The Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS): Construction, Reliability, and Validity Kevin L. Nadal John Jay College of Criminal Justice—City University of New York Racial microaggressions are subtle statements and behaviors that unconsciously communicate denigrat- ing messages to people of color. In recent years, a theoretical taxonomy and subsequent qualitative studies have introduced the types of microaggressions that people of color experience. In the present study, college- and Internet-based samples of African Americans, Latina/os, Asian Americans, and multiracial participants (N = 661) were used to develop and validate the Racial and Ethnic Microag- gression Scale (REMS). In Study 1, an exploratory principal-components analyses (n = 443) yielded a 6-factor model: (a) Assumptions of Inferiority, (b) Second-Class Citizen and Assumptions of Criminality, (c) Microinvalidations, (d) Exoticization/Assumptions of Similarity, (e) Environmental Microaggres- sions, and (f) Workplace and School Microaggressions, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .912 for the overall model and subscales ranging from .783 to .873. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis (n = 218) supported the 6-factor model with a Cronbach’s alpha of .892. Further analyses indicate that the REMS is a valid measure of racial microaggressions, as evidenced by high correlations with existing measures of racism and participants’ feedback. Future research directions and implications for practice are discussed. Keywords: microaggressions, racism, discrimination, scale construction There have been numerous studies that have demonstrated the negative impacts that racism and racial discrimination may have on individuals’ physical and mental health. Studies have reported the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological stress (Fang & Myers, 2001; Moradi & Risco, 2006), high blood pressure (Harrel, Hall, & Taliaferro, 2003; Steffen, McNeilly, Anderson, & Sherwood, 2003), depression (Lambert, Herman, Bynum, & Ialongo, 2009; Santana, Almeida-Filho, Roberts, & Cooper, 2007), sleeping problems (Steffan & Bowden, 2006), substance abuse (Wei, Alvarez, Ku, Russell, & Bonett, 2010), eating disorders (Mastria, 2002), and posttraumatic stress disorder (Flores, Tschann, Dimas, Pasch, & de Groat, 2010; Pieterse, Carter, Evans, & Walter, 2010). Given these factors, it is clear that understanding and preventing racial discrimination is important in order to promote the physical and mental health of people of color. Moreover, it is necessary for psychologists to be cognizant of the types of racial discrimination their clients of color may experience, as well as the ways their clients may cope with such experiences. Although racism has been found to have detrimental effects on people of color, researchers have suggested that interpersonal racism has decreased, as exemplified by the fact that race-based hate crimes are viewed as socially unacceptable and have reduced significantly over the past few decades (Nadal, 2008). So although it may have been commonplace for lynchings, cross burnings, and racial assaults to have occurred 30 years ago, it is less socially acceptable to condone violent acts of racism in contemporary times. Many authors have posited that because the United States has become more politically correct, most individuals are much more aware of racism and tend to avoid engaging in racist acts (see Sue, 2010, for a review). However, although individuals may not consciously be racist, their biases and prejudices may manifest in more subtle and unconscious ways. For example, although most people self-report that they are not racist and that they uphold egalitarian values, they may unconsciously maintain negative feel- ings toward racial and ethnic minority groups (Gaertner & Dovi- dio, 2006). As a result, although interpersonal racism may no longer be as overt as it may have been in the past, racism may now take on more subtle forms (Sue et al., 2007). This new form of discrimination has been identified as symbolic racism (Sears, 1988), modern racism (McConahay, 1986), aversive racism (Dovi- dio, Gaertner, Kawakami, & Hodson, 2002), and racial microag- gressions (Pierce, Carew, Pierce-Gonzalez, & Willis, 1978). In recent years, there has been an increase in the term micro- aggressions in the fields of psychology, education, and counseling. Sue and colleagues (2007) have described several categories of microaggressions that exist, including racial microinsults (i.e., This article was published Online First August 29, 2011. I thank the American Psychological Association Promoting Psycholog- ical Research and Training on Health Disparities Issues (ProDIGS) for funding this project. I send a very special thank you to my research assistants Katie Griffin, and Yinglee Wong for assisting in the construction of this scale. I also acknowledge my other research team members, includ- ing Kristin Davidoff, Sahran Hamit, Marie-Anne Issa, Jayleen Leon, Van- essa Meterko, Michael Tobio, Vivian Vargas, and Michelle Wideman for their contributions. Finally, I thank Derald Wing Sue, David Rivera, and my colleagues at Teachers College-Columbia University for their inspiration and support as well as their commitment to microaggression research. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kevin L. Nadal, Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice— City University of New York, 445 West 59th Street, New York, NY 10019. E-mail: knadal@jjay.cuny.edu Journal of Counseling Psychology © 2011 American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 58, No. 4, 470 – 480 0022-0167/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0025193 470