Revealing Cuts Beneath the Skin: Black Men and the Biopsychosocial Impact of Racial Microaggressions

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Microaggressions Across College and University Contexts

Abstract

This study explores the biopsychosocial impact of racial microaggressions in the lives of a group of Black male college graduates. I am conducting an interdisciplinary research in order to provide insight into the health outcomes linked with their varied appraisal, response, and coping strategies associated with race related stress. I am utilizing a transformative sequential mixed method (Creswell 2002) to collect qualitative and quantitative data as well as telomere length, a unique biometric indicator of aging, in order to contribute to our current understanding of the nature and impact of chronic exposure to race-related stress. The guiding tenets and goals of Critical Race Theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) inform the conceptual framework, questions, methodology, and analyses of the present study.

Author

• Kenjus Terrel Watson, University of California - Los Angeles