Dissertations and Theses

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Adriana Espinosa

Second Advisor

Waleed Sami

Third Advisor

Brent Maximin

Keywords

Perceived discrimination, discrimination appraisal, ethnic identity, anxiety, depression, mental health outcomes, moderation, South Asian Americans, South Asian college students, emerging adulthood

Abstract

Ethnoracial discrimination has consistently been linked to poorer mental health outcomes among ethnoracially minoritized populations (Wang et al., 2025). Despite their growth and presence in the U.S., South Asian college students remain underrepresented in this literature. Thus, less is known about how psychosocial factors like ethnic identity influence the relationship between discrimination and mental health in this group. To address this gap, the present study explores associations between dimensions of discrimination (frequency of recent experiences and discrimination-related distress) and anxiety and depressive symptoms, and identifies what impact, if any, ethnic identity has on these associations in a sample of South Asian college students (N = 230) aged 19-42. We hypothesized that (1) greater frequency of recent discrimination and higher associated distress will relate to elevated anxiety and depressive symptoms, and (2) ethnic identity will moderate the associations between discrimination and mental health outcomes, such that these relationships will be weaker at higher levels of ethnic identity. Correlational analyses revealed that more frequent recent experiences were associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms, while greater discrimination-related distress was related to anxiety symptoms. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that more discrimination related only to higher anxiety symptoms. These analyses also indicated no significant interaction effects between discrimination and ethnic identity, indicating that ethnic identity did not moderate the impact of discrimination on either anxiety or depressive symptoms. These findings align with prior mixed findings suggesting that the moderating role of ethnic identity is context-dependent and may vary across populations and situations (Yip, 2018), potentially reflecting the varied salience of ethnic identity among South Asian college students.

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Available for download on Monday, November 16, 2026

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