Mental health at religious and non-religious universities: Examining the role of student religiousness and sexual/gender minority identity

Abstract

BackgroundReligiousness is often related to positive mental health for university students. Yet this may not hold for sexual and gender minority (SGM) students at religious universities. Some studies find religiousness protective for SGM students, some find no relationship, and some find religiousness a risk. MethodsUsing the Healthy Minds data (n = 135,344) student mental health (suicide ideation and anxiety) was compared across religious universities (Catholic, evangelical, and “Other Christian”) and nonreligious universities, examining moderation by student religiousness and SGM identity. ResultsOverall, there were no anxiety or ideation differences across religious and nonreligious universities except that students at “Other Christian” universities had slightly higher ideation than those at nonreligious universities. However, moderation analysis found SGMs at nonreligious universities at higher risk for anxiety compared to those at “Other Christian” universities. Student religious importance predicted lower ideation and anxiety across universities: though students for whom religion was unimportant were at greater risk for anxiety at nonreligious versus Catholic universities. Compared to SGMs at nonreligious universities, SGMs at evangelical universities who did not participate in extracurricular religious activities were at risk for ideation, but risk was low for SGMs who did participate. LimitationsData were cross-sectional. Analyses were unable to control for whether students dropped out of a university. ConclusionsThere were few overall differences between religious and nonreligious universities. Though moderation found attending a religious university either a protective or risk factor for some groups. The relations between being SGM and mental health should be considered concert with religiousness.