Abstract
Students of color continue to experience racism within institutions of higher education across the United States. These experiences often include racial microaggressions, which are evolved forms of racism that are subtle, difficult to detect, and harmful. Racial microaggressions have been found to be associated with several consequences including mental health, emotional, and physical problems (Dahlia & Lieberman, 2010; Connolly, 2011; Cheng, Tran, Miyake, & Kim, 2017). Furthermore, studies have also alluded to the potential relationship between racial microaggressions and the dimensions of alienation for student populations of color (Fissori, 2010; James, 1988; Lambert, Herman, Bynum, & Ialongo, 2009; Sauceda, 2010; Yosso, Smith, & Ceja, 2009). This study explored the relationship between racial microaggressions as measured by the Racial and Ethnic Microaggression Scale (REMS; Nadal, 2013) and alienation as measured by the University Alienation Scale (UAS; Burbach, 1972) among Hmong American students (N = 97) in higher education. This study also examined whether these experiences are different based on gender. The results revealed that five of the six types of racial microaggressions, namely Exoticization and Assumptions of Similarity, Micro-Invalidations, Assumptions of Inferiority, Second-Class Citizen and Assumptions of Criminality, and Workplace and School Microaggressions were significantly related to two of the three dimensions of alienation, namely Powerlessness and Meaninglessness. Meanwhile, the findings indicated that there was no significant difference in these experiences based on gender. These findings suggest a need for more support for Hmong American students across the higher education setting, mandatory involvement in diversity and inclusion work for all campus community members, and the development of a response to racial microaggressions.
Advisor
Jacqueline Lewis
Committee Member
Diane Coursol
Committee Member
John Seymour
Committee Member
Kerry Diekmann
Date of Degree
2019
Language
english
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Counseling and Student Personnel
College
Education
Recommended Citation
Yang, B. (2019). Racial microaggressions and alienation among Hmong American college students [Doctoral dissertation, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/962/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Asian American Studies Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Educational Psychology Commons
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