Activism and College Student Mental Health

Abstract

Activism on college campuses in the United States is a long-standing phenomenon rooted in the counterculture movements of the 1960s. Today, local, regional, and national issues and sociopolitical influences remain closely aligned with activism in higher education, with contemporary issues shaping student activism efforts on campus. College student activism ranges from organized marches and protests to more widespread social media campaigns, targeting issues ranging from inclusion and diversity to sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Involvement in activism can influence the mental health and overall wellness of college students who engage in these activities. This chapter focuses on contemporary activism in higher education, specifically as related to the potential impact of activism on the mental health and wellness of college student activists. Also discussed are implications for student affairs professionals, university-based mental health professionals, and higher education administrators.

Critical civic engagement in Black college students: Interplay between discrimination, centrality, and preparation for bias.

“…Critical civic engagement (CCE), or civically engaged behavior intended to redress systems of inequality, is one potential coping strategy that has been historically embedded within the Black community—visible through historical movements related to Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Lives Matter (Hope & Spencer, 2017). Engaging in CCE with the purpose of working to ameliorate systemic inequality has been hypothesized to help youth, particularly minoritized youth, develop meaning and purpose in life (Bjornsen-Ramig & Kissinger, 2019; Godfrey & Cherng, 2016). Although a growing body of literature has focused on CCE in relation to discrimination and youth’s ethnic–racial identities (Bañales et al, 2020; Hope et al, 2018; Mathews et al, 2019), less is known about how the messages youth receive from their parents about how to navigate discrimination and systems of inequality (i.e., preparation for bias messages; Hughes et al, 2006) may work in tandem with other factors in predicting CCE.…”

Culturally informed shift-&-persist: A higher-order factor model and prospective associations with discrimination and depressive symptoms.

“…This shift toward understanding unequal systems as largely responsible for the perpetuation of discrimination and unfair treatment based on race/ethnicity is followed by persistence —namely, optimism and concerted individual and community-based efforts to spur sociopolitical change. These efforts to cope with inequality by trying to enact systemic change have been theorized to drive and reinforce a sense of purpose in life (Bjornsen-Ramig & Kissinger, 2019). CCE clearly involves the key components of S&P. This begs the question whether there may be previously unexplored links between S&P and this unique and impactful but understudied culturally based coping strategy.…”

It’s how I was raised: How ethnic–racial socialization patterns influence antiracism actions in minoritized emerging adults.

“…Finally, three variables that likely have a notable impact on minoritized college students’ antiracism are their ethnic–racial identities, experiences of discrimination, and their participation in justice-focused organizations on university campuses (Bjornsen-Ramig & Kissinger, 2019). While we did have data on discrimination experiences and identity among our sample, we did not have access to data on the extent and nature of membership within various university organizations.…”