically White institutions. This
review hypothesizes that as findings of racial microaggressions towards students of color
increase so do reports of negative college experiences and mental health issues from students of
color. Themes found in the literature so far pertain to personal experiences, mental health, and
coping. Student experiences are explored to investigate if and how students need to cope and
deal with mental distresses. The literature review wishes to answer the questions of how racial
microaggressions impact the mental health and college experience of students of color and how
the results can be applied in colleges to create a beneficial college experience. In the absence of
strong correlations and variances, concluding that racial microaggressions has a strong impact on
the mental health and coping habits of students of color at historically White institutions is
difficult; however the data is suggestive with significant findings albeit weak correlational
relationships. The practicality of implications is worth reviewing if there is a possibility of
helping students of color feel more welcome at their school. Recommendations based on the
current research find that because the field is so new, psychologists must continue testing for
valid instruments and that spaces for social support on campus for students of color should be
considered.
Search Terms: Racial microaggressions, historically White institutions, mental health,
higher education, microaggressions, university, college

An African American student attending an elite Predominantly White Institution (PWI)
recalls his experience during a focus group when a group of his Black friends and he were
tossing a football around in a campus parking lot:
…all of a sudden, [campus police] sweeps up…There’s a total of four or five cars, and
then we have two cops on the bikes, all there for us who are not displaying any type of
violence or anything like that…but we’re upset…we’re feeling restricted because if we
act in a way that we want to react – number one, we’re going to jail; number two – it’s
just going to feed into the stereotype that we’re supposed to be violent…they were not
trying to hear us at all. We had to leave the parking lot…Once again, it reminded me I’m
a Black man [on a predominantly White campus]. (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2001, 69)
Incidences like those above, where students of color feel a perceived threat because of their race,
are not uncommon, especially at Historically White Institutions (HWI) (Bentley-Edwards &
Chapman-Hilliard, 2014; Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012).
When the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) from the University of Oklahoma was
captured on video singing a racist chant, there was quick outrage and backlash that led to
immediate expulsion of the fraternity members (Alter, 2015). A longitudinal study from 1972 to
2012, conducted by San Diego State University and University of Georgia, discovered that while
tolerance for “out-groups,” such as communists and homosexuals, has seen an increase, tolerance
for racists has not (Alter, 2015). Overall, there seems to be a consensus among experts that overt
racial discrimination, or at least the tolerance of it, has greatly declined since the days of Martin
Luther King Jr. (Wong, Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013); however, subtler forms of racial
discrimination continue to exist, and research on this subtler form of discrimination has grown

remarkably in less than a decade thanks to foundational research by Sue and his colleagues (Sue,
Capodilupo, Torino, Bucceri, 2007).
These subtler forms of race discrimination are called ‘racial microaggressions’ and can be
experienced anywhere- at work (Pittman, 2012), in public spaces (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall,
& Lewis, 2012), in schools (Nadal, Wong, Griffin, Sriken, & 2011) - and at any time (Pierce,
1989). There are many types of microaggressions, in the context of many spaces, and it is
difficult to talk about one aspect of identity without talking about another (Pascoe & Richman,
2009). For example, one may not only study what it means to be Black, but a Black woman; not
only what it means to be Latino, but a Latino who is gay. Torres, Jones, and Renn (2009) explain
that intersectionality is when individuals have multiple oppressed identities and therefore,
experience multiple types of combined discrimination (as cited in Nadal, Mazzula, Rivera, &
Fujii-Doe, 2014). For example, a woman may experience slights not only because of her sex, but
because she is also a lesbian with low social economic status (SES). For literature that does
focus on the intersectionality in microaggressions, one could refer to Derald Wing Sue’s book,
Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation (2010).
While there are multiple factors that determine the types of microaggressions people face
daily (Pascoe &Richman, 2009), the focus of this paper is on students of color at Historically
White Institutions and the microaggressions they face in the context of their schools. The
purpose of this paper is to make critiques and recommendations from the current literature in
hopes that it will point out strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, the purpose is also for
application by schools, so they can manage and create a positive racial climate that is welcoming
to students of color. Hence, the current research questions for this topic are: firstly, how do racial
microaggressions impact the mental health and college experience of students of color? And how

