Microaggression events refer to everyday derogations, slights, and invalidations that are often delivered to people of minority or marginalized backgrounds.
Examples are complimenting a racial minority college student as surprisingly intelligent or well-spoken ("you speak really good English for an Asian"), or referring to negative events, behaviors, or traits as "that's so gay."
The term "microaggression" was first introduced by Chester Pierce and redefined by Derald Sue and colleagues. Before colleges and workplace settings implement diversity training and before "microinterventions" are recommended in day-to-day interactions to combat microaggression, there exists a great deal of discourse in public and academic arenas around this term.
Popular media has referenced a war on microaggressions. Critiques of this body of research question the empirical reality of microaggression, particularly microaggression's conceptual clarity, differentiation from other forms of discrimination, confounding impact of individual differences in emotionality, and empirical support for its causal association with mental and physical health outcomes.
To examine the associations between adjustment outcomes and microaggressions targeting different social identities, Priscilla Lui and Lucia Quezada systematically surveyed published and unpublished data and conducted a meta-analysis and narrative review on this research literature to date.
They addressed three questions:
- What are the associations linking microaggressions and adjustment outcomes?
- What factors explain heterogeneous findings across existing studies?
- What is the current state of this empirical literature, and what are critical research gaps to consider in future investigations?
In their article, "Associations Between Microaggression and Adjustment Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic and Narrative Reviewopens in new window" published in Psychological Bulletin, Lui and Quezada searched and located 72 independent samples containing quantitative data about the associations between microaggression and adjustment outcomes.
These studies included approximately 19,000 participants recruited from the U.S. and other countries. Most of the studies examined microaggression incidents as a function of racial stereotypes and biases. Other studies focused on sexual orientation and gender identity biases, health status and disability, gender stereotypes, and a combination of marginalized identities.
The authors presented a new "cube" model that can guide researchers and professionals to conceptualize different dimensions and facets of microaggression.
Results showed that individuals with microaggression experiences were more likely to report negative adjustment outcomes. More nuanced analyses revealed that microaggression experiences were relatively more closely linked to internalizing problems (such as depression and anxiety), stress and negative affect, and positive adjustment and positive affect, than externalizing problems and health-harming behaviors (such as alcohol and substance misuse) and physical symptoms.
These findings are especially true for racial, LGBTQ, and health status microaggressions. There was little evidence indicating that gender microaggression was associated with adjustment outcomes, but this preliminary conclusion was based on only one unpublished study.
In terms of the conceptual meaning and measurement of microaggression, the authors noted that existing self-report survey questionnaires vary in psychometric properties. It remains questionable whether "microassault" — explicit attacks on marginalized individuals and communities — should be considered a form of microaggression.
Lui and Quezada also conducted subsequent quantitative and qualitative reviews of these studies.
They found that the existing literature presented mixed findings as to whether microaggressions were associated with adjustment outcomes above and beyond the influences of overt discrimination.
They also indicated that not many studies considered individual difference factors such as vulnerability and reactivity to stress.
Furthermore, the authors called for more systematic investigations that differentiate the possible impact of various types of discrimination and pathways that relate to mental and physical health outcomes.
Overall, the study by Lui and Quezada showed empirical support for associations between racial, LGBTQ, and health status microaggressions and adjustment outcomes. These associations varied by individuals' demographic backgrounds and study characteristics.
The study provides an authoritative summary of the state of the science on microaggression and presents a model to conceptualize how various aspects of microaggression may be linked to adjustment outcomes among individuals.
Findings reveal gaps for future research to further enhance the empirical validity of the microaggression research program. With more robust studies to come, the field may be better able to determine how and in what contexts to address microaggression-related issues in applied settings.
Citation
- Lui, P. P., & Quezada, L. (2019). Associations between microaggression and adjustment outcomes: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 145(1), 45–78. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000172
Note: This article is in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology & Social Processes topic area.