Advocacy in the Face of Adversity: Influence in the Relationship Between Racial Microaggressions and Social Justice Advocacy

Background: Urban institutions offer quality post-secondary education to individuals who may not otherwise have access, yet do not always provide necessary resources for racially marginalized students. Students at primarily White, urban institutions face race-based stressors, such as microaggressions. According to stress and coping theory, individuals respond to stressors through coping strategies, which differ in effectiveness and subsequent outcomes. Social justice advocacy (SJA) represents a potentially important avenue for coping with discrimination, yet the relationship between microaggressions and SJA, as well as the association of task-focused coping with SJA, is unclear. Methods: A total of 96 students with racially marginalized identities were surveyed. Results: Analyses revealed significant associations between experiencing racial microaggressions, coping, and engagement in SJA, as well as a partial mediations of the associations between racial microaggressions and engagement in SJA through task-focused coping. Conclusions: The study offers support for the established association between discrimination and coping, including SJA. Results indicate that consideration should be given to SJA and task-focused coping as encouraged responses to racial microaggressions. Future studies should evaluate the outcome of these coping efforts and consider alternative ways of coping.