Minoritized Graduate Student Identity, Well-Being, and Mental Health Risks for Suicidality

The continuous observed decline of graduate students' mental health is a significant public health concern. The graduate school environment presents unique challenges and difficulties associated with graduate training, which may be exacerbated for graduate students who hold minoritized identities. Drawing on intersectionality theory and minority stress theory, the present study examines relations between depression, anxiety, stress, quality of life, suicide risk, need frustration, and need satisfaction among graduate students who hold multiple minoritized identities (i.e., holding one or more minoritized identities simultaneously) and experience interlocking systems of oppression. The study included 194 graduate students at a large Southern Plains university, categorized into four groups based on their minoritized identities: (a) heterosexual minoritized racial or ethnic identity (MREI), (b) heterosexual White racial identity (WRI), (c) minoritized racial or ethnic identity + LGBTQIA2S+/LGBTQ (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual or agender, and two-spirit; MREI + LGBTQIA2S+), and (d) White racial identity + LGBTQIA2S+ (WRI + LGBTQIA2S+). The findings show that graduate students who identified as LGBTQIA2S+ reported significantly worse mental health outcomes, including higher levels of depression, stress, anxiety, lower quality of life, and higher need frustration, compared to heterosexual graduate students. Graduate students who were LGBTQIA2S+ and held a racial/ethnic minoritized identity reported significantly higher suicide risk than their heterosexual and racial counterparts. However, there were no significant differences in need satisfaction across the four identity groups. These findings have important implications for promoting the mental health and well-being of graduate students, particularly those with minoritized identities.