Context Matters: Differential Effects of Discrimination by Environmental Context on Depressive Symptoms Among College Students of Color

Experiences with more subtle racism – which have been called microaggressions – have a host of negative effects on health, mental health, educational performance, and general well-being on people of color. In this study we draw on a longitudinal dataset of Black, Latinx, and Asian students in higher education and use the microaggression framework to distinguish between the types of reported subtle experiences with discrimination, including (1) classroom-based, or perceived discrimination or discomfort in the classroom; (2) microassaults, or verbal assaults; (3) discomfort, or perceived discomfort on campus because of race, (4) criminality, which refers to both being stopped by University police and (5) refusal to acknowledge intra-racial differences, which here describes experiences with intraracial microaggressions. Our findings explore (1) the differential effects of different types of microaggressions on symptoms of depression (2) intergroup differences in effects of microaggressions on depression and (3) the differential effects of different types of microaggressions over time.