High Fear of Discriminatory Violence among Racial, Gender, and Sexual Minority College Students and Its Association with Anxiety and Depression

A Psychometric Investigation of the Hate-Motivated Behavior Checklist

Hate-motivated behavior (HMB) comprises a continuum ranging from microaggressions to criminal acts. The measurement of HMB is limited primarily to one or two minoritized groups in any given instrument. Current HMB research also lacks a way to assess the full range of acts and motivations for bias-based behavior. The present study fills gaps in HMB measurement by conducting a psychometric study of the Hate-Motivated Behavior Checklist (HMBC). The HMBC is a self-report instrument of HMB perpetration; the instrument also has sections capturing victim target group (e.g. race, sexual orientation, disability) and perpetrator motivation for HMB commission (e.g., perceived threat, impulsivity). We conducted an online cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling adults and college students (N = 463). Measures assessed demographic information, HMB, and social-political characteristics. Confirmatory factor analysis, item response theory analyses, between-groups analyses (e.g., Analysis of Variance), and descriptive statistics were used to examine HMBC properties. Primary findings included (1) poor model fit of the HMBC behaviors score; (2) good model fit with high reliability for an HMBC behaviors score adapted to binary (no/yes) scoring; (3) men reported meaningfully higher HMB scores compared to women; (4) the most common target classification for HMB was based on political affiliation; and (5) perceived intrusion was the most cited reason for committing HMB. Our findings are an important step in refining the HMBC. The instrument represents a potentially useful tool for HMB research, surveillance, and intervention evaluation. Future directions in HMBC research include application to extremist and criminal samples, replication and extension of the binary scoring to include cut-score derivation, and validation against behavioral outcomes.

Asian American nursing students' experiences of racial microaggressions amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Focus group discussions

Aim

This study aimed to explore the thoughts and feelings of Asian American nursing students regarding Anti-Asian racism that they might anticipate or experience during their clinical training.

Background

Asian Americans have long been viewed as perpetual foreigners and coronavirus disease 2019 has reinforced that negative view. Asian American nursing students may anticipate and experience racial discrimination during their clinical training, which could negatively affect their mental health.

Design

This is a qualitative research study using focus group discussions.

Method

Focus group discussions were conducted over Zoom and audiotaped. The audiotapes were transcribed and validated for accuracy. A thematic analysis was performed using NVivo10. Emerging themes and subthemes were compared and discussed until agreements were made.

Results

Nineteen students participated in four focus group meetings, of which, 13 (68 %) had clinical training and six (32 %) were preclinical students. Four major themes emerged: (a) looking forward to hands-on learning opportunities, (b) enduring racial microaggressions, (c) maintaining professionalism in the face of racial microaggressions and (d) standing up for oneself and other Asian American healthcare workers. Preclinical students were anxiously waiting for clinical training so that they could have hands-on learning experiences. They anticipated that anti-Asian racism in clinical settings would be similar to what they had experienced on the streets and therefore, they were not afraid of it. Students who had clinical training reported experiencing a variety of racial microaggressions that varied from “side-eyes” to “verbal assault” and occurred at three levels: patients, nurses and clinical instructors. They reported that most of the microaggressions were familiar to them, but some, especially coming from their clinical instructors, were unique to clinical settings.

Conclusion

Asian American nursing students experienced racial microaggressions during their clinical training which came from patients, nurses on the unit and their clinical instructors. Nevertheless, the students strove to maintain professionalism and stand up for themselves and other Asian healthcare workers as they gained confidence in clinical knowledge and skills.