Coping with racial battle fatigue: differences and similarities for African American and Mexican American college students

ABSTRACT

Student of Color often reference racial microaggressions when asked to describe their post-secondary experience. The racial battle fatigue framework assists in understanding the cumulative, negative effect of racial microaggressions on psychological, behavioral, and physiological outcomes. This paper assesses the racial battle fatigue framework for African American and Mexican American college students and the impact of coping on racial stress. Results demonstrate that racial microaggressions negatively impact stress responses for African American and Mexican Americans differently, but coping may help alleviate the impact of racial battle fatigue. Universities can address racial microaggressions and negative health outcomes by educating campus constituents about racial microaggressions, addressing Whiteness, and providing education about adaptive coping strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial battle fatigue
• racism
• stress
• higher education

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to Dr. William A. Smith and my father, Dr. Barry M. Franklin for their support, guidance, and feedback on this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.