Racial microaggressions and racial traumatic stress: A path analysis of coping strategies, ethnic identity, and psychological distress among people of color.

内容摘要

Racial-based traumatic stress (RBTS) is a well-established, transdiagnostic risk factor associated with mental and physical health concerns among people of color. RBTS may arise immediately following a discriminatory encounter or develop as a psychological response to repeated racial stress. Racial microaggressions, subtle, ambiguous discriminatory events, are particularly harmful, as their cumulative impact can contribute to significant psychological distress. Although prior research has documented strong, bidirectional links between racial microaggressions and posttraumatic stress, no study has examined the extent to which microaggressions predict RBTS or how individual risk and resilience factors shape this relationship. A racially diverse people of color sample (N = 880, Mage = 23.4, SD = 3.24) was recruited using an online cross-sectional survey assessing racial microaggressions, RBTS, psychological distress, coping, and ethnic identity. Structural equation modeling was used to examine parallel and moderated mediation models. Racial microaggressions predicted psychological distress indirectly through both immediate and current RBTS, with the direct effect nonsignificant, indicating full mediation. Negative coping strengthened, whereas positive coping weakened, the links between microaggressions and RBTS. Affirmed ethnic identity showed mixed effects, offering protection when adaptive coping was high and maladaptive coping was low. Conditional indirect effects indicated that trauma pathways were strongest under high negative coping and low positive coping. These findings suggest that racial microaggressions contribute to distress chiefly through trauma-related mechanisms, including immediate reactions. Coping strategies and ethnic identity shaped these pathways, underscoring the clinical value of fostering adaptive coping and identity-affirming practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).