Multilevel sources of strength and school-based racial discrimination: Competing factors associated with mental health among African American college students.

Objective: Despite increasing diversity on predominantly White college campuses, African American college students remain subject to racial discrimination, creating a complex array of mental health stressors. In this study, we adopted a strengths-based approach to mental health in this population and investigated (a) whether school-based discrimination contributes to negative mental health outcomes; (b) whether internal, interpersonal, and campus sources of strength contribute to positive mental health outcomes; and (c) whether internal sources of strength moderate the mental health effects of discrimination.

Method: Secondary analysis was performed on public data from African American college students (N = 1,444; M_age = 24.67, SD_age = 7.87) who participated in the Healthy Minds Study between 2017 and 2020. Healthy Minds Study is a cross-sectional survey examining mental health factors in U.S. university student populations.

Results: School-based racial discrimination was negatively associated with flourishing and positively associated with depression. Flourishing was positively associated with all sources of strength, including academic persistence, religiosity, racial identity, race-based affinity space involvement, and campus climate for diversity. Depression was inversely associated with persistence, religiosity, and affinity space involvement. Except for persistence, internal sources of strength did not mitigate the negative effects of discrimination on mental health outcomes.

Conclusion: Policies are needed that hold accountable campus members who perpetrate race-based aggressions, tangible support systems involving African American mentors and cultural affinity groups, and strengths-based audits of students seeking mental health care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).