Excavating How Education Systems Contribute to Mental Health Problems Among Diverse Students

• In Event: Forging a Research Agenda on the Role of Mental Health in Advancing Racial Equity

Abstract

The second presentation will synthesize research on the ways in which the systems and structures that exist on college campuses contribute to and exacerbate mental health challenges among diverse college student populations. These include the following:
• Promoting social isolation as students from less privileged backgrounds are marginalized on campus and pressured to sever ties with their home communities (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Museus & Maramba, 2011).
• Sustaining hostile climates that permit violence and microaggressions that can activate negative physical, psychological, and behavioral stress responses in students (Pérez Huber & Muñoz, 2021).
• Perpetuating excessive competition through individualistic cultures, aggressive performance assessments, and pressure to outperform others, all of which add stress and undercut social cohesion (Guiffrida et al., 2012).
• Exacerbating financial precarity, particularly for lower-income students who must navigate financial aid processes, accumulate significant loan debt, work longer hours while enrolled, and manage food and housing insecurity (Huerta et al., 2018).
• Creating barriers to support that include under-resourced counseling centers, services that are difficult or confusing to access, and a lack of culturally relevant care (Cadigan et al., 2022).

Author

• Lindsay Pérez Huber, California State University - Long Beach