Unraveling the Contextual Nature of Racial Microaggressions, Coping, and Perceived Stress Using Ambulatory Assessment in Graduate Students of Color: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study

The construct of racial microaggressions has been well-contested in the psychological literature, and numerous methodological challenges have been presented in terms of operationalizing and measuring racial microaggressions. To that end, racial microaggressions, stress, and coping may be best measured by combining ambulatory assessment and qualitative methods to better understand how microaggressions are contextualized in real-time. This study aimed to explore the day-level associations between perceived stress and racial microaggressions among graduate students of color using an 8-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) method. Participants (N=36; M age= 28.4, SD=2.24) completed a baseline survey and a 7-day EMA protocol, providing contextual information on instances of racial microaggressions as well as bi-daily measurements of perceived stress. Qualitative analysis of EMA data, utilizing thematic and content analysis, revealed that racial microaggressions were primarily verbal, often related to assumptions of threat or intelligence. Quantitative analysis using linear mixed-effect models indicated no significant associations between the frequency of racial microaggressions and changes in daily perceived stress. However, greater frequency of microaggressions measured via the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS) were significantly related to a greater frequency of racial microaggressions as measured by EMA. These findings provide insights into the frequency, context, and impact of racial microaggressions among graduate students of color and call upon future research to employ more data-intensive approaches to understand racial microaggressions' impact on mental well-being in other marginalized groups.