Racial Microaggressions Against Latina/o College Students Stephanie M. Miller & Jennifer Simonds Westminster College (Salt Lake City)   CSI Score Involvement REMS Inferiority Average REMS Microinval Average REMS Similarity Average REMS Total Avg Score CASES Score -.31** .07 .01 -.07 -.04 .24* .39** .19 .22* .37** .13 .16 REMS Infer .42** .61** .78** .48** .81** REMS Similarity .83** ABSTRACT Racial microaggressions can be described as instances of subtle verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual insults directed towards people of color (Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000). Recent literature has related the experience of these covert forms of discrimination to negative psychological and emotional effects for the victims (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Hamit, & Rasmus, 2014). This study examines the relationship among racial microaggressions, levels of academic self-efficacy and college stress amongst Latina/o college students through the distribution of online surveys. Participation in diversity-supporting student organizations was also measured to determine whether there is a connection between student involvement and levels of academic self-efficacy and college stress. Preliminary results exhibit a significant positive correlation between students’ experiences with racial microaggressions and levels of stress, however no other statistically significant relationships have emerged. Initial data also suggests Latina/o students experience microinvalidations at higher rates than other types of racial microaggressions. With the Latina/o population currently standing as the fastest growing minority group in the United States (Ennis, Rios-Vargas, & Albert, 2011), it is crucial to examine all possible aspects that may predict college retention rates and help advocate for the success of future Latina/o generations. METHOD Participants Participants were recruited through emails to coordinators of Latina/o or other diversity-supporting organizations listed on college and university websites. A link was also posted on one researcher’s Facebook timeline. A total of 98 complete participant responses were collected. Participants included 27 males, 66 females, 4 who reported as non-binary gender identities, with the remaining participants not answering the gender question. The median age of participants was 21.5 years old, with the majority of participants in their senior year of college. Examples of self-reported race identifications as reported through an open-ended question were Latino, Chicano and Mexican American. Materials and Procedure Surveys consisted of five different measures. These included the College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (Owen & Froman, 1988), the College Stress Inventory (Solberg, Hale, Villarreal, & Kavanagh, 1993), and the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (Nadal, 2011). Five of the eight subscales in the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale were utilized: Assumptions of Inferiority, Microinvalidations, Assumptions of Similarity and Workplace and School Microaggressions. Participants were asked to report how involved they were with on-campus diversity support clubs/organizations overall on a 1-5 Likert scale, as well as a demographic questionnaire. Coordinators of diversity-serving organizations forwarded the recruitment email to students in their organizations with the link to the surveys on Survey Monkey™. RESULTS Due to positive skewness, four scales were transformed prior to using them in correlational analyses. The Assumption of Inferiority subscale of the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS) was transformed using Log10 and the square root of the Assumptions of Similarities and Microinvalidations subscales as well as the REMS total scale score variables were used. The Workplace subscale was not used separately in the analyses, as its extreme positive skew was too great for transformation to assume normality in inferential tests. That subscale was included in the REMS total score; however, because the Cronbach’s Alpha for the total measure was strong at α = .95. Scale Score Statistics *p < .01, **p < .001 DISCUSSION Supported and Partially-Supported Predictions A significant positive correlation was found between college stress and racial microaggressions which is comparable to previous research on stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995). A negative relationship was found between levels of stress and self-efficacy among students who are have low involvement in diversity supporting clubs/organizations. This finding aligns with past studies suggesting participation in diversity supporting groups predicts healthy psychological benefits (Crockett et al., 2007; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solórzano, 2009). Higher means of microinvalidations and assumptions of similarity were found. Similar to past findings of Latino and African American participants reporting higher scores of microinvalidations (Forrest-Bank & Jenson, 2015). Non-supported Predictions No significant relationships were found between academic self-efficacy and racial microaggressions. Research