Use an impact assessment approach to explain the relationship between college students' subjective social status and mental health.

Rubin, M. Using an impact assessment approach to explain the association between subjective social status and mental health in college students. SN SOC Sci 1, 20 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-020-00031-3

Commentary

Past research has shown that there is a positive association between social class and mental health among college students. Based on these results, various mediators of the association have been proposed, but the extent to which students perceive these mediators as having an impact on their mental health will be unknown.

The study found that 402 first-year psychology students at a large Australian university indicated the extent to which 32 issues had negatively impacted their mental health in the past six months.

These students rated money problems, time management, coursework assessment items, lack of sleep, and course marks as having the greatest impact on their mental health, and found that lack of money and time management were positively associated with subjective social status and mental health in the last week and month.

Coursework assessment items and coursemarks have also been shown to mediate the positive association between subjective social status and satisfaction with the college experience.