The purpose of this article is to discuss the psychological and emotional effects of racism on people of Color. Psychological models and research on racism, discrimination, stress, and trauma will be integrated to promote a model to be used to understand, recognize, and assess race-based traumatic stress to aid counseling and psychological assessment, research, and training.

The literature indicates that perceived racism tends to be associated with adverse psychological and physiological outcomes; however, findings in this area are not yet conclusive. In this meta-analysis, we systematically reviewed 66 studies (total sample size of 18,140 across studies), published between January 1996 and April 2011, on the associations between racism and mental health among Black Americans. Using a random-effects model, we found a positive association between perceived racism and psychological distress (r = .20). We found a moderation effect for psychological outcomes, with anxiety, depression, and other psychiatric symptoms having a significantly stronger association than quality of life indicators. We did not detect moderation effects for type of racism scale, measurement precision, sample type, or type of publication. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study explored the relationship among general life stress, racism-related stress, and psychological health in a sample of 220 Black men. Participants completed a personal data form, the Perceived Stress Scale (S. Cohen, T. Kamarck, & R. Mermelstein, 1983), a modified version of the Schedule of Racist Events (H. Landrine & E. A. Klonoff, 1996), and the Mental Health Inventory (C. T. Veit & J. E. Ware, 1983). Results of hierarchical regressions indicated that when general stress was controlled, racism-related stress predicted an additional 4% of variance in psychological distress for working class men and an additional 7% for middle-upper class men. Racism-related stress also predicted an additional 5% of variance in psychological well-being for middle-upper class men; however, it was not predictive of psychological well-being for working class men. Implications for counseling practice and future research are discussed.

In this study, we examined the association among perceptions of racial and/or ethnic discrimination, racial climate, and trauma-related symptoms among 289 racially diverse college undergraduates. Study measures included the Perceived Stress Scale, the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version, and the Racial Climate Scale. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that Asian and Black students reported more frequent experiences of discrimination than did White students. Additionally, the MANOVA indicated that Black students perceived the campus racial climate as being more negative than did White and Asian students. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that when controlling for generic life stress, perceptions of discrimination contributed an additional 10% of variance in trauma-related symptoms for Black students, and racial climate contributed an additional 7% of variance in trauma symptoms for Asian students.

The paper describes the development of the Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale (RBTSSS), a measure designed to assess the psychological and emotional stress reactions to racism and racial discrimination. Scale items were derived from existing measures of race-related stress and models of trauma, and were tested on a 330 racially heterogeneous (e.g., Blacks, White, Asian, and Hispanic) adult sample. Exploratory Factor Analyses with oblique rotations revealed a 52-item measure consisting of seven scales; Depression, Anger, Physical Reactions, Avoidance, Intrusion, Hypervigilance/Arousal, and Low Self-Esteem. The findings are consistent with symptom clusters associated with the conceptual model of race-based traumatic stress. The RBTSSS adds a tool to counseling assessment by providing mental health professionals a way to assess the emotional reactions of racism and racial discrimination. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.