Psychological Outcomes of Discrimination among College Students on a Predominately White Campus: A Prospective Study

• In Event: 3471 - Race, Racism, and Health: Patterns and Processes

Abstract

Racial discrimination is an adverse psychological stressor that can harm mental health. In this paper, we explore the links between psychological outcomes measured daily over either 2- or 1-week intervals and interpersonal discrimination-related social exclusionary events, exposure to vicarious racism via media reports online and from social media, and rumination on the mistreatment racial minorities in the U.S. The analysis utilizes a racially diverse sample of 149 college students with 1489 unique time observations at a large primarily White University. Results show that interpersonal discrimination-related social exclusionary experiences predicted greater self-reported anger, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and loneliness both daily and over time. In addition, vicarious discrimination experienced second hand was from day-to-day and over days was associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms. In contrast, rumination was not associated with negative mental health outcomes. None of the discrimination measures were associated with a measure of happiness. Together, these findings document an increased burden of anger, anxiety, sadness, and loneliness arising from frustrating and alienating social encounters experienced individually or learned about vicariously for minority students at both daily levels and in associations capturing averages over time. This study advances previous research on the mental health toll of American racism by examining the mental health consequences of qualitatively different types of discrimination prospectively among college students of color on predominately White campus. Examining these relationships is an important step towards understanding how different facets of discrimination adversely influences health relatively early in the life course.

Authors

• Joseph Charles Jochman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Jacob E. Cheadle, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Bridget Goosby, University of Nebraska-Lincoln