Stress and Mental Health Among Racial Historically Marginalized and Advantaged Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Undergraduate students are a high-stress population with a high prevalence of psychopathology. Further, students from historically marginalized racial groups face additional stressors and challenges. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of identifying with a historically marginalized racial group on the relationship between stress and mental health outcomes. We used archival data, in which 528 college students were originally recruited to complete surveys on college-related stress and symptoms of psychopathology. Analyses of variance were employed to study differences in rates between a historically marginalized racial group and a historically advantaged racial group. Regression analyses were employed to study the moderating effect of identity group on the relationship between stress and mental health outcomes. The historically marginalized racial group was more likely to report performance stress (p = .008) and the historically advantaged racial group was more likely to report internalized symptoms of psychopathology including anxiety (p = .007) and depression (p = .02). Furthermore, group marginalization moderated the relationship between total stress (p < .001), financial stress (p < .001), and performance stress (p < .001) with symptoms of internalized psychopathology. Our findings may be explained by a difference in resilience, interpretation of stress, or limitations to survey methods. Recommendations for researchers and clinicians are offered.