College Stress,Minority Status Stress,Depression,Grades,and Persistence Intentions Among Hispanic Female Students: A Mediation Model

Abstract

The present study examined the mediating role of depression symptoms in the relation of college stress and minority status stress to cumulative grade point average (GPA) and persistence intentions among Hispanic women (n = 426) enrolled in a 4-year major research public institution. Results of path analyses indicated a strong model-data fit for the proposed model. When controlling for each other, both typical college stress and minority status stress positively predicted depression and, in turn, depression negatively predicted college persistence intentions. Tests of indirect effects revealed that depression mediated the relation of college stress and minority status stress to persistence. No mediation effects were present in the relation of the stress variables to cumulative GPA. Findings suggest that depression symptoms is one of the pathways through which college stress and minority status stress may result in lower levels of persistence intentions and, possibly, dropout behavior among Hispanic college women in 4-year institutions.

Keywords

Hispanic college students minority status stress: college stress depression persistence intentions

In recent decades, enrollment of Hispanic students in institutions of higher education has steadily increased. However, Hispanics continue to experience significant disparities in bachelor degree attainment. From 1999 to 2014, enrollment in 2- and 4-year colleges among Hispanics 18 to 24 years old increased by 13%, outpacing enrollment increases among African Americans (8%) and White (5%) students (Krogstad, 2016). In contrast, in 2015, only 20.2% of Hispanics (of any race) aged 25 years and above had attained a bachelor’s degree, compared with 30.7% of African Americans and 44.9% of Whites (Ryan & Bauman, 2016). A relatively large proportion of Hispanic college students (48% in 2014) attend 2-year institutions following high school graduation, which explains, in part, ethnic differences in bachelor’s degree attainment (Krogstad, 2016). However, a study by the U.S. Department of Education indicated that of the Hispanic students who in 2003-2004 had enrolled as freshmen in 4-year institutions, only about half (56% of women and 46% of men) had graduated 5 years later (Ross et al., 2012). In the United States, bachelor degree recipients enjoy economic and quality-of-life advantages that also benefit society. In 2015, the median income of full-time workers with a college degree was 67% higher compared with the income of high-school graduates and, in turn, those with a bachelor’s degree paid 91% more in taxes. Higher education also has been associated with healthier lifestyles and higher levels of civic involvement (Ma, Pender, & Welch, 2016). Taken together, these findings underscore the importance of examining factors associated with college persistence and success among Hispanic students enrolled in 4-year institutions.

Tinto’s (1975, 2007) theory of college retention postulates that students who integrate into the university’s social and academic community are more likely to commit to the institution and to the goal of obtaining a college degree than their peers who fail to integrate. In turn, institutional and goal commitment are expected to predict students’ retention behaviors and degree completion. Researchers have developed measures of college persistence intentions to capture the strength of students’ commitment to the institution they are enrolled in and to the goal of obtaining the degree (e.g., Davidson, Beck, & Milligan, 2009; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980). Consistent with Tinto’s (2007) theory, longitudinal studies have demonstrated that persistence intentions are predictive of students’ subsequent grades, retention behaviors, and bachelor’s degree attainment (Bordes-Edgar, Arredondo, Kurpius, & Rund, 2011; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980).

In addition to the typical college stressors related to academic, social, and financial demands, Hispanic students are likely to experience unique environmental stressors associated with their membership in an ethnic and cultural minority group (Contrada et al., 2001; Smedley, Myers, & Harell, 1993). Minority status stress, which refers to challenges associated with discrimination, perceived academic disadvantage, and cultural adaptation, confer minority students’ unique risks for psychological distress (French & Chavez, 2010; Smedley et al., 1993), academic difficulties, and lack of degree persistence dispositions (Rodriguez, Myers, Morris, & Cardoza, 2000).

