We thought this article from The Chronicle of Higher Education was worth sharing, as it addresses an issue we don’t often see in the mainstream media: the disparity between how white and black college students address mental health issues. Below is an excerpt, and we hope you’ll click the link below it to read the full article. And if you are in Northeast Ohio and recognize yourself or someone you love, the Center for Effective Living is here and ready to help.
African-American students feel less emotionally prepared for college than white students do, and they’re also more likely to keep their worries to themselves, according to the results of a national poll released on Wednesday.
The survey marks one of the first efforts born of a partnership between the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the emotional well-being of college students, and the Steve Fund, a group focused on the mental health of minority students that was formed in 2014 to honor Stephen C. Rose, an African-American graduate of Harvard University who committed suicide that year at age 29.
The results of the survey, which was conducted online last year by Harris Poll, reflect a clear racial disparity between students who feel comfortable in a college setting and students who do not. Among the 1,500 second-semester freshmen who responded, less than half of black students rated their college experience as “good” or “excellent,” compared with nearly two-thirds of white students.