Online Racial Discrimination and College Student Mental Health: Social Support as a Moderator

Many college students experience racism and discrimination, which negatively impacts their mental health. As COVID-19 has brought about increased reliance on virtual spaces, increased online racial discrimination (ORD) has also become a more prevalent issue. ORD may be defined as online behaviors that demean or marginalize individuals or groups based on race. It may occur on social media, through text messaging, online videos/games, and/or online chat rooms. Research has shown that direct ORD predicted mental health difficulties, but the link between vicarious ORD and mental health was less consistent. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate how direct or vicarious ORD impacts student mental health. This study aims to examine the relationships between direct and vicarious ORD and college student mental health (depression, anxiety, flourishing, and health-related quality of life) and compare the relationships between White students and students of color. Data were collected from a sample of 617 undergraduate students (Mage = 19.5 years, SD = 1.9, 71.6% female) from two large, urban universities in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA during COVID-19 from October to December 2021. Our findings revealed that both direct and vicarious ORD predicted depression and anxiety among students of color. However, this was not the case among White students. We also found that social support was a significant buffer on the relation between vicarious ORD and anxiety and flourishing. Social support was a buffer on the relation between direct ORD and health-related quality of life for students of color, but only at low levels of direct ORD. Our findings have implications for future intervention development.