Microaggressions and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scores Among Black Americans: Exploring the Link

Research has indicated that racial microaggressions are associated with increased mental health symptoms among Black Americans. However, despite theory-based assertions and empirical research suggesting that experiences of overt racism are associated with trauma-related symptoms, few studies to date have focused on the relation between more covert racial microaggressions and trauma-related symptoms. This study explored the relation between frequency and distress of experiencing racial microaggressions and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a Black American sample. Participants were 258 Black American adults (Mage = 25.94, SD = 10.18, 75.6% women) who participated in a cross-sectional online study. We used hierarchical linear regression to examine the association between microaggressions and PTSD symptoms. After accounting for age, gender, and education, higher frequency of environmental, low achievement, and invisibility microaggressions were associated with increased endorsement of PTSD symptoms. Distress associated with invisibility microaggressions was also associated with increased PTSD symptoms above and beyond microaggression frequency. The link between racial microaggressions and PTSD symptoms in the current sample suggests that clinicians should pay particular attention to the ways in which these experiences could be linked to Black American clients’ symptoms in therapeutic contexts.