Co-occurrence of racism-based trauma symptoms and depressive symptoms among college students of color.

Abstract

Objective: Though research has established the relationship between racial discrimination and poor mental health among young adults of color, it is undetermined whether trauma symptoms of racial discrimination are associated with mental health symptoms in college students of color specifically. We examined the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress symptoms attributed to racial discrimination and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in a large, national sample of young adult college students of color.

Method: We used survey data from a national sample of young adult (18-24 year old) college students in the Healthy Minds Study (N = 19,265). A modified version of the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS) was validated with factor analysis and used to measure posttraumatic symptoms attributed to racial discrimination. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to measure depressive symptoms.

Results: Participants had an average modified TSDS score of 12.93 (SD = 5.76) on the scale from 7 to 28. The mean depressive symptoms (PHQ-9) score in the sample was 9.55 (SD = 6.53) on a scale of 0-27, and the prevalence of suicidal ideation was 16.9%. Regression analyses revealed that posttraumatic stress symptoms attributed to racial discrimination were associated with greater depressive symptoms (adjusted β = 0.41, 95% confidence interval, CI [0.38, 0.43]) and odds of suicidal ideation (adjusted odds ratio = 1.10, 95% CI [1.08, 1.12]).

Conclusions: Our results underscore the importance of addressing stress and trauma responses from racial discrimination among young adult college students of color. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).