Findings from a recent review of the college depression prevalence literature (Ibrahim, Kelly, Adams, & Glazebrook, 2013) and results from a national survey of college students (American College Health Association, 2016) indicated that female students (30%-38%) might be at higher risk of depression symptoms than their male counterparts (25%-29%). Furthermore, women and men tend to report different reasons for leaving college without a degree (Ross et al., 2012). These findings underscore the importance of examining factors that may be associated with persistence intentions and college grades specifically among Hispanic women. Therefore, the first objective of this study was to examine among Hispanic college women enrolled in a major research university, the relative association of typical college stress and minority status stress to students’ depression symptoms, college grades, and persistence intentions. The second objective was to investigate if depression symptoms serve as a mechanism through which typical college stress and minority status stress relate to Hispanic college women’s persistence intentions and grades.

College Stress, Minority Status Stress, Depression Symptoms, and College Outcomes

Minority status stress results from negative social, academic, and institutional experiences that not only tax the individual’s coping resources, but that students believe, are triggered by their membership in a socially stigmatized group (Contrada et al., 2001; Gloria, Castellanos, Lopez, & Rosales, 2005). Smedley et al. (1993) operationalized minority status stress among college students in terms of several dimensions including perceptions of an unwelcoming campus environment, direct experiences of ethnic discrimination, within-ethnic group pressure to conform to language, behaviors and attitudinal norms, and perceptions of academic disadvantage relative to nonethnic minority peers. Studies with heterogeneous groups of African American, Asian, and Hispanic college students (Smedley et al., 1993; Wei et al., 2010) and with exclusively Hispanic college samples (Arbona & Jiménez, 2014; Rodriguez et al., 2000; Saldaña, 1994) have shown that minority status stress is positively associated with depression symptoms when controlling for typical college stress.

Research findings also have indicated that discrimination experiences and perceptions of an unwelcoming campus climate are negatively related to Hispanic students’ sense of belonging to the campus environment (Hurtado & Carter, 1997) and to their persistence intentions (Castillo et al., 2006; Gloria et al., 2005; Hurtado & Kamimura, 2003). It is reasonable to expect that minority status stress will hamper students’ ability to engage with peers and faculty, which in turn, will likely jeopardize their integration into the social and academic fabric of the institution, and therefore, reduce their persistence intentions. Consistent with this perspective, Wei, Ku, and Liao (2011) reported a negative association of minority status stress, as operationalized by Smedley et al. (1993), to college persistence intentions among a mixed group of diverse students (including Hispanics) enrolled in a 4-year institution.

Recent studies indicate that about one third of students in college campuses in the United States (e.g., Garlow et al., 2008; Ibrahim et al., 2013) report moderate-to-severe levels of depression symptoms. Hispanic students have shown either similar (e.g., Rosenthal & Schreiner, 2000) or higher levels of depression rates (Granillo, 2012; Kearny, Draper, & Barón, 2005) compared with students from other ethnic groups. In cross-sectional studies, depression symptoms have been associated with lower levels of students’ engagement with faculty and peers, academic productivity, and graduation rates (Byrd & McKinney, 2012; Hysenbegasi, Hass, & Rowland, 2005). Furthermore, results from a 2-year longitudinal study conducted at a public, academically competitive university revealed that after controlling for prior grades and other mental health issues, depression was a significant predictor of students’ lower grades (cumulative grade point average (GPA)) and dropout behavior (Eisenberg, Golberstein, & Hunt, 2009).

In sum, stress is a well-documented predictor of college students’ emotional difficulties (Byrd & McKinney, 2012; Zajacova, Lynch, & Espenshade, 2005). In turn, negative emotions associated with the experience of typical college stress may interfere with students’ academic achievement and persistence intentions. Confronted with negative experiences associated with their ethnic group membership, Hispanic students may further divert cognitive and emotional resources from learning and social engagement, to cope with the negative ethnic experiences and associated feelings of distress (Valiente, Swanson, & Eisenberg, 2012). Therefore, we may expect that typical college stress and minority status stress will be negatively associated with Hispanic students’ cumulative GPA and college persistence intentions, both directly and indirectly through depression. However, no study was located that examined the potential role of depression as a mediator of the relation of college and minority status stress to students grades and persistence intentions.

