Race‐Based Stress in White Adults: Exploring the Role of White Racial Identity Status Attitudes and Type of Racial Events

Abstract

The impact of racial experiences on Whites has been underresearched and has rarely been considered traumatic. To understand these experiences, it is important to consider variation in one's orientation to their racial group (i.e., racial identity) and the type of racial encounter. Using a White adult sample and hierarchical cluster analysis, the authors found that reactions to race‐based encounters were associated with varying levels of psychological distress and well‐being and racial identity statuses. Clinical implications are discussed. El impacto de las experiencias raciales en personas blancas no ha sido suficientemente investigado y en raras ocasiones ha sido considerado traumático. Para comprender estas experiencias, es importante considerar la variación en la orientación de cada individuo hacia su grupo racial (es decir, la identidad racial) y el tipo de encuentro racial. Usando una muestra de personas adultas blancas y un análisis jerárquico de clústeres, los autores hallaron que las reacciones a los encuentros raciales estaban asociadas a niveles variables de malestar psicológico, así como de estados de bienestar e identidad racial.

“We do not see color!”: How executive coaching can help leaders to create inclusive corporate cultures by acknowledging structural racism in its ecosystem.

“…Critical consciousness (Roche & Passmore, 2021;Shoukry, 2016;Tapela & Le Sueur, 2018) is seen as key to anti-racist work that challenges the status quo and is precisely what these coaches have to offer in terms of extending or revolutionizing the models and coaching approaches in ways that would make the process more meaningful and effective for BIPOC coachees. Because coaching is predominantly colorblind in its approach to difference, it is not able to comfortably navigate the history and presence of trauma that has contributed to the identities and coping and empowerment strategies of Black coaches, as acknowledged by professions allied to coaching (Brown et al, 2020;Carter, 2020;Kirkinis et al, 2021;Lentin, 2008); we can speculate that the same may apply to the coaching of BIPOC leaders in the workplace. Silence about racism is associated with both prolonging and intensifying the trauma generated by racialization and the injustices associated with it (Castagno, 2008).…”

The relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder and race-based traumatic stress.

“…When asked about occasional racial discrimination experiences, White participants reported racial discrimination at about half the rate (26%) of participants of color (58%). Therefore, the investigation of RBTS among White people continues to be an important area of inquiry (Carter, Roberson, & Johnson, 2020). Carter (2007) proposed that race-based experiences could result in traumatic stress and grounded this assertion in the extant empirical literature on racial discrimination, PTSD, race-related stress, and stressful life events (Carter & Pieterse, 2020).…”

Race‐Related Trauma

“…Most studies on microaggressions and race‐based trauma and injury have focused on the impact on minority status victims (see Lewis, Cameron, Kim‐Ju, & Meyers, 2020); however, Carter, Roberson, and Johnson's (2020) study is unique in that the target population was White adults who have experienced race‐based traumatic stress. Mirroring findings from the extant literature on racial discrimination, the participants reported both that they had experiences of racial discrimination and that harm had resulted from these experiences.…”

“…Some authors, in expanding on the methodological landscape of microaggression research (Lau & Williams, 2010), have encouraged researchers to consider understanding racial discrimination not only from the perspective of the targets or victims of discrimination—which has traditionally formed the majority of the research in this area—but also from the perspective of the perpetrators. The efforts of Carter et al (2020) to focus on the experiences of the dominant group and those of Luke et al (2020) to encourage greater understanding of the biological factors of racism and racial discrimination have the potential to more fully elucidate a contextualized biopsychosocial model knowledge base of these experiences.…”

“…Finally, many researchers have argued that moderators and mediators may affect the processes and outcomes of microaggressions and race‐based trauma and injury (Carter, 2007; Clark et al, 1999; Lau & Williams, 2010). In the current issue, both Carter et al (2020) and Lewis et al (2020) examine how racial identity affects the outcomes and coping of participants they studied. Others, like Franco and O'Brien (this issue), have found that the type of discrimination affects negative cardiovascular reactivity in multiracial individuals.…”