journal_vol49no3 - 130

Well-Being and the Experiences of
Resident Assistants with Minoritized Identities
WELL-BEING IS A PERTINENT CONCERN in higher education, especially
as it relates to residence life staff who have substantial outside-the-classroom
responsibilities for students' health, safety, and development. Resident assistants
(RAs) assume significant roles and can experience secondary trauma from
encountering various crises during the course of their jobs, and minoritized RAs
can be even more vulnerable to the effects of such trauma. This article reports the
results from qualitative interviews with 21 resident assistants with one or more
minoritized identities attending one of four different higher education institutions
in the U.S. Findings from this study report two main themes revealing that the
occupational experiences and contexts for RAs with minoritized identities have
the potential to shape other dimensions of their well-being. In particular, this
study describes the types of disruptions that can affect the well-being of resident
assistants with minoritized identities and the strategies they utilize to mitigate
the disequilibrium. Being better attuned to the experiences of resident assistants
with minoritized identities is critical for fostering equitable success through
inclusive and affirming environments.
Editor's note: The author has chosen to lowercase the word White, which would normally
be capitalized according to APA guidelines, in order to avoid seeming to center whiteness.
W
ell-being topics in higher education have gained new levels of importance
in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has drawn stark attention to
the disparate environmental, economic, and systemic circumstances disproportionately
faced by individuals with one or more minoritized identities in the
United States. The pandemic also spurred interest in recognizing the uneven conditions
that staff face in the workplace and has fueled hiring shortages in a number
of industries, including higher education (Zahneis, 2022). Prior to COVID-19,
discussion of the well-being of higher education staff had largely been framed by
understanding the impact of secondary trauma and burnout and their correlation to
negative personal well-being and institutional outcomes (Hardy & Dodd, 1998; Lynch,
2017, 2019; Lynch & Klima, 2021; Mistretta & Dubois, 2021; Stoner, 2017). Sociopolitical
contexts and campus climates that reflect bias, oppression, and marginalization
Volume 49, No. 3 * 2023 127

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