Date Submitted
6-25-2024
Faculty Advisor
Nichmarie Soto Bonilla
Abstract
This dissertation joins a fervent conversation within social science about how students of color navigate Critical Race Theory (CRT) while being impacted by the demands of an academic environment. Research shows that African American students are prone to racist encounters in and outside of the academic arena. Findings suggest that a trickledown effect occurs when people of color are negatively impacted by microaggressions, their stress response system is also impacted. Dr. William A. Smith has noted the cumulative result of race-related stress in people of color when constantly dealing with environments that project dismissive, demeaning, and hostile encounters. He coined the term Racial Battle Fatigue (RBF) to allude to the physiological and psychological symptomology of race related stress. RBF is the point of exhaustion in the stress response system and the convalescence of coping used that this dissertation investigates.
This study explored specifically whether Black students appraise themselves as operating from a higher coping mechanism than their White colleagues, along with the examination of coping methods utilized to advance beyond stressors. Results revealed that participants did not assess themselves as operating from a higher coping mechanism but did recognize that their stressors were discrete from their White colleagues. Coping was considered a way of life that included selfcare activities, spiritual resources, and therapeutic or communal supports. Two central themes arose to include proactive and adaptive coping. Proactive coping was seen to minimize the stressor before it occurred as seen with self-care practices. While adaptative coping attempted to prevent the stressor from occurring with such things as prayer and meditation. This research utilized a mixed methodology to conceptualize the student’s coping capacity in depth, while responding to an empirical need to understand the resolve of African American medical students by improving upon strength-based approaches to thrive effectively in communities and academic settings.
