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Responding to Racism and Racial Trauma in Doctoral Study: An Inventory for Coping and Mediating Relationships
KIMBERLY A. TRUONG Northeastern University
SAMUEL D. MUSEUS University of Hawaii at Manoa
Researchers have highlighted the fact that racism is a stressor that has significant negative psychological ramifications for victims of racial oppression (Bryant-Davis, 2007; Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Carter, 2007; Carter & Forsyth, 2009; Carter et al., 2005; Clark et al., 1999; Harrell, 2000). Specifically, racism-related stress and racial trauma are consequences of racialized interactions between individuals or groups and their environment. Harrell (2000) identifies six types of situations in which racism-related stress and racial trauma occur: “racism-related life events, vicarious racism experiences, daily racism microstressors, chronic-contextual stress, collective experiences of racism, and the transgenerational transmission of group traumas” (p. 45). Moreover, Stevenson (2003) notes that experiencing racist situations that cannot be resolved results in racism-related stress and racial trauma. Some consequences of racism-related stress may include experiencing depression, headaches, anxiety, low self-esteem, humiliation, upset stomach, chest pains, tunnel vision, ulcers, back pains, nightmares, loss of appetite or overeating, nausea, shortness of breath, weeping, vomiting, fatigue, increased heart rate and hypertension, anger and frustration, difficulty concentrating, lack of productivity and motivation, sleep deprivation, and recounting specific racist situations days, weeks, months, and years after they occur as if they happened more recently (Bryant-Davis, 2007; Bryant-Davis & Ocampo, 2005; Carter, 2007; Carter & Forsyth, 2009; Clark et al., 1999; Harrell, 2000; Smith et al., 2007; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000; Sue et al., 2007).
Coping with Racism and Racial Trauma Coping with racism and racial trauma is a complex process that demands mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical energy and effort (Brondolo, Brady ver Halen, Pencille, Beatty, & Contrada, 2009; Carter, 2007; Cheng, 2003). Individuals must have knowledge of the strategies that they can use in specific situations and must also consider how those strategies might trigger particular responses and result in being further or less oppressed (Cheng, 2003). For example, coping methods, such as utilizing social support, might lead individuals to experience additional psychological, emotional, and physiological consequences, such as having to relive the experience while trying to rationalize it (Carter, 2007; Sanders Thompson, 2006). In addition, people who experience racism and use particular coping strategies, such as confronting an oppressor, may experience further marginalization.
Responding to Racism and Racial Trauma in Doctoral Study: An