can this information be applied in colleges to facilitate a positive college experience? I
hypothesize that the more experience with, and awareness of, racial microaggressions a student
of color has, the more likely there will be a positive correlation with mental health problems (i.e.
as racial microaggression experiences go up, so do mental health problems like depression,
anxiety, or stress) and reports of negative college experiences.
Racial microaggressions are daily occurrences that can be hidden in the smallest of
interactions and whose invisibility (Sue, 2004) continues to make it appear as if the reality of
racial differences did not exist (Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008). Over time, these
‘small’ occurrences can build up and become destructive to racial minorities as the subtle
comments and actions become exhausting to encounter and impair performance (Wong,
Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013).
Methods and Themes
Using PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES, Google Scholar, and EBSCO I was able to find
much of my research; I was fortunate to find my readings so easily at the start. I wasn’t too
specific in the beginning with choosing how to limit my search. I began with limiting the dates
and having only articles published in 1990 and later, and then printing the articles that were
available in full text. My first search terms were rather general and broad; simply using words
from the current title of this paper (such as microaggressions and historically White institutions).
As I learned of areas that I felt were missing (such as quantitative research) or needed more
clarification of ideas (like critical race theory), I added them to my search and was able to find
what I needed. Moreover, I went through the references of the articles I printed and circled all
possible readings I could use, placing a star next to the citation that might be really important.

When I felt like the databases weren’t giving me what I needed, I looked through my circled and
starred references and started searching for specific articles.
Ultimately, the top search terms I used were: racial microaggressions, microaggressions,
historically White institutions, historically Black college and universities, college, university,
mental health, predominantly White institutions, racial climate, coping, mental health, and higher
education. Along the way, I had a meeting with my librarian to help me find foundational
authors that weren’t just D. W. Sue (2007, 2008). With her help I was able to find the ‘anchor
authors’ such as Pierce (1986), Nadal (With Wong, Sriken, Griffin, 2014) and Solórzano (2001),
who appear to be the most frequently cited authors.
After reading an abundance of articles, I began to wonder why there wasn’t a universal
racial microaggression scale and to question the validity and reliability of those that did exist. I
searched on Google Scholar for the two most common scales I had seen: The Racial and Ethnic
Microaggression Scale (REMS) (Nadal, 2011) and the Racial Microaggression Scale (RMAS)
(Torres-Harding, Andrade, & Diaz, 2012). After reading the articles, I realized I should begin to
keep track of all the instruments each article used and therefore began writing all the instruments
each article used on the paper’s title page. Along with that, I also wrote down key words,
definitions, and ideas that made the article useful on the front of the page. For example, if the
article was talking about intersectionality, I wrote ‘intersectionality’ on the first page of the
article to find the concept faster and more easily.
After each paper evaluation and edit by the thesis professor, I applied the proper
corrections to the paper. I then began using Microsoft Word’s ‘comment’ tool in the review
section to make notes of what the professor and I found lacking. Next, I mapped out which
sections could use more citations and wrote on a separate paper what citations I did need. For

example, after mapping out more of what I needed, I figured out I wanted an article about racial
climate to refer to when discussing the topic. I went back to articles I liked and picked out related
articles to the topic I was looking for. Following the final rough draft checked by thesis professor
Mark Hager, corrections were made and I turned in my draft to Marianne Marar, a social science
professor with a focus in race-relations, to inspect my paper for accurate knowledge and
understanding of the subject. Lowell Pratt, an English and humanities professor, was the final
editor who reviewed my grammar and punctuation, and flow of ideas.
Certain articles that I read had to be excluded, such as Gilborn’s (2008) article that was
England based and Erasmus’s (2010) paper that was based in South Africa. While interesting and
germane to the idea of microaggressions, the information was in the context of different
countries. For the purpose of this paper, all information comes from universities and colleges
within the United States. The decision to do so comes from the fact that each country has its own
history and culture, and therefore focusing on the idea of perceived discrimination globally
would complicate the concept of microaggression and what it means to be a ‘person of color’.
Nonetheless, Rollock’s (2011) article, although British, makes some fine points about racial
microaggressions in America, such as her discussion about ‘Whiteness’ in the workplace.
While reading and critiquing articles, the three themes my analysis has found so far are
experience, mental health, and coping. Experience is the theme that emerged the strongest as, in
essence, microaggressions are something that is encountered; thus qualitative and quantitative
work focuses on past events that happened to the individual of color and their thoughts and
feelings. The mental health theme emerged in quantitative articles attempting to correlate racial
microaggression experiences to negative health consequences such as stress, depression, and
anxiety. Coping appeared during discussions when a facilitator would ask his or her participants

in a focus group or interview how they dealt with racial microaggressions and/or difficult
dialogue. Thus, while reading and annotating all the articles, I made a note on the title page of
what type of reading it was (quantitative, qualitative, theory, history, or literature review) and
under which theme of experience, mental health, and coping, it fit best.
Literature Review
Researchers credit Chester M. Pierce as coining the term ‘microaggression’ back in the
1970s, which then referred only to the inequity, injustice, and racial slights that Black Americans
faced daily (Wong, Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013). A Black psychiatrist in the 1950s, Pierce
tells the story of how the idea of microaggressions came to him as “wherever [he] went,
whatever [he] did, and with whomever [he worked], [his] never-ending preoccupation had to be
on how to survive as a Black” (Pierce, 1986, 301). Today, two popular definitions of racial
microaggressions have been widely accepted and are frequently in use. After Pierce’s definition,
racial microaggressions were described as “subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual)
directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously” (Solórzano, Ceja, &
Yosso, 2001, 60). The term was then expanded to mean “brief and commonplace daily verbal,
behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate
hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights toward people of color” (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino,
& Bucceri, 2007, 271).
‘People of color’ (POC) is a term often used within the area of social justice issues to
refer to the group of individuals “from minority racial and ethnic groups as a whole” (Forrest-
Bank, Jenson, & Trecartin, 2015, 2). While it may seem questionable to take different groups of
people, turn them into a monolith, and juxtapose them with White Americans, doing so in the
context of examining race allows for inclusion of all racial target groups. ‘People of color’ also is