The Present Study

As indicated above, studies have shown that both typical college stress and minority status stress are uniquely and positively associated with ethnic minority students’ depression symptoms (Arbona & Jiménez, 2014 ; Saldaña, 1994; Wei et al., 2010) and negatively associated with their persistence intentions (Wei et al., 2011). Given that depression is a negative predictor of college students’ grades and persistence to graduation (Eisenberg et al., 2009) it is possible that depression symptoms will help explain the negative relation of both typical college stress and minority status stress to college women’s academic success and persistence intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine a path analytic model that predicted that among Hispanic college women enrolled in a 4-year university:

Both typical college stress and minority status stress would be directly and negatively associated with students’ college persistence intentions and cumulative GPA.

Depression symptoms would mediate the relation of typical college stress to students’ college persistence intentions and cumulative GPA.

Depression symptoms would mediate the relation of minority status stress to students’ persistence intentions and cumulative GPA.

Method

Participants

Participants were 426 Hispanic female undergraduate students enrolled in an ethnically diverse, 4-year, major research, urban, public university in the Southwest United States. Although close to 31% of the student body at this university is of Hispanic descent, 72% of the faculty self-identifies as White and only 6% self-identifies as Hispanic (information obtained from the University’s website on December15, 2017). Of the 426 study participants, 67% reported that their family’s country of origin was Mexico, 11% from El Salvador, and 22% from other Latin American countries. The majority of the participants were born in the United States (79%). Most students (77%) reported that neither parent had a 4-year college degree. The mean age for the sample was 22.18 years old (SD = 4.01). In terms of college level, 16% of the participants were freshman, 23% sophomore, 36% juniors, and 25% seniors. The most prevalent college major among participants was psychology (47%) followed by education (12%) and science/math/engineering (9%); the rest of the participants reported majors in the social sciences, business, and liberal arts. Students completed the study’s instruments online and all of them were eligible to receive class credit for research participation. The institutional review board of the university where the data were collected approved all study procedures.

Instruments

Demographic information

A demographic survey included questions about participants’ age, gender, ethnicity, and family’s country of origin, students’ place of birth, parents’ education, and students’ year in college.

Typical college stress

The College Stress Scale (CSS; Rodriguez et al., 2000) was used to assess three dimensions of typical college stress: academic stress (seven items; for example, knowing how to prepare for exams, writing course papers); social–emotional stress (six items; for example, handling personal relationships, balancing social and academic commitments), and financial stress (five items; for example, paying for bills and living expenses). Students were asked to rate the stressfulness of each item based on their college experience on a 5-point Likert-type scale that ranged from 1 (does not apply) to 5 (extremely stressful). An overall college stress score was obtained by averaging the scale’s 18 items. The internal reliability Cronbach’s alpha for the scales total score with study participants was .91.

Minority status stress

The 22-item adaptation of the Minority Status Stress Scale (MSSS; Smedley et al., 1993) by Arbona and Jiménez (2014) was used to measure four dimensions of minority student stress: negative university social climate (e.g., Racist policies and practices of the university), discrimination (e.g., Being treated rudely or unfairly because of my race), intra-ethnic pressures (e.g., Pressures from people of my same race, such as, how to act, what to believe), and lack of academic confidence (e.g., My academic background for college is inadequate). Participants were asked to rate the stressfulness of each item based on their college experience on a 5-point Likert-type scale that ranged from 1 (does not apply) to 5 (extremely stressful). A total minority stress score was obtained by averaging the 22 items included in the scale. The internal consistency Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the total score with study participants was .93.

Depression

The 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) was used to assess participants’ depression symptoms experienced in the previous week using a 4-point scale that ranged from 0 (less than 1 day per week) to 3 (5-7 days a week). Participants’ responses to the 20 CES-D items were summed to obtain a total depression score. The CES-D total score has shown high internal consistency coefficients (α = .85 to α = .90) among African American, Anglo American, and Hispanic American respondents from community and psychiatric settings (Santor, Gregus, & Welch, 2006; Wei et al., 2010). In the present study, Cronbach alphas for participants’ total CES-D scores were .89. Radloff (1977) proposed a CES-D cut-off score of 16 to identify individuals with probable clinical depression. However, a recent meta-analysis of screening studies revealed that a CES-D score of 20 might provide a better trade-off between sensitivity and specificity and avoid false-positives (Vilagut, Forero, Barbaglia, & Alonso, 2016). Utilizing the more conservative score of 20, 29% of participants met the cut-off for probable depression, while 41% scored 16 or above.

