African American College Students and Environmental Racial Microaggressions
Abstract
Racial microaggressions are experienced continuously by African American college students in their daily lives. Racial microaggressions are subtle racist statements or actions that are intended to denigrate people of color. Many times the perpetrator is not aware of the insults and sometimes he or she is aware. This study used a sample of African American college students (N=240) who attended a Historically Black University in the South. The researchers examined the effects of racial microaggressions on REMS’ Subscale 5 with regards to employment and gender. The study results found a significant difference between African American male college students and African American female students in their experience of environmental racial microaggressions. No difference was revealed when comparing students who worked and students who did not work. The researchers discussed coping strategies to help African American college students’ reduce the deleterious effects of racial microaggressions on their emotional and physical health.