representative of the social construct of what it means to be a Non- White American (Sue,
Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008) which is in theory important to the composition of racial
microaggressions.
With his rebirthing the area of study (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, & Bucceri, 2007), Sue
was able to bring back a term to define the experiences of target groups. In his search of cause
and effects of discrimination, he realized that ‘color blindness’ perpetuated the belief of
sameness and equality (Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008). Sue (2004) defines color
blindness as a denial of racial differences and of the unfair power imbalance that exists in
society. Rothenburg’s (2002) work indicates that many White students pretend not to see color
because they don’t want to seem biased or racist (as cited in Sue, 2004). What ‘color blind’
students don’t know is that their refusal to see color denies racial minorities of their experiential
reality by “minimizing the effects of racism and discrimination in their day-to-day lives” (Sue,
2004, 763). Hence, in denying that any differences exist, perpetuators impose microaggressions
because they are invalidating the culture, identity, experience, and reality of a person of color.
Despite increases of diversity on college campuses in the past decade (Rodgers &
Summers, 2008), researchers have suggested that students of color experience the campus
climate quite differently compared to White students (Worthington, Navarro, Loewy, & Hart,
2008). Quite often, students of color report experiencing the ‘paradox of invisibility,’ where they
are either ignored or only seen and treated as a stereotype (McCabe, 2009). Neville et al. (1997)
theorize that individuals who are more susceptible to and/or aware of racial issues can identify
culture specific stressors to a greater extent. With that being said, Boysen and colleagues (2009)
found that undergraduate students frequently perceived subtle biases more often than did

professors, demonstrating how racial microaggressions may not only be invisible to non-target
students, but to teachers as well.
Experiencing and Recalling Microaggressions
In an interview with NPR, Derald Wing Sue commented that he is happy to find that the
concept of microaggressions are being shared among college campuses and that the word has
caught on (Mehrotra, 2014). He explains in the interview that the word ‘microaggression’ has
most likely caught on because it gives a name to the experiences students are having in college
(as cited in Desmond-Harrison, 2015b). Indeed, in the past 5 years students from multiple
colleges have created diversity projects portraying the landscape of what it’s like to be a student
of color, the most notable being “I, too, am Harvard” (Desmond-Harrison, 2015a). Palmer,
Davis, and Maramba (2010) argue that positive adjustment and development depend on the
social environment students are placed in (as cited in Bentley-Edwards & Chapman-Hilliard,
2014). Hence, when students of color come into a negative college environment that causes them
to have hurtful experiences, it’s important to record the occurrences to demonstrate that
microaggressions are happening and affecting students.
Using multivariate analysis, researchers looked at GPA differences of Black students who
attended either a HBCU or a HWI, finding that the type of college attended was a predictor of
African American academic performance (Greer & Brown, 2011). Of the 202 undergraduates
Greer & Brown (2011) sampled, African Americans at a HWI had mean GPA of 2.49 while
those at HBCU’s had a GPA mean of 3.05. An inverse relationship existed; GPA decreased as
minority status stress increased. Greer and Brown’s (2011) research suggests that racial stress
factors, such as racial microaggressions, could possibly be hindering Black students at HWIs.

Students recalling their experiences add to the understanding of racial microaggressions
by providing personal stories to the hard data on this phenomenon from answers on scales and
surveys (Armenta, Lee, Pituc, & Jung, 2013). Including stories and emotions (Solórzano, 2001)
to those numbers allows for deeper analysis because of the combination of both narration and
numbers. The numerical findings and accounts of those in higher education challenge the idea
that racial microaggressions do not exist (Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino, 2008). Qualitative
studies are the most effective way to gather in-depth information about experiences because
individuals get to describe in detail what they have faced, how they felt, the context of the
situation, and with whom it happened.
In a study of 11 focus groups conducted with 81 students of color living at a HWI,
researchers were able to code the student’s experiences with racial microaggressions into 4
themes: racial slurs written in shared spaces, racial jokes and verbal comments, segregated
spaces and unequal treatment. Braided through those themes is the theme of denial and
minimization of racism (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012). In a smaller focus group
study with participants consisting of 34 African Americans (with students coming from 3
different PWIs), researchers were able to code responses into microaggressions that happened on
campus in academic spaces and social spaces (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2001). Attending class
and being on campus appear to unfortunately also mean coping with intellectual and
discriminatory stressors (Boysen, Vogel, Cope, & Hubbard, 2009)
Both studies (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso,
2001) had students reporting that they felt targeted because of their race or ethnicity, like they
did not belong, and discomfort when witnessing or experiencing a racial microaggression.
Looking at the time period these studies were conducted- one study is published 2001, the other

