Abstract
Purpose: Discriminationas a unique psychosocial stressordisproportionately affects the mental health of communities of color as a function of systems of power and oppression. The increasing population of Hispanic undergraduates nationally warrants the importance of understanding the impact of discrimination on the mental health of students within Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), which enroll the most Hispanic students across the nation. This study investigated differences in the relationship between discrimination and mental health symptoms among Hispanic and non-Hispanic students of color (SoC) to better contextualize student experiences within an HSI setting.Methods: This study included 244 SoC (meanage=21.52, standard deviation=2.64; 65% Hispanic/Latinx; 76% female) attending a small private Liberal Arts HSI in Southern California. Participants responded to measures assessing everyday discrimination, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Moderation analyses were performed to examine the moderating role of race/ethnicity on the relationship between everyday discrimination and mental health symptoms among Hispanic and non-Hispanic SoC.Results: Both groups generally reported similar levels of everyday discrimination and mental health symptoms. Moderation analyses indicated that, after accounting for covariates, everyday discrimination was associated with more depressive and anxiety symptoms, with race/ethnicity moderating this relationship. A moderation effect was detected among respondents reporting high levels of everyday discrimination wherein Hispanic participants endorsed significantly greater depressive and anxiety symptoms.Conclusion: Findings suggest that within this HSI, Hispanic students may be at greater risk of adverse mental health outcomes compared to non-Hispanic SoC when exposed to high levels of everyday discrimination.
Highlights
Understanding factors that impact undergraduate population health is vital to promote the academic success and positive health outcomes of this population
Preliminary analyses Bivariate correlations indicated that age was unrelated to everyday discrimination, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms ( p’s > 0.05)
Everyday discrimination was associated with anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms ( p’s < 0.05), and anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms were significantly and positively associated ( p < 0.05)
Summary
Understanding factors that impact undergraduate population health is vital to promote the academic success and positive health outcomes of this population. In support of this conjecture, previous research has found that attending an HSI b Hispanics/Latinx may prefer to be referred to by an ancestral country of origin (e.g., Puerto Rican); most scientific literature omits or does not measure such information and instead used umbrella terms to refer to persons with ancestral links to countries where Spanish is the dominant language. It is hypothesized that (1) everyday discrimination will be positively associated with anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms, and (2) race/ethnicity will moderate this relationship such that Hispanic students will report lower levels of discrimination and mental health symptoms
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
