WHAT HAPPENS WHEN STUDENTS KNUCK AND BUCK SYSTEMS OF INJUSTICE? A MULTIMETHOD STUDY EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT ACTIVISM AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

Abstract

In recent years, college students' declining mental health status has garnered the attention of public health and educational professionals. Mental health is a complex construct influenced by biological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors. One critical dimension of mental health is emotional well-being, representing the positive and negative emotions one experiences. Little research exists regarding the relationship between activism, a possible social influence, and mental health. This multimethod dissertation study focuses on the relationship between college student participation in activism and contemporary social movements, including the Black Lives Matter movement, and different dimensions of emotional well-being, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, level of optimism, and sense of belonging. Framed by the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping, the qualitative portion of the research involved in-depth interviews among 18 students aged 18-25 who participated in 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The purpose of these interviews was to examine the short-term impact of protest participation on student emotional well-being and how activism was related to coping. Findings revealed that the sociopolitical climate negatively impacted student emotional well-being, and those associated negative emotions acted as a motivator to participate in protests. Conversely, participating in protests garnered sense of belonging and empowerment. Protest participation appeared to serve as an emotion-focused coping strategy among these students. The quantitative analyses conducted in this dissertation utilized secondary data from the 2019 Wake Forest Well-being Assessment to investigate the motivators (Aim 2) and emotional well-being correlates (Aim 3) of activism participation. For both analyses, two forms of activism were studied – disruptive (e.g., protests) and persuasive tactics (e.g., digital activism). Civic morals identity centrality and discrimination were examined as possible motivators. Multivariate and multinomial logistic regression models developed for Aim 2 held constant other potential confounding variables (i.e., gender, sexual orientation, parental education and race/ethnicity) and revealed positive associations between discrimination experiences and civic moral identity centrality and disruptive activism (p<.001) and persuasive tactics (p<.001). Regression models for Aim 3 that examined the relationship between activism participation and emotional well-being revealed that disruptive activism tactics were positively associated with depressive symptoms (p<.001), anxiety symptoms (p<.001), and sense of belonging (p<.05). A negative association was observed between disruptive activism and optimism (p<.05). All of these associations were robust to the inclusion of demographic covariates. Coping did not appear to moderate any of the relationships observed. Taken together these finding begin to elucidate the nuanced and complex relationship between activism and emotional well-being. Given that a significant proportion of college students studied participated in some form of activism, our understanding of the impact of activism on student emotional well-being is an important area that warrants additional investigation in future studies. The findings of this study can be used to support ongoing intervention development that addresses the mental health needs of college students, specifically those engaged in activism work. Additionally, these findings can be used to support mitigating health disparities that are the result from sociopolitical factors such as racism and discrimination.