Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Vol 19(3), Jun 2026, 207-219; doi:10.1037/dhe0000657
Student mental health remains a top priority for higher education. In recent years, scholars have been paying increasing attention to social determinants of mental health, including how systems of social inequality disproportionately burden certain groups with stressful life conditions and lead to adverse mental health outcomes. Yet, current theory and research lack a comprehensive model explicitly linking privilege to student resource access and stress. To address this, we draw on the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health conceptual framework to examine the role of privilege, via whiteness and parents’ education, in student mental health. Mediation results from a structural equation model including 2,309 students suggest that students who identify as white,1 Asian or Asian American, or Hispanic and/or Latino/a/x as well as students whose parents have more education experience lower rates of food insecurity, and, in turn, experience less psychological strain (i.e., lower psychological distress, less loneliness, and higher psychological well-being). Implications for higher education institutions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)