Abstracts

"Toward a Theoretical Framework for Understanding Race-related Stress on People of Color"

This presentation will be an opportunity to better understand the impact of race-related stress on People of Color. The ferociousness of racism should be viewed like a racial neurotoxin that can traumatize, hurt, enrage, confuse, and in the end prevent optimal growth and functioning of individuals and communities of color. Pierce (1974), believes that racism is an infectious disease, a perceptual disease, as well as a lethal disease. Indeed, the consequence of a life-time of racism coupled with mal-adaptive, exhausted, or limited coping strategies results in a shortened lifespan or premature death for People of Color. This talk will: 1) define the concept of racial battle fatigue and racial microaggressions; 2) discuss how racial microaggressions, in mundane extreme environmentally stressful (MEES) conditions, are distributed on an individual and group basis; 3) consider how racial microaggressions impact both women and men of color; 4) examine the ways victims of racial oppression and discrimination are stressed both psychologically and physiologically; and 5) explore how coping moderates the impact of racial battle fatigue. In short, this presentation will illustrate how victims of racism can suffer from mild to devastating psychological and physiological symptoms, that will be defined here as Racial Battle Fatigue, depending on the perceived severity of racial encounters, the robustness of overall well-being (e.g., racial socialization, racial perception, racial appraisal, coping strategies, and social support networks) at the time of the injury, the conditions under which recovery occurs, and the ways coping is employed.  To be sure, appropriate and available coping strategies will help offset the racial neurotoxins that act directly on the mind and body which damages, destroys, or impairs the functioning of optimal health.

William A. Smith, Ph.D. - UU

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alist - WSU

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Loren B. Brown, Doctoral candidate – BYU

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David Bush, PhD – USU

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Kara Cattani, PhD
LaNae Valentine, PhD

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Barbara Morrell, PhD, BCB

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Torrence Wimbish, PhD

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Marleen S. Williams, PhD

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Courtney L. Henry, MS; Susan L. Crowley, PhD - USU

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Matt Reiser, MS, Pre-doctoral Intern - USU

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Brett Talbot, B.S. Pre-doctoral Intern - UVU

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Lisa M. Leavitt, PhD & Melissa Goates Jones, PhD - BYU

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Alex Kelley, M.S., Research Assistant