in 2012- would suggest that the field of microaggressions has been sharpening its tools to be
more specific in their findings (Torres-Harding, Andrade, & Diaz, 2012), but also that this topic
continues to grow. It most likely continues to grow because racial microaggressions are still
happening, and students are reporting having more difficulty coping with racial microaggressions
at HWI (Greer & Brown, 2011). Stories are a great way of putting a face on numbers; however,
the limit of storytelling is that only so many people can share their story at a time (Sue, Rivera,
Watkins, & Kim, 2011). Unless a longitudinal study is performed for college students of color
(Cheng, Cohen, & Goodman, 2015), the research topic loses valuable information of students’
stories over time and a gap exists for more longitudinal work.
When looking at the theme of experience, there are certain critiques that need to be made
about what current research has left out and the possible threats in the findings. In terms of
sharing experience numerically and storywise, there has been a dearth of research that has
mentioned or included Middle-Easterners specifically (Torres-Harding, Andrade, & Diaz, 2012).
After the events of 9/11, hate crimes against Middle Easterners rose (The Leadership
Conference, 2015). Thus, it would not be far-fetched to expect a rise of reports of racial
microaggressions towards Middle Easterners, such as the inference that all Middle Easterners are
terrorists (Desmond-Harrison, 2015a).
However, evaluation of the current literature reveals little to no mention of the Middle
Eastern demographic (Worthington, Navarro, Loewy, & Hart, 2008). Are Middle-Easterners
included within the literature in a group not labeled as so, perhaps in “White,” “Asian
American,” or “African American”? Or are they just not included at all? The Census Bureau still
regards Middle Easterners as “White,” so there are no exact numbers of Middle-Easterners;
however the Arab-American Institute Foundation (2012) estimates there are about 3.7 million

Arab Americans living within the U.S. Students of Middle Eastern descent must then exist within
the school system. Many Middle-Easterners and Northern Africans have objected to being
labeled as ‘White’ and have in recent years made attempts to have their own category (Krogstad,
2014). Middle-Easterners face a unique type of racial microaggression, most typically not
experienced by the other races, thus it is important that future research include, and possibly
focus on, Middle Eastern participants and their experiences.
Likewise, there is also a lack of studies focusing on the Southern region of the United
States. Without the Southern region as a category in the literature, the microaggression field
loses ability to become generalizable to all students of color throughout the Unites States. Not
only that, but as of now many of the microaggressive experiences that students of color face in
the South are unknown. In a study that did take place in the South, a student commented that if
people knew about the negative experiences that occurred, it would be obvious that the campus
was in the South and still very much segregated (Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, & Thomas, 1999).
Even though researcher try to acquire more diverse region samples by including all regions of
the U.S the South is still often left out (Nadal, Wong, Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). Many of the
current studies focus in the Midwest (Pittman, 2012), East (Greer &Brown, 2011), Northeast
(Sue, Rivera, Watkins, & Kim, 2011) or West (Huber, 2011).
Researchers have suggested that different regions provide different levels of
microaggressions because of historic implications (Nadal, Wong, Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). For
example, Nadal and his colleagues (2014) found that Asian Americans reported less racial
microaggressions in the West region of the U.S possibly due to the fact the West has a longer
history with and larger population of Asian Americans. Hence, because of the history the south
has, particularly with Blacks, psychologists could possibly find higher variances and stronger

correlations between perceived discrimination and mental health issues (Greer & Brown, 2011).
Again, leaving out the South makes racial microaggressions difficult to generalize to students
living in the U.S.
When recounting acts of microaggressions, whether with a scale or in a focus group,
participants are asked to use their memory and use their judgments to retell their experiences.
Thus, a possible threat to results in all studies is the recall of story and reliance on self-report
from participants (Wong, Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013). It is possible that the events of the day
could influence answers on surveys or questionnaires, or even discussions (Grier-Reed, 2010).
Emotions that participants are feeling while the study is being conducted can sway how the
participants remember their experiences, hence either understating or overstating certain events
(Tran & Lee, 2014). Yet, observational studies of racial microaggressions on campuses in a
natural setting would be difficult, so collecting data of microaggressions in any other way could
prove to be rough. The field holds little to no longitudinal research, but by conducting studies
overtime, researchers may follow the “developmental trends of racial microaggressions within
the same sample” (Wong, Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013, 14) and therefore allow for more
consideration of how impactful racial microaggressions can be.
Racial Microaggressions Affecting Mental Health
Looking at the effects of racial microaggressions is important because it makes the point
that racial microaggressions do occur and have negative consequences. Unfortunately, current
research readings into the thesis project have not yielded any experiments with causal results,
and studies that correlate microaggression experiences to mental health have been few since the
topic is just emerging. However, a few quantitative studies have found correlations between
racial microaggressions and mental distress.