Grades

To assess college grades, students were asked to report their current college cumulative GPA. Studies have shown that among college students, correlations of self-reported and institution-reported GPA (Kuncel, Crede, & Thomas, 2005) and grades (Cole, Rocconi, & Gonyea, 2012) are relatively high, ranging from .84 to .71, respectively. Self-reported GPA/grades generally predict outcomes to a similar extent as actual GPA/grades (Cole et al., 2012; Kuncel et al., 2005). For example, in a national study that included over 12,000 students from 17 institutions of higher education, correlations of self-reported grades to students’ reports of academic gains and hours spent studying per week did not differ from correlations obtained using institution reported grades (Cole et al., 2012).

College persistence intentions

Two subscales from the College Persistence Questionnaire (Davidson et al., 2009) were used to assess students’ college persistence intentions: the Degree Commitment and Institutional Commitment subscales (total nine items). Degree commitment refers to the importance students give to receiving the college degree (e.g., How strong is your intention to persist in the pursuit of your degree here or elsewhere?). Institutional commitment refers to students’ satisfaction with and confidence in the institution they are enrolled in (e.g., How confident are you that this the right university for you). Participants provided answers for each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale (ranging from 1 to 5); higher scores indicated higher levels of persistence intentions. To obtain a score for college persistence intentions, we averaged participants’ responses to the nine items included in the two subscales. In previous studies with college students, the separate Degree Commitment and Institutional Commitment subscales demonstrated test–retest reliability coefficients of r = .67 and r = .78, respectively and internal reliability Cronbach’s alphas of r = .70 and r = .78, respectively (Davidson et al., 2009). In the present study, the internal reliability Cronbach’s alpha for participants’ scores in the agregated nine persistence intentions items was .70.

Plan of analysis

A path model was tested using Mplus Version 7.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2015) to investigate (a) the direct association of typical college stress and minority status stress to students’ persistence intentions and cumulative GPA, (b) whether depression mediates the relation between students’ typical college stress and minority status stress to persistence intentions, and (c) whether depression mediates the relation between students’ typical college stress and minority status stress to cumulative GPA. Previous research has shown that among students enrolled in 4-year institutions, having parents who are college graduates is one of the strongest predictors of students’ college completion (Arbona & Nora, 2007; Dubow, Boxer, & Huesmann, 2009; Warburton, Bugarin, & Nuñez, 2001). In addition, more experienced college women (juniors/seniors) may be more resilient than their less experienced peers (freshmen/sophomores) to the effects of stress and depression in their persistence intentions and grades. Therefore, the associations of parental education and participant’s college level to persistence intentions and cumulative GPA were controlled for in the path analysis (parental education was scored 1 if at least one parent was a college graduate and 0 if no parent was a college graduate; college level was scored 1 through 4).

The following criteria were used to assess model-data fit as recommended by Hu and Bentler (1999): comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), root mean square error approximation (RMSEA) along with its associated 90% confidence interval (CI). CFI greater than .95, TLI greater than .95, SRMR below .08, and RMSEA less than or equal to .06 indicate strong model data fit, and CFI close to .90, TLI close to .90, SRMR close to .10, and RMSEA close to .08 indicate acceptable model data fit. Following the examination of model-data fit and direct effects within the path model, we examined the mediation hypotheses using bootstrapped CIs to test the indirect effects with 1,000 samples.

