Racial Trauma and Mental Health Among College Students of Color: Findings from the Healthy Minds Study, 2024–2025

Background and Purpose: Racial discrimination is a well-established social determinant of mental health, yet research is limited on how trauma-related responses to racism are associated with a broader range of mental health outcomes among college students of color. Prior work has focused more narrowly on depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, particularly in younger student samples. The present study examined whether racial trauma symptoms were associated with depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempt among racially and ethnically minoritized college students ages 18–29 in the United States. Trauma-related responses to racism may reflect a more proximal form of psychological injury than discrimination exposure alone and may help clarify how racism contributes to mental health burden in higher education.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2024–2025 Healthy Minds Study, a national web-based survey of students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. Analyses were restricted to respondents ages 18–29 who identified with one or more racially and/or ethnically minoritized groups and received the racial trauma survey items. Racial trauma symptoms were assessed using a summed 7-item score adapted from the Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale. Depression and anxiety were modeled as continuous outcomes using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 total scores. Suicidal ideation, suicide planning, and suicide attempt were modeled as binary past-year outcomes. Survey-weighted linear and logistic regression models were estimated and adjusted for age group (18–24 vs. 25–29), gender minority status, sexual minority status, and current financial stress. Complete-case analyses were conducted separately by outcome.

Results: The analytic sample included 35,960 students of color ages 18–29. In adjusted models, greater racial trauma was significantly associated with higher depression (B = 0.43, 95% CI [0.40, 0.46], p < .001) and higher anxiety (B = 0.44, 95% CI [0.42, 0.46], p < .001). Greater racial trauma was also associated with higher odds of past-year suicidal ideation (OR = 1.09, 95% CI [1.08, 1.11], p < .001), suicide planning (OR = 1.10, 95% CI [1.08, 1.12], p < .001), and suicide attempt (OR = 1.10, 95% CI [1.07, 1.13], p < .001). Sexual minority status and current financial stress were significantly associated with worse outcomes across all adjusted models. Compared with students ages 25–29, students ages 18–24 had higher odds of suicidal ideation and suicide planning.

Conclusions and Implications: Racial trauma symptoms were consistently associated with depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among college students of color. These findings suggest that trauma-related responses to racism may be an under-recognized correlate of mental health burden in higher education and a relevant target for culturally responsive prevention, intervention, and campus mental health research.