“White people stress me out all the time”: Black students define racial trauma.

Abstract

Objective: Using a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm and a Black feminist qualitative framework, this study investigated how Black students at a predominantly White university in the southeast defined racial trauma. Method: A purposive sample of 26 participants (10 men and 16 women, aged 18-27) participated in a semistructured interview about their definitions of race-based stress and racial trauma. Data analysis consisted of a six-phase inductive, latent thematic analysis. Researcher reflexivity, interviews, observations, and research memos contributed to trustworthiness. Results: Participants' understandings of race-based stress and racial trauma-informed two composite definitions of racial trauma. Participants conceptualized racial trauma and race-based stress as related and identified three salient components of racial trauma: (a) "Sticking with": temporal component, (b) "Suffering severely": intensity component, and (c) "Repeating regularly": frequency component. Conclusions: The findings of this study contribute to the existing literature by providing an academic and community definition of racial trauma grounded in the voices of Black collegians. These definitions of racial trauma may be used to inform future research, clinical services, and outreach.

Shifting mediates the relationship between ethnic identity, acculturation status, and racism-related stress among Asian American women.

“…The resultant racism-related stress hinders one’s ability to allocate cognitive resources to cope with these seemingly endless occurrences (Clark et al, 1999; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Most research on racism-related stress has focused on African Americans (Gamst et al, 2020; Hargons et al, 2021; Jones et al, 2020), but there is a growing proportion of studies that examine Asian Americans (Lee & Ahn, 2011; Miller et al, 2011), particularly as it relates to ethnic identity and acculturation.…”

Race-Based Stress Reactions and Recovery: Pilot Testing a Racial Trauma Meditation

“…Experiencing, witnessing, or even hearing about something racist momentarily shifts most Black people’s physiology in a way the body typically responds to threat (Neblett & Roberts, 2013); however, White people’s physiology shifts as if they are exposed to a non-threatening curiosity (Karmali et al, 2017). Further, racist stressors are often recurring, causing these stress reactions to happen more regularly (Hargons et al, 2021). Additionally, reported psychological outcomes of racist stressors among Black Americans include somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and anxiety (Pieterse et al, 2012).…”

“…Through the theoretical framework of the Biopsychosocial Model of Perceived Racism (Clark et al, 1999), we propose the accumulation of race-based stress, without adaptive coping strategies, may lead to racial trauma—a chronic and cumulative presentation of race-based stress symptoms (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Carter, 2007; Hargons et al, 2021). Race-based stress reaction, or the immediate, involuntary response one experiences following a racist stressor, is the earliest point of intervention to prevent the progression to racial trauma (Hargons et al, 2021). Furthermore, what Black people learn through racial socialization about how they should respond to racist stressors (i.e., don’t let them get under your skin, or if you react “poorly” you’re giving them a reason to kill you) (Anderson et al, 2019; Thomas & Blackmon, 2015), may lead to suppression of the normal stress reaction and recovery process.…”

“…Through the theoretical framework of the Biopsychosocial Model of Perceived Racism (Clark et al, 1999), we propose the accumulation of race-based stress, without adaptive coping strategies, may lead to racial trauma—a chronic and cumulative presentation of race-based stress symptoms (Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Carter, 2007; Hargons et al, 2021). Race-based stress reaction, or the immediate, involuntary response one experiences following a racist stressor, is the earliest point of intervention to prevent the progression to racial trauma (Hargons et al, 2021).…”

Disrupting Three Prominent Racialized Trauma Tropes

“…For the purposes of this article, I focus on naming deficit racial narratives as a potential driver for trauma because of the direct or indirect impact they may have on the psychological, emotional, and/or physiological responses of youth of color (Hargons et al, 2021). Recently, I shared some youth trauma literature with a group of mostly White educators during a recent professional development session, and I observed how many of them, perhaps unintentionally, may contribute to students' racial trauma through the narratives they reproduce among themselves in schools.…”