The Silent Strain: The Psychological Toll of Multiracial Microaggressions
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
Published online on July 12, 2026
Abstract
["Journal of Applied Social Psychology, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nIn the United States, the Multiracial population is the fastest‐growing racial identity, with projections suggesting that one in five people will be Multiracial by 2050. While research has begun to investigate the microaggressions that Multiracial Americans experience, less work has examined their potential psychological consequences. The current study sought to examine whether experiences with general racial microaggressions and microaggressions specific to Multiracial identity would predict psychological health outcomes. Multiracial adults in the U.S. (n = 98) completed a survey measuring experiences with general racial and ethnic microaggressions as well as a self‐report measure assessing experiences with microaggressions specific to the Multiracial identity such as being asked “What are you?”. Self‐reported self‐esteem, anxiety, depression, stress, sense of belonging, and psychological well‐being were also reported. Results revealed that more experiences with Multiracial‐specific microaggressions were associated with a more negative sense of belonging, higher general anxiety, more depression, and higher perceived stress. The measure of microaggressions specific to Multiracial identity was associated with these psychological outcomes over and above a measure of general racial microaggressions. These findings suggest that researchers should study the unique experiences of Multiracial individuals as well as ways to prevent microaggressions for this growing population.\n"]