Marginalized college students report experiencing both systemic and everyday discrimination in higher education. Scholars have highlighted the effects of microaggressions on well-being and attitudes toward school persistence. Most studies have used a unidimensional approach to unpack oppressive systems for individuals with multiple marginalized identities and therefore experiences around intersectionality are often not considered. Particularly among sexual minorities of color, differences in experiences with microaggressions for cisgender and gender expansive people are often overlooked when assessing educational outcomes. The current cross-sectional study (n = 153) used an intersectional approach to explore experiences of LGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC). We examined the association between intersectional microaggressions (sexual and racial) and school persistence attitudes, comparing differences between cisgender and gender expansive students. According to our findings, intersectional microaggressions negatively impacted attitudes toward school persistence and cisgender privilege emerged as a moderator to buffer this effect. Specifically, gender expansive students were less likely to hold positive attitudes of school persistence compared to cisgender sexual minority students of color when experiencing higher levels of intersectional microaggressions. We used an intersectional approach to explore how cissexism, heterosexism, and racism impact those at the margins among LGBTQ+ BIPoC students highlighting implications for higher education.
Introduction: Latinx and sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth experience higher incidents of racism, cissexism, and heterosexism in the forms of overt discrimination and microaggressions. These experiences could in part explain increased negative mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms. Evidence points to the possibility that LGBTQ-specific parental support buffers the effects of intersectional microaggressions on depressive symptoms among Latinx SGM youth. Methods: In a sample of 1292 Latinx SGM youth (ages 13-17), we assessed: a) the association between LGBTQ-specific parental support and depressive symptoms, b) the associations between three forms of intersectional microaggressions and depressive symptoms, and c) whether parental LGBTQ-specific parental support moderated the relationship between three forms of intersectional microaggressions and depressive symptoms. Main effect and moderation analyses examined interactions between LGBTQ-specific parental support with each of the three forms of intersectional microaggressions on depressive symptoms. Results: We found that Latinx transgender youth experienced higher intersectional microaggressions compared to their cisgender counterparts and that Latinx SGM youth who reported lower LGBTQ-specific parental support experienced higher depressive symptoms. We also identified a significant interaction between intersectional microaggressions and LGBTQ-specific parental support, suggesting that parental support was more protective at low rather than high levels of intersectional microaggressions. Conclusions: Findings suggest a need for future work examining culturally appropriate approaches to foster a supportive parent-child relationship among Latinx SGM youth and their parental figures.
The United States (U.S.) has a long history of racism and xenophobia, especially around infectious outbreaks. Recently, the associations of COVID-19 to China and Chinese people have been reflected in a surge of anti-Asian sentiment and hate crimes. Therefore, the present study examines the perceived change in everyday racism among Asians in the U.S. during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study used self-report surveys to assess the perceptions of everyday racism before and during the pandemic among Asians, Latinxs, and Whites residing in the U.S. We tested a 3 (race [Asians vs. Latinxs vs. Whites]) × 2 (perceptions [before vs. during pandemic]) analysis of covariance with repeated measures for perceptions to determine whether there were differences between racial groups for everyday racism before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings strongly indicate that Asians in the U.S. perceived a change in everyday racism during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to Latinxs and Whites. Exploratory findings show that East and Southeast Asians, in particular, experienced the steepest perceived increase in everyday racism. Anti-Asian sentiment seems to have intensified in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, as evident in the rise of everyday racism against Asians. These experiences may serve as additional stressors for Asians in the U.S. during these already distressing times and disproportionately impact East and Southeast Asians. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
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