An exploratory study using an untested measure found a low correlation between binge
drinking and racial microaggressions among 594 students of color at a HWI (Blume, Lovato,
Thyken, & Denny, 2012), but the validity of this exploratory study is questioned because of the
use of an untested instrument. Another interesting finding from this study revealed that almost
75% of the possible general psychology participants reported experiencing an average of
290.546 racial microaggressions in a 90 day period. Future studies should focus on the number
of racial microaggressions students face during certain time frames.
Contrasting results of students who went to a Historically Black College/University
(HBCU) and those who attended a Historically White Institution (HWI), Greer and Brown
(2011) found in their sample of 202 African Americans that students who attended HWIs
experienced significantly higher levels of minority status stress than students who went to a
HBCU. Minority status stress was defined as a “unique source of stress that emanates from
psychosocial difficulties related to racial and ethnic background” (Greer & Brown, 2011, 26).
Similarly, a meta-analysis of 134 articles by Pascoe and Richman (2009) revealed that higher
levels of perceived discrimination are related to poor levels of mental health among all
ethnicities. Additionally, the same researchers found 1% significance of reverse effects, as in
increased perception of discrimination was related to fewer mental health issues, however
claimed this was the result of interference of other variables such as coping style and social
support (Pascoe & Richman, 2009), which this review analyzes separately.
A second exploratory study with a sample of 157 Asian Americans found that racial
microaggressions, most specifically microinvalidations, are a significant predictor for general
mental health problems (Nadal, Wong, Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). A microinvalidation is a type of
microaggression that conveys exclusion, negation, or nullifies the thoughts, feelings, or racial

reality of a person of color (Sue, Capodilupo, Torino, & Bucceri, 2007). Therefore, for Nadal
and his co-researchers (2014), their sample suggested that invalidation of racial reality has a
negative impact on Asian American psychological well-being in general. Microaggression
studies focusing on one particular race and its ethnicities imply experiential differences among
races, ethnicities, and cultures. For that reason, it is recommended that the field become specific
with sampling its participants before becoming broad. In becoming specific first, researchers
could by chance then compare and contrast the experiences, mental health correlations, and
coping styles of the different races.
A study by Hwang and Goto (2008) found several interesting key findings, the first being
that their results from studying 186 college students of color indicated significant positive
correlations between experienced discrimination and psychological distress, anxiety, clinical
depression, and increased risk for suicidal ideation. Additionally, their results also suggested that
those who were exposed to discrimination were two times at greater risk for depression and that
younger college students are at an increased danger of experiencing psychological distress.
Correspondingly, a study conducted by Smith et al. (2011) found that racial microaggressions
accounted for about 18% of the variance in extreme environmental stress from a purposive sub-
sample of 123 college-educated Black men. Not only that, but the influence of racial
microaggressions on stress grew stronger the more educated the Black male was.
Recording experiences numerically, such as through surveys and questionnaires, is one of
the fastest ways to garner personal testimonies as they may not be as extensive as focus groups
or interviews, and usually appear to be shortened for the participants (Forrest-Bank, Jenson, &
Trecartin, 2015). In the microaggression field, self-reporting scales are normally used to

correlate relationships between microaggressions and other variables, such as mental health
(Nadal, Griffin, Wong, & Hamit, 2014).
The Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS) is cited as one of most frequently
used scales because of its high coefficient alphas (all over .80) in independent samples and its
strong correlations with 2 other valid scales of racism (Nadal, 2011). One study that used the
REMS as an instrument with a sample of Asian Americans found indications of a correlation
between microaggressions and general mental health problems with a p<.00 and 20% of variance
explained (Nadal, Wong, Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). Having scales to measure racial
microaggressions that can correlate mental health symptoms is helpful in the discussion that
subtle racist acts are harmful not harmless. However, scales are limited in the way that they lack
pathos and human story that can explain the answers, or numbers, in quantitative studies.
Pascoe and Richman’s (2009) dilemma of contradictive findings (Shelton & Richeson,
2006) has been a problem that other psychologists have also claimed exist within the field.
Finding strong connections in the relationship for mental health and racial microaggressions has
been difficult; however, there is hope that as the research grows and instruments become more
reliable and valid, a more conclusive answer will be drawn.
Research indicates that there are not enough studies being conducted in the field and that
there needs to be a widely accepted instrument and consistent use of a definition to measure
racial microaggressions, and in this case, made particularly to fit college students. Even though
finding high correlations and variances connecting mental health issues and racial
microaggressions has been difficult, this could be possibly due to the fact of error in present
instruments (Blume, Lovato, Thyken, & Denny, 2012) and the lack of reliability and validation
for unique instruments (Dovidio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson, 2002). Likewise, interference

