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

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02405-w Online Racial Discrimination and College Student Mental Health: Social Support as a Moderator Ami Patel1 · Cixin Wang1 Received: 22 January 2024 / Revised: 20 March 2025 / Accepted: 21 March 2025 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract 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. Keywords Online racial discrimination · Vicarious · Direct · College students · Social support · Mental health outcomes College campuses, especially predominantly White campuses, are important settings where students encounter and learn about race and racism [22]. Racial discrimination remains prevalent on college campuses, even with the diverse representation of students from various socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds in the USA. Racial discrimination is the unfair treatment of an individual based on the characteristics of race. As COVID-19 brought about increased reliance on virtual spaces, increased online racial discrimination (ORD) has also become a prevalent issue [7, 17, 31, 32]. We define ORD as “denigrating or excluding individuals or groups on the basis of race through the use of symbols, voice, video, images, text, and graphic * Cixin Wang 1 Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park, 3112E Benjamin Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA representations” [59, p. 2]. It may occur on social media, through text messaging, online videos, online games, and/ or online chat rooms. ORD is often anonymous, text-based, or interpersonal while in-person forms of racial discrimination can be verbal and/or physical [58]. Though growing, less research has focused on ORD or examining the impact of both direct and vicarious ORD experiences on mental health. Furthermore, very few studies have examined the impact of ORD on positive mental health outcomes [7, 57]. The dual factor of mental health [53] suggests mental health consists of two dimensions: mental illness symptoms as well as positive mental health/well-being. Not all young adults with clinical levels of psychopathology experience poor quality of life. On the other hand, some youth without any psychopathology/symptoms may struggle with well-being [53]. As a result, incorporating both positive and negative indicators of well-being into mental health assessments can provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of one’s overall functioning [53]. Vol.:(0123456789) Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Both direct and vicarious ORD have been associated with mental health difficulties like depression and anxiety, even when controlling for factors like ethnic/racial group and gender [59]. Direct racial discrimination involves a targeted assault on an individual’s ethnic identity [58]. The personalized nature of this racial discrimination can create immediate distress, a sense of powerlessness, and intensifying feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, which are likely to lead to negative mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety [31, 55, 57–60]. Vicarious ORD is observing racism happening online and/or on the news directed toward other individuals in their racial or ethnic group. Vicarious discrimination tends to impact individuals by exposing them to the discriminatory experiences faced by others. Observing discrimination against others can evoke strong empathetic responses, strengthen the sense of racial belonging, and cause collective stress [55]. While this vicarious experience can foster increased solidarity, it can also lead to feelings of vulnerability (e.g., anxiety) and reduced positive mental health (e.g., life satisfaction) [55, 58, 60]. Research has shown that direct ORD predicted mental health difficulties, but the link between vicarious ORD and mental health difficulties was less consistent [32, 36, 57, 58]. In addition, very few research examined the relation between ORD and positive mental health indicators and findings were inconsistent [7, 57]. This study aims to address these gaps by investigating the link between different types of ORD (direct and vicarious) along with depression and anxiety, as well as flourishing and health-related quality of life among a diverse sample of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic (between October and December 2021). It also explores the buffering effects of social support on these factors. Prior research has shown that social support can act as a protective factor, reducing the negative psychological impact of discrimination [31]. Understanding the impact of different types of ORD on health and well-being in college settings and identifying potential protective factors is crucial for addressing broader racial inequities among young adults [20]. Discrimination Among White Americans While researchers generally agreed that students of color frequently face racial discrimination, some studies have indicated White Americans also self-reported experiencing discrimination, with the rates of perceived discrimination on the rise [56]. For example, a Pew Research Center survey, including 12,055 US adults across categories such as gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education, and other demographic factors, found that 14% of Americans in general believe White pe (...truncated)