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Cited by 72Racial and Ethnic Identity ResearchCounseling Practices and SupervisionCritical Race Theory in Education

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A qualitative study of microaggressions against African Americans on predominantly White campuses

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Williams, Monnica T., Skinta, Matthew D., Kanter, Jonathan W., Martin-Willett, Renée, Mier-Chairez, Judy, Debreaux, Marlena, Rosen, Daniel C.·2020·BMC Psychology
DOI 10.1186/s40359-020-00472-8PMC PMC7583193
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pierce's (The Black seventies: an extending horizon book, 1970) conception of "subtle and stunning" daily racial offenses, or microaggressions, remains salient even 50 years after it was introduced. Microaggressions were defined further by Sue and colleagues (Am Psychol 62:271, 2007), and this construct has found growing utility as the deleterious effects of microaggressions on the health of people of color continues to mount. Microaggressions are common on campuses and contribute to negative social, academic, and mental health outcomes. METHOD: This paper explores how Black college students' experiences correspond to or differ from the microaggression types originally proposed by Sue et al. (Am Psychol 62:271, 2007). Themes were identified from focus group data of students of color (N = 36) from predominately White institutions (PWIs) of higher learning (N = 3) using interpretative phenomenological analysis. RESULTS: We identified 15 categories of racial microaggressions, largely consistent with the original taxonomy of Sue et al. but expanded in several notable ways. New categories in our data and observed by other researchers, included categories termed Connecting via Stereotypes, Exoticization and Eroticization, and Avoidance and Distancing. Lesser studied categories identified included Sue et al.'s Denial of Individual Racism, and new categories termed Reverse Racism Hostility, Connecting via Stereotypes, and Environmental Attacks. DISCUSSION: While previous literature has either embraced the taxonomy developed by Sue and colleagues or proposed a novel taxonomy, this study synthesized the Sue framework in concert with our own focus group findings and the contributions of other researchers. Improving our understanding of microaggressions as they impact people of color may better allow for improved understanding and measurement of this important construct.

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  • Black students tend to experience racial microaggressions related to their levels of intelligence, assumptions of academic inferiority, and assumptions of criminal status.

    “For example, Black students tend to experience racial microaggressions related to their levels of intelligence, assumptions of academic inferiority, and assumptions of criminal status”

    From Reframing the impostor phenomenon for Black college students (2024) · cites this paper as Williams et al., 2020

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Metadata

Authors
Williams, M. T., Skinta, M. D., Kanter, J. W., Martin-Willett, R., Mier-Chairez, J., Debreaux, M., & Rosen, D. C.
Affiliations
  • University of Ottawa (CA)
  • Roosevelt University (US)
  • University of Washington (US)
  • University of Louisville (US)
  • Vanderbilt University (US)
  • Bastyr University (US)
Corresponding author
Williams, Monnica T.
ORCID
Venue
BMC Psychology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-10-23
Volume
8
Issue
1
Pages
111-111
ISSN
2050-7283 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s40359-020-00472-8
PMC
PMC7583193
OpenAlex
W3093982419
Cited by
72
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8
FWCI
11.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • uO Research (University of Ottawa) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • American Psychological Foundation (Visionary Grant)
  • Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (950-232127)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
Keywords
racial microaggressions, African American college students, predominantly white institutions, environmental attack, students of color, higher education
MeSH terms
Aggression, Black or African American, Female, Humans, Male, Universities, Qualitative Research, White People, Young Adult, Racism

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