of other variables (sex, SES) can affect results where racial microaggressions can only account
for so much of the distress as seen in the 20% variance where 80% is not accounted (Nadal,
Wong, Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). Additionally, other threats could be stereotype threat,
(Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2001) where students answer differently for fear of confirming
stereotypes, or the threat of students already using coping skills/ strategies that developed over
the years prior to college (Ruggiero & Taylor, 1997). Obtaining the skills to deal with
microaggressions may help students weaken the effects of microaggressions thus deflating the
data in quantitative research.
Pascoe and Richman (2009) are the first to mention how already receiving help can
interfere with results. Likewise, cultures teach their people to cope in different ways, thus when
looking at perceived discrimination across cultures (Armenta, Lee, Pituc, & Jung, 2013) one may
find fluctuations of how much racial microaggressions affect psychological well-being for each
group. Ultimately, if researchers could control more of the variables, the field might find
stronger evidence of a link between racial microaggressions and mental health. Referencing
weak findings and variable interference, a critique made of the mental health theme is that, in the
vast majority of articles connecting mental health and microaggressions, there is no mention of
controlling for coping and social support variables. The coping behavior that is most effective in
reducing mental distresses is still under debate (Pascoe &Richman, 2009) as there are many
ways of coping, and one way of coping maybe more beneficial for a particular ethnic group
(Chiang, Hunter, & Yeh, 2004), situation, or context.
Coping with Difficult Dialogues
Difficult dialogues on race have been defined as possible dangerous conversations or
interactions between members of different racial groups which usually occur in a context where

there’s an unequal balance between power and privilege, when one group is offensive to another,
when honor/pride is challenged, and/or when strong emotional affects are displayed (Sue, Lin,
Torino, & Capodilupo, 2009). Difficult dialogues occur often in the context of a classroom
where discussions of ideas are encouraged (Sue, Rivera, Watkins, & Kim, 2011); however racial
microaggressions themselves can also occur in the residence halls (Worthington, Navarro,
Loewy, & Hart, 2008) or in fraternities/ sororities (Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, & Thomas, 1999).
Teachers have reported that heated racial arguments begin in the classroom when racial
microaggressions surface during class time and a student points it out (Sue, Lin, Torino, &
Capodilupo, 2009). When crucial racial conversations come up within the classroom it’s
important that the professors know how to cope with facilitating a conversation or else the talk
can become verbally violent and disturb the setting of the class (Sue, Rivera, Watkins, & Kim,
2011).
For this review, only one quantitative article was found about incidences of
microaggressions in the classroom. In the study, Boysen et al. (2009) found that professors rated
their responses to biases as effective 45% of the time, while undergraduate students rated their
professors as 20% effective. Thus, students and teachers may not agree to the degree of
effectiveness, but this may be because, in the same study, students were found to be more
susceptible to perceiving biases. While this review did not yield any more quantitative data for
teacher management of difficult dialogues in the classroom, there are interviews of professors
who have given their ideas of what to do and not to do when racial microaggressions trigger
difficult dialogues in an academic space (Sue, Rivera, Watkins, & Kim, 2011). Conversations
within the topic field have advised that professors know what defensive behaviors look like
beforehand so they can create their own plan in managing an appropriate discussion (Watt,

2007). Other important tips are that professors should legitimize the conversation and not keep
quiet, validate the feelings within the classroom, accept different racial realities, and most
importantly, be comfortable in having a discussion about race (Sue, Lin, Torino, & Capodilupo,
2009).
In the context of racial microaggressions, coping is defined as “conceptualized efforts
used to manage, lessen, or endure the demands of situations that are perceived as stressful” and
stress is “the product of person-environment interactions that are perceived by individuals as
taxing or exceeding their available resources” (Greer & Brown, 2011, 26-27). According to the
interviews of professors, (Sue, Rivera, Watkins, & Kim, 2011) faculty play an important part in
the conversation of race at schools and helping students cope, even more so in the schools that
are predominantly White. Teachers who are proactively supportive of students of color and their
racial realities become role models and mentors to these students who need emotional
reassurance of the perceived discrimination they experience (Pittman, 2012). Studies suggest that
whether the difficult dialogue is facilitated or thwarted by the professor can either help students
cope with microaggressions or further perpetuate a negative racial climate (Sue, Lin, Torino, &
Capodilupo, 2009).
In the face of negative racial climate in the classroom, students of color report feeling
invisible, racial segregation in study groups, and other students and professors having lower
expectations of them (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2001). One student reported feeling frustrated
when her integrity was assailed in the classroom and how she, “get[s] so worked up and so
mad…it brings back all these memories” (Sue, Lin, Torino, & Capodilupo, 2009, 187). When
students constantly feel like a deficiency in their own school (Huber, 2011), this is when the