Results

Overall Fit of the Model and Direct Paths

Results indicated a very good fit for the proposed path model: x²(7, n = 426) = 15.989, p < .05, CFI = .958; TLI = .909; SRMR= .028; RMSEA = .055 with CI of [0.018, 0.091]. Figure 1 displays a visual representation of the path model including parameters for the direct effects. In terms of direct paths, as expected, college stress (β = .363, p < .001) and minority status stress (β = .190, p < .001) positively and directly predicted students’ depression. In turn, students’ depression (β = –.263, p < .001) as well as college stress (β = −.108, p < .05) negatively and directly predicted their persistence intentions. Contrary to expectations, minority status stress was not directly related to persistence intentions.

Figure 1.

Accepted model with path coefficients.

Results also provided support for the direct relation of college stress to students’ cumulative GPA (β = −.176, p < .01). However, depression did not predict cumulative GPA (β = −.087, ns). The control variables, parental education and student college level, were statistically significant. Among the Hispanic college women in the sample, having at least one college graduate parent was associated with higher cumulative GPA (β = .088, p < .05) and stronger persistence intentions (β = .101, p < .05). Number of years in college was negatively related to cumulative GPA (β = −.125, p < .01) and positively related to higher levels of degree persistence intentions (β = .235, p < .001). In the accepted model, the stress variables accounted for 26% of the variance in depression (R² = .23). In addition, 15.7% of the variance in persistence (R² = .16) and 6.5% of the variance in student’s college GPA (R² = .07) was accounted for by the stress and depression variables while controlling for parental education and college level.

Mediation Analyses

Multiple mediation tests using bootstrapped standard errors yielded statistically significant indirect effects, which indicated that depression mediated the relationship between college stress and persistence intentions (β = –.095, p < .001), 99% bootstrapped CI of [–0.151, –0.040]; depression also mediated the relation between minority status stress and persistence intentions (β = −.050, p < .01), 99% bootstrapped CI of [–0.093, –0.007]. In contrast, the indirect effect tests did not provide support for the role of depression as a mediator of the associations of typical college stress to GPA (β = −.031, ns, 99% CI = [–0.091, 0.028]), nor the association of minority status stress to GPA (β = −.016, ns, 99% CI = [–0.048, 0.015]).

Discussion

The purpose of the study was to examine the relation of typical college stress, minority status stress, and depression to persistence intentions and cumulative GPA among Hispanic college women enrolled in an ethnically diverse, major research university in the southwest region of the United States. Results of path analyses provided partial support for the study’s hypotheses. When controlling for all other variables in the model, the direct relation of typical college stress to persistence intentions was statistically significant, but the direct relation of minority status stress to persistence intentions was not. However, as expected, depression served as a mediator in the relation of both minority status stress and college stress to persistence intentions. In other words, when controlling for each other, both college stress and minority status stress positively predicted depression and, in turn, depression negatively predicted students’ college persistence intentions. These findings provide further support for the notion that among Hispanic college students enrolled in 4-year institutions, minority status stress is a distinct source of stress that is directly associated with higher levels of depression symptoms (Arbona & Jiménez, 2014; Saldaña, 1994) and indirectly related to lower levels of persistence intentions (Wei et al., 2011).

The indirect relationship of minority status stress to persistence intentions provides support for Castillo et al.’s (2006) recommendation that Tinto’s (1975) proposition regarding the importance of campus engagement for the retention of Hispanic college students must be considered from a person–environment interaction perspective. It will be challenging for Hispanic college women, even those who attend diverse institutions, to engage fully with the university community while they experience minority status stress due to discrimination and an unwelcoming campus climate for members of their ethnic group (Castillo et al., 2006; Wei et al., 2010). In other words, these findings suggest that among Hispanic college women and other ethnic minority students, the ability to integrate within the campus environment will not depend only on the personal dispositions students bring to campus. It is likely that for Hispanic college women, integration into the campus community will also depend on the extent to which the university environment is receptive to members of their ethnic group (Museus, Nichols, & Lambert, 2008). Attending to the campus climate is particularly salient for the retention of Hispanic students, because even among high academic achievement students, a smaller proportion of Hispanic students obtain a bachelor degree compared with their White counterparts (Fry, 2004).

