An Investigation of Coping in Response to Different Race-Related Stressor Experiences in School Among Racially Diverse Participants

The landmark Brown versus Board of Education decision led to the desegregation of public schools in the United States. Consequently, Black/African American, Latinx, Asian, and Native American (BALANA) students experienced multiple race-related stressors. Not surprisingly, BALANA students still report experiences with racial discrimination, exclusion, and harassment in public schools. Encounters with race-related stressors in school can lead to maladaptive outcomes; however, for some young people, such stressors may induce a more adaptive coping response. The coping response may depend on the experience in school and the degree to which young people perceive they have control over the stressor. This study focused on the transactional nature of coping concerning different race-related stressors in school. The study investigates whether emotion-focused coping use prevailed across a sample of 165 ethnically and racially diverse participants. Results suggest that emotion-focused coping use is high among participants; however, the unique race-related stressor experienced in school can also lead to social-focused and other coping strategies. Coping with race-related stressors in school allows BALANA students to survive racism; reducing the presence of race-related stressors in school allows BALANA students to thrive.