repetitive silent or overt discriminations can have a toll on their psyche (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, &
Hamit, 2014).
A focus group study of 81 students sharing their racial realities on a predominantly White
campus discovered that the most common form of coping with racial microaggressions was that,
while communicating their displeasure, they chose whatever was the least confrontational
(Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012). An example of being non-confrontational is
censoring oneself in order not to create discomfort to the ‘microaggressor’ or the individual who
dealt the microaggression. Similarly, Ruggiero and Taylor (1997) found that students of color
tended to minimize the discrimination because doing so was more psychologically beneficial
than being on guard all the time. They also found that Black and Asian American students chose
to blame failure on themselves when minimizing discrimination implying that repressed feelings
of inferiority and discontent can be harmful in some way to students of color (Nadal, Wong,
Sriken, & Griffin, 2014). The burdensome effects of keeping silent can carry a heavy toll on the
mind and can cause students of color to view their school and experience negatively (Harwood,
Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012), and feel like they cannot turn to professional help (Chiang,
Hunter, & Yeh, 2004).
A critique of the literature that includes coping, so far, would be the possible interference
of protective factors or conditions that eliminate risk as a possible threat when researching how
students cope. While helpful to the student to decrease significant amounts of distress (Ruggiero
& Taylor, 1997), protective factors such as a supportive network (McCabe, 2009) may lessen the
reports of microaggressions that occur, thus making the numbers collected look not as urgent.
Nonetheless, the idea that students would need to take asylum in a support structure for their

stress (Rodgers & Summers, 2008) demonstrates how seriously the effects of racial
microaggressions are impacting students.
Furthermore, there is a lack of discussion within the field of the effects of a positive
racial climate in the classroom. While there is literature about microaggressions outside of the
classroom (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso), in the classroom (Watt, 2007), and on campus (Pittman,
2012), there is little discussion about how students feel when they are in the right environment
(Grier-Reed, 2010). When providing evidence of a problem it should also be important to include
solutions that are already working in an effort to demonstrate how the right changes can have a
positive effect (Laughter, 2014).
For example, Grier-Reed (2010) discusses how a ‘counterspace’ has given support and
encouragement to a large Midwestern PWI that serves 65,000 students. Solórzano and colleagues
(2000) define counterspaces as places where the stereotypes of people of color can be challenged
and positive racial climate be fostered and upheld (as sited in Grier-Reed, 2010). Likewise,
Laughter (2014) suggests the idea of “Micro-kindnesses” or active models of action meant to
fight the impact of daily microaggressions experienced by target individuals of discrimination.
Laughter’s concept is unique because the actions are meant to counter microaggressions and
provide a potential space for positive interaction.
Critiques of the Racial Microaggression Field
The following critiques are made of the topic field as a whole in reference to what has and
has not been found within the current review of the literature.
Racial microaggressions and their effects on students of color need to be generalizable to
the population of college students of color to demonstrate that these subtle discriminations are
impactful and have adverse effects. However, when the literature decides to focus on only 1

school, in 1 region, it is difficult to apply the results nationally. Likewise, it is difficult to apply
the researcher’s results to the institution they conducted the study in because the demographics
of the university are rarely revealed (McCabe, 2009); thus it is unclear whether their sample can
be applied to the population at that school because proportionality is not discussed or disclosed.
In general, the field of racial microaggressions suffers from a lack of valid and reliable
measures. This may be so because of the controversy in the field of whether to analyze and
measure racial groups individually or create an instrument that would measure all people of color
(Forrest-Bank, Jenson, & Trecartin, 2015). However, because races face different types of
discrimination, such as Asian Americans being the ‘model minority’ (Armenta, Lee, Pituc, &
Jung, 2013) or have a different history, like the Black history of slavery, creating instruments to
fit individual groups first before going general may be most beneficial.
Also, there is a problem with the time frame that most of the instruments work in. Many of
the instruments ask the participants to recall their experiences from 6 months (Nadal, Mazzula,
Rivera, & Fujii-Doe, 2014) or more, which raises concerns about recall bias. Lastly, a majority
of the measures do not acknowledge the ambiguity that occurs among people of color during
interactions of perceived discrimination (Tran & Lee, 2014). This means, people of color may be
facing more microaggressions than they realize, but because they are not aware of or are so used
to the slights, what the participants are reporting may be understated (Ruggiero & Taylor, 1997).
Furthermore, phenotype, or physical attributes can lessen or increase the number of slights. For
instance, darker Latinos report more experiences of microaggressions than lighter Latinos who
claim they rarely have felt inferior (Nadal, Mazzula, & Rivera, 2014).
Discussion and Recommendations

