BIO

I am a 2nd year senior majoring in psychology with a minor in African American studies. I am from a small town in central, FL called Winter Haven. I currently am a research assistant in the Patrick lab. I have aspirations to one day be a clinical psychologist with a focus on marginalized groups.

A proposed relationship between racial microaggressions, ​ stress susceptibility, and mental health disparities ​

Abstract

This study is part of a larger study to examine traits characteristics of internal state perception and social stress. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between of social affiliative capacity, mental health disparities, and social stress. Participants completed questionnaires and tasks that were used to measure aspects of interpersonal support and mental health. More specifically, the relationship between racial microaggressions and anxiety were examined. The study used three measures: Cognitive, Affective, and Somatic Empathy Scale (empathy), Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (affiliative capacity), and Inventory of Microaggressions Against Black Individuals (racial microaggressions) to do so. Participants then completed the Cyberball and Lexical Decision-Making Tasks to induce feelings of social exclusion and measure reactivity to emotional stimuli, respectively. We predicted that individuals that experiences racial microaggressions would score lower on aspects of interpersonal support and higher on anxiety. Furthermore, we predicted that empathy and affiliative capacity would predict feelings of social exclusion and reactivity to emotional stimuli. Results are forthcoming. Further direction includes increasing the sample size, and recruiting more participants racialized as Black. Social factors and equipment limitations make EEG research with coarse and curly hair difficult. We will implement a more robust recruitment strategy. With better data, we anticipate the data supporting our hypotheses. This research is ongoing.

Keywords: racial microaggressions, mental health, stress susceptibility