conducted by Krysia Mossakowski suggests a strong ethnic identity may act as a buffer from internalizing experiences of discrimination (2003). Limitations Small sample size of 98 participants Majority of participants were upperclassmen in college Study conducted during the summer and after winter break Implications and Conclusions Future studies can expand on these findings by exploring possible factors that may have contributed to the results found, such as qualitative work on how ethnic identity and peer social support in diversity supporting groups play a role in Latina/o students’ experiences on predominantly white campuses. By expanding on this research, results may provide ways in which institutions can create safe, welcoming on-campus environments that respect the identities, perspectives, and experiences of the nation’s Latina/o students. BACKGROUND Latina/os currently stand as the largest ethnic minority group in the United States (Ennis et al., 2011). However, studies find they are much less likely to attend and be retained in college than other racial groups (Saenz, Hurtado, Barrera, De’sha, & Yeung, 2007). While there are many reasons as to why Latina/o college retention rates are low, this project focuses on one aspect: racial microaggressions. Racial microaggressions can be understood as a modern form of racism, with the perpetrators unaware of their words and actions as being racist due to the bias they have inherited from the society around them. Similar to overt practices of racism, racial microaggressions have been linked to a sense of self-doubt, defeat, and alienation for the victims (Solórzano et al.,2000). Manifestations of persistent microaggressions include negative mental health symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, and behavioral issues (Nadal et al, 2014). This raises the question of whether experiencing racial microaggressions can predict other negative psychological outcomes in college students, such as lower levels of academic self-efficacy and higher levels of college stress that may contribute to a student’s decision to exit higher education. Further, past research suggests on-campus involvement with other students of color provides support and may mediate the relationship between racial microaggressions and negative outcomes (Solórzano et al., 2000). HYPOTHESES Based on patterns found in the literature, we predicted that racial microaggressions would be positively correlated with Latina/o college students’ levels of academic stress and negatively correlated with academic self-efficacy. We also predicted that scores for degree of involvement in diversity-serving clubs and organizations would correlate positively with self-efficacy scale scores and negatively with self-reported levels of college stress. Additionally, we predicted that microinvalidations subscale scores would be significantly higher than other subscale scores on an overall microaggressions measure. The relationship between total score on the Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS) and College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) score showed no correlation (r (90) = -.07, p = .503). The correlation between REMS total score and scores on the College Stress Inventory (CSI) was positive and significant (r(93)= .37, p < .001). A categorical variable was created to analyze differences between students who reported low scores (1 or 2) for involvement in diversity-supporting organizations and students who reported high scores (4 or 5). Among students who reported lower involvement, the REMS(microaggressions) total scale score showed a significant positive correlation with college stress scores on the CSI (r (31) = .52, p = .002); however, no significant correlation was found between microaggression scores and stress scores in students who reported high levels of involvement (r (32) = .26, p = .141). CSI (college stress) scores were significantly higher in the group of students reporting higher involvement in relevant clubs and organizations (t (65) = 2.17, p = .034). Self-efficacy scores were not significantly correlated with microaggression scores in either group. In order to test the prediction that microinvalidation scores would be significantly higher than other REMS subscale scores, a repeated-measures ANOVA was run. Because Mauchly’s test showed lack of sphericity (Χ2(2) = 27.35, p < .001), the Greenhouse-Geisser correction was used for degrees of freedom (ε = 0.80). A significant difference was found among scores on the REMS Inferiority, Microinvalidations, and Similarities subscales (F (2, 1.60) = 658.97, p < .001); however the difference is derived from the difference between the mean Inferiority subscale score (M = 2.12) and highly similar scores on the Microinvalidations (M = 2.56) and Similarities (M = 2.61) subscales. References Crockett, L. J., Iturbide, M. I., Torres Stone, R. A., McGinley, M., Raffaelli, M., & Carlo, G. (2007). Acculturative stress, social support, and coping: Relations to psychological adjustment among Mexican American college students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(4), 347-355. Ennis, S. 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