As a foundational author, Derald Wing Sue’s work with racial microaggressions has
increased studies and publications since redefining and adding to the framework of racial
microaggressions. Prior to 2007, PsycINFO would identify only one paper using the search term
“racial microaggression” but by 2012 the number of articles grew to 58 (Wong, Derthick, David,
& Saw, 2013). In the spring of 2015, one will find that the literature in PsycINFO for “racial
microaggression” has now expanded to 147 articles. Clearly, the research with racial
microaggressions has only started to bloom as facilitators continue to create and look for
appropriate means of measurements (Torres-Harding, Andrade, & Diaz, 2012) and increase of
population sample sizes (Irizarry, 2013).
This review offers insight thematically into the field of racial microaggressions and
critiques some flaws the research is starting to see as publications grow. Perhaps as instruments
become increasingly valid, one will find that variances and correlations between racial
microaggressions and negative experiences and mental health issues may become stronger
(Torres-Harding, Andrade, & Diaz, 2012). Because variances and correlations are currently low,
my hypothesis that negative college experiences and mental health issues would increase as
racial microaggressions increase remains inconclusive but strongly implied by significant
findings. The statistical significance in the data, although not very strong, should be worth the
practical implications of even minutely making students of color feel more a part of their college
community and major (Felix, 2014).
It would be helpful to have post-tests or follow ups for qualitative data. Whether it be
using a scale or open ended questions, collecting reactions after a meeting can add to the
literature of how creating a space to talk about microaggressions (Grier-Reed, 2010) aids in
helping students of color cope. Additionally, it could also add hard data to what would have

otherwise been solely a qualitative study (Felix, 2014). As a researcher and reader, one does not
know what ideas participants are leaving with and how the study could have affected a student’s
perception afterwards. Hence, post-tests can provide further in-depth literature to the topic.
After President Obama was voted into office in 2008, only 26% of Americans thought
that racism was still a problem (Wong, Derthick, David, & Saw, 2013). Every individual’s racial
reality is why there is so much challenge within this field (Sue, Capodilupo, Nadal, & Torino,
2008). It is only in this past decade that certain aspects of racial microaggressions have been
scientifically observed, and therefore, there are still a lot of questions that are left unanswered
and unexplored within this field (Nadal, Mazzula, Rivera, & Fujii-Doe, 2014). Clear forms of
racism have been studied in psychology since the Civil Right Era (Wong, Derthick, David, &
Saw, 2013); however the more subtle forms of discrimination have been less so, and it is vital
that psychologists continue to do so because of probable negative health outcomes that could be
associated with perceived discrimination among people of color.
A study conducted in 1989 by Crocker and Major (as cited in Wong, Derthick, David, &
Saw, 2013) suggests that the struggle for people of color of not knowing whether they are being
judged by their race or not can negatively impact their psychological well-being. Hence, looking
at racial microaggressions in a college setting and creating positive spaces for students of color
can be supportive and an appropriate outlet for coping (Chiang, Hunter, & Yeh, 2004). A student
in a university with a positive space for such difficult discussions shared her experience of
feeling silenced in the classroom.
…The reason I don’t speak up in a lot of my classes is because I don’t want to be
stigmatized the moment I open my mouth…White people think, “she’s
uneducated, what is she doing here.[sic] (Grier-Reed, 2010, 184)

Being in an environment that allows students to talk about their experiences with
microaggressions can relieve so many students of color (Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, & Thomas,
1999). Creating an authentic space for racial conversations provides a sense of belonging for
students of color, which is important for retention (Grier-Reed, 2010). According to Rodgers and
Summers (2008), despite HWIs enrolling more Black students than HBCUs, Black students
disproportionately graduated less often at HWIs. However, Hewit et al. (1990) describe how
programs that address racial climate and create a supportive network strengthen adjustment and
enhance retention rates (as cited in Schwitzer, Griffin, Ancis, & Thomas, 1999).
Future studies need to continue expanding their research implications in order to answer
the questions of how racial microaggressions impact students of color and how positive racial
climates can be created. Researchers should test for valid instruments of measurement, conduct
longitudinal studies, and increase population sample sizes so they may become generalizable
nationally. Likewise, analysts should be purposive in their sampling so that their sample reflects
the proportions of students of color in the institution they are conducting research in. In addition,
implications of ‘counterspaces’, or a space where “positive collegiate racial climate can be
established and maintained” (Grier-Reed, 2010, 182-183) within universities and colleges,
should also be considered. By continuing research in the racial microaggression field,
psychologists can hopefully bring awareness and training for interactions among students and
teachers, respectively, at colleges, and minimize mental distresses and negative experiences for
students of color.

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