Findings also suggest that depression is one of the pathways through which typical college stress and minority status stress may result in lower levels of persistence intentions and, possibly, dropout behavior among Hispanic women enrolled in 4-year institutions. Consistent with previous reports (Granillo, 2012; Rosenthal & Schreiner, 2000), 28% of participants in the study met the most conservative cut-off score for probable depression. These findings highlight the need to integrate mental health outreach and services in efforts to promote Hispanic students’ persistence and well-being. Cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness-based counseling interventions that focus on stress management have been effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptoms among college students (Regehr, Glancy, & Pitts, 2013). Future research is needed to examine the effectiveness of stress reduction approaches to ameliorate depression symptoms among Hispanic college women.

The proposed path model worked less well for the prediction of cumulative GPA. As expected, typical college stress was directly related to students’ higher levels of depression symptoms and lower cumulative GPA. These findings are consistent with previous studies that have shown that stress is a well-documented predictor of college students’ academic and emotional difficulties (Byrd & McKinney, 2012; Zajacova et al., 2005). However, contrary to expectations, when taking into account all the variables in the model, depression symptoms were not directly related to cumulative GPA, and, therefore, depression did not mediate the relation of either of the two stress variables to GPA. A potential explanation for the lack of association of depression to GPA is that students’ self-report of their cumulative grades may have not been an accurate measure of their actual grades. While previous studies have provided support for the overall relative accuracy and validity of self-reported college grades, some evidence suggests that students with lower GPAs are more likely to overestimate their grades than their higher achieving peers (Cole et al., 2012; Kuncel et al., 2005). It is also possible that students who opted to participate in the study had higher cumulative GPAs than their nonparticipating peers did. Grades related to specific courses (e.g., course in major field or in specific courses such as math or English) or earned in the previous semester may have provided a more accurate comparison of grades across participants from various college majors. In sum, overestimation of grades, self-selection among participants, and diversity of college majors could have limited variability in GPA scores and reduced the correlations of GPA with other variables. Therefore, to better understand the contribution of depression symptoms to Hispanic students’ college grades, future studies are needed that use institution-reported GPA in specific courses or semesters that may reflect greater variability and accuracy of academic achievement levels among participants.

Findings must be interpreted in light of the study’s limitations. The correlational, cross-sectional research design does not allow for causal inferences regarding the relation of college stress, minority status stress, or depression to persistence intentions and GPA. Another limitation is the homogeneity of the sample, which consists of Hispanic women enrolled in an ethnically diverse, major research university in the southwest region of the United States. Findings may not generalize to their male peers or to Hispanic women enrolled in 4-year institutions in other parts of the country or to college women who differ from participants regarding the ethnic diversity of their college campuses. These limitations notwithstanding, one of the implications of the study’s findings is that in campuses with diverse student bodies, the experience of both ethnic minority status stress and typical college stress may contribute to Hispanic students’ psychological distress and lowered persistence intentions. Often, in institutions with a relatively large representation of ethnic minority students, the administrative and educational infrastructure remain embedded in the predominant culture, and related policies and practices may lack sensitivity to diversity issues. Therefore, even in campuses with student diversity, increased retention of Hispanic women may require efforts from the institution to foster a university climate that is open to and receptive of the experiences of ethnic minority students (Rodriguez et al., 2000).

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Consuelo Arbona is a professor of counseling psychology in the Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences at the University of Houston, Texas. Her research interests include psychological well-being and career development issues among adolescents and adults with an emphasis on Hispanic populations. She was a recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of Vocational Psychology, a section of the Division of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Weihua Fan is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, Texas. She obtained her PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation. Her research interests are latent models and their applications on educational, health, and psychological issues. She has published articles in the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistic, Journal of Experimental Education, Educational Psychology and Multivariate Behavioral Research.

Norma Olvera is a professor in the Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences at the University of Houston, Texas. In her research, she examines parental, cultural, psychological (e.g., teasing and body image dissatisfaction), and socio-environmental factors associated with obesity in Hispanic and African American children and families. She is the executive director of the BOUNCE Healthy Lifestyle Programs at the University of Houston. She was a recipient of the 2017 USDA E. Kika de la Garza Fellowship.

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