UW-Madison’s Pauline Ho recently received the UW-Madison Global Health Institute’s (GHI) Graduate Student Award Grant.
Ho is a PhD student within the human development area of the School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology.
The award will fund her project, “Perceived Racial Discrimination and Mental Health: The Role of Meaning-making and Residential History.” This work was selected for funding in the amount of $3,000.
The GHI’s Graduate Student Research Award program supports UW-Madison graduate students pursuing a PhD in any relevant discipline who are exploring potential PhD topics that will enhance global health activities on campus — and beyond
According to the abstract of Ho’s project, “the mental health of college students is a critical public health concern. Numerous studies have shown that experiences with discrimination are negatively associated with mental health and these associations may vary by race/ethnicity. However, previous research examining the buffering effect of racial-ethnic identity has yielded ambiguous findings.”
The abstract continues: “This study uses a novel measure to examine whether and how racial-ethnic identity moderates the relationship between perceived discrimination and mental health among college students of color attending a predominantly White institution. Drawing upon a narrative model of identity, this study will reveal the specific features of racial-ethnic identity that affect the impact of perceived discrimination on mental health. Moreover, this study examines whether the moderating effect of racial-ethnic identity varies by residential history before coming to college, which is an understudied contextual factor.”
The abstract concludes: “This study will advance the mission and vision of GHI by providing a more comprehensive understanding of how racial-ethnic identity and perceived discrimination interact to impact mental health. The results of this study will have potential implications on health interventions to promote healthy well-being.”