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+The Racial Microaggression Scale

Torres-Harding, Andrade Jr., & Romero Diaz (2012)

Topic: Culture, Race and School Climate - Microaggression Scale

Description of measure:

The Racial Microaggression Scale. This scale was developed to assess the themes and categories of racial microaggressions from previous literature. Themes included: 1) alien in own land 2) ascription of intelligence 3) colorblindness and denial of individual racism 4) criminality/assumption of criminality status 5) exoticized 6) myth of meritocracy 7) pathologizing cultural values and communication styles 8) second-class citizenship 9) environmental invalidations 10) invisibility

Instructions: 

For each item, indicate how often you have encountered a particular racial microaggression. If a respondent positively endorsed the item (that it had in fact happened, i.e., 1 or greater on the occurrence item), they were also asked to indicate how stressful, upsetting or bothersome the experience was for them

Response options:

Frequency of encounter: (0) ever, (1) A Little/Rarely, (2) Sometimes/A Moderate Amount, (3) Often Frequently

How stressful the experience was: (0) Not At All, (1) A Little, (2) Moderate Level, (3) High Level

Items:

  1. Because of my race, other people assume that I am a foreigner.
  2. Because of my race, people suggest that I am not a “true” American.
  3. Other people often ask me where I am from, suggesting that I don’t belong.
  4. Other people treat me like a criminal because of my race.
  5. People act like they are scared of me because of my race.
  6. Others assume that I will behave aggressively because of my race.
  7. I am singled out by police or security people because of my race.
  8. People suggest that I am “exotic” in a sexual way because of my race.
  9. Other people view me in an overly sexual way because of my race.
  10. Other people hold sexual stereotypes about me because of my racial background.
  11. Other people act if they can fully understand my racial identity, even though they are not of my racial background.
  12. Other people act as if all of the people of my race are alike.
  13. Others suggest that people of my racial background get unfair benefits.
  14. Others assume that people of my background would succeed in life if they simply worked harder
  15. Other people deny that people of my race face extra obstacles when compared to Whites.
  16. Other people assume that I am successful because of affirmative action, not because I earned my accomplishments.
  17. Others hint that I should work hard to prove that I am not like other people of my race.
  18. Others suggest that my racial heritage is dysfunctional or undesirable.
  19. Others focus only on the negative aspects of my racial background
  20. Others prefer that I assimilate to the White culture and downplay my racial background.
  21. I am mistaken for being a service worker or lower-status worker simply because of my race.
  22. I am treated like a second-class citizen because of my race.
  23. I receive poorer treatment in restaurants and stores because of my race.
  24. Sometimes I feel as if people look past me or don’t see me as a real person because of my race.
  25. I feel invisible because of my race.
  26. I am ignored in school or work environments because of my race.
  27. My contributions are dismissed or devalued because of my racial background.
  28. When I interact with authority figures, they are usually of a different racial background.
  29. I notice that there are few role models in my racial background in my chosen career.
  30. Sometimes I am the only person of my racial background in my class or workplace.
  31. Where I work or go to school, I see few people of my racial background.
  32. I notice that there are few people of my racial background on the TV, books, and magazines.

Citation:

Torres-Harding, S. R.,  Andrade Jr., A. L., & Romero Diaz, C. E. (2012). The racial microaggressions scale (RMAS): a new scale to measure experiences of racial microaggressions in people of color. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18(2), 153-164., https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027658 Links to an external site.. 

Link to PDF: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/eb37/b617bd153f4482c083a98a843698d1d3156f.pdf Links to an external site.

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