An intersectional examination of the impact of COVID-stress and discrimination on college students’ resilience and mental health

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the impact of COVID-stress and discrimination on mental health among a group of diverse college students using an intersectional framework. Participants: One thousand six hundred seventy-one undergraduate students (M age = 20.42, SD = 2.74) were recruited from nine college campuses. Methods: Participants completed an online questionnaire assessing mental health symptoms, COVID-stress, and in-school discrimination. Hierarchical regressions and multi-group SEM path analysis were conducted to examine differences across intersectional identities. Results: Female-identifying students reported higher COVID-stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and lower resilience compared to males. COVID-stress and discrimination were highest among certain minoritized student groups. Using an intersectional framework, more COVID-stress and discrimination were associated with increased anxiety for almost all women of color. Unexpectedly, COVID-stress predicted anxiety symptoms for almost all male intersectional groups. Conclusions: Findings reaffirm the intersectional framework and highlight significant disparities in how students experience COVID-stress, discrimination, and mental health outcomes along dimensions of gender and race/ethnicity.