Stereotype Threat and Intersecting Social Identities: How the intersectionality of race and athlete identity salience decreases academic performance in Black student-athletes.

Abstract

Using research on stereotype threat and the effects of social identity salience as a theoretical famework, this paper describes how the intersectionality of multiple social identities, for example the Black student-athlete, leads to exaggerated stereotype threat. This paper delves into the manifestation of stereotype threat in academic settings, examining how overlapping identities such as race and athlete status, interactively contribute to a heightened vulnerability to this threat among highly stigmatized groups. While drawing on an extensive review of the literature surrounding this topic, the mechanisms through which intersecting identities magnify the negative effects of stereotype threat on academic performance are elucidated. On average in the current study, individuals primed with both their racial identity and athlete identity together performed worse on the math task at hand and also attempted fewer problems. On the other hand, however, these same individuals completed the math task faster than the other two condition groups, the race prime group and the athlete prime group. The paper discusses the “dumb jock” stereotype and its relevance to stereotype threat, along with the influence on the cognitive system which plays an important role in fully grasping the underpinnings of the phenomenon. This is done while also shedding light on the role that identity priming can have in affecting academic success for Black student-athletes.