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Causes of Social Stress Among Black Students

in Predominantly White Programs
Taylor Small & Cybil Myles

Abstract: A prospective study done to evaluate and analyze the connection between black

students’ social, academic, and emotional stress and being in a predominately white institution

or professional program. Many retrospective studies were explored before this research was

conducted to see if there were previous connections made by previous authors. The purpose of

this mixed-method research is to gather data regarding the causes of the presence of social

stress among black students who are enrolled in a program or university whose student

population is predominantly white. The results gathered will allow the researchers to illuminate

the causes claimed by the black students at Baptist Health Sciences University. The prospective

study conducted in this research included approximately 61 black students that are enrolled in

classes at Baptist Health Sciences University. The results were analyzed by the primary and

secondary investigators only and showed that there was a connection between the stress of

black students and being in predominantly white environments at Baptist Health Sciences

University.

Key Words: predominantly white, black students, stress, professional programs, social stress,

minority students
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Introduction

Is it tough being a black student in a class in which the majority of other students aren’t black?

A question which many cannot answer due to never having had to encounter this feeling of

estrangement. There are gaps in the knowledge surrounding this question of “Is there really

more social stress on black students in a predominately white program?” because it is

considered a tender and delicate subject to be able to gather information on. 1 The reason for

the interest in answering this question is to not only conclude what the common stressors are,

but if there are any at all. The various literature reviewed reveals contradicting conclusions 2, so

these said gaps in the research were explored using a prospective study design, surveying black

students entering and currently in the different programs at Baptist Health Sciences University.

A minority can be defined as a group or population whose race, religion, language, or political

persuasion is less than half of the total populace. Black Americans are included in this category,

whereas Caucasians are considered the opposite: a majority.3 Historically, African Americans

have had to work harder to achieve the same goals of that of their white peers. There have

been many prospective studies done, such as Jochman’s “Mental Health Outcomes of

Discrimination among College Students on a Predominately White Campus: A Prospective

Study” that prove there is a common feeling among black students of race-related stressors. 4 A

common theme explored by the authors that produced these prospective study results is that

no student should have added academic, social, or work-related stress because their race is

different than that of most of their surrounding colleagues. Regardless, these matters of stress

are still prevalent within today’s programs.

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The additional literature reviewed include a series of prospective and retrospective studies

done within universities and programs that consist of majority white students. Research

showed that black students struggled with isolation and the feeling of belonging in their

professional programs because they were the only black students enrolled, and they were, at

most times, excluded from participating in study groups because they did not fit in. 5 Black

students' emotional experiences while progressing through their professional programs caused

them to feel like imposters. Previous studies have shown that although black students have

experienced social stress in predominantly white programs, student teacher relationships

played a significant role in how the students were able to cope with social stressors and

progress through their professional programs.5 Determining the factors that cause black

students to feel stress and understanding the pertinent information from black students in a

predominately white program or school could potentially help the university or program

implement ways to help black students alleviate their stress.

Methodology

A mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative research design procedures was used to

acquire information from the Black American students at Baptist Health Sciences University.

Black students that are a part of a predominantly white program are permitted to participate in

this research conduction, and this information regarding the programmatic demographics was

obtained through the schools’ administration. The inclusion criteria are based on race and a 2:1

white to black ratio in a program or class at Baptist Health Sciences University, Black students
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that experience social, academic, or emotional stress due to their race and the ratio of black to

white students in their class. The inclusion criteria for the data researched prior to the study

conduction included prospective and retrospective studies conducted within the last 15 years

exploring the social stressors of black students in predominantly white programs and

classes/universities. The exclusion criteria are based on black students who are enrolled in a

program at Baptist Health Science University that is predominately black or students that are

not enrolled at Baptist Health Sciences University. The exclusion criteria for the data researched

before the study conduction are prospective and retrospective studies that are older than 15

years. Baptist Health Sciences University student demographics as of 2022 are as follows 6 and

shown in Figure 1: White- 46.3%, Black- 40.7%, Hispanic- 8.3%, Other- 4.7%. This data concludes

that all black students at Baptist Health Sciences University meet the inclusion criteria to

complete this survey. The participants were required to read and complete a survey consent

form that disclosed the data will not be published and the feedback was completely

anonymous. A Google Survey that consists of 13 questions was created only for students who

met this inclusion criteria. The questions pertain to emotional, academic, and social stress

factors black students encounter in these programs. The students answered the questions in a

variety of ways: agree/disagree scale, yes or no manner, short answer, or 5-point Likert scale.

One additional short answer question was added and was optional for the participants to add

any comments or information that pertains to the questions they were asked.
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Results

The conduction of the research was done over 6 days: a 3-week period, 2 times per week for a

minimum of 2 hours. 61 students that met the inclusion criteria participated in the survey after

filling out the research consent form, disclosing that the data collected will not be published or

examined outside of the primary and secondary investigators and faculty adviser. The data of

the Likert scale 2 extremes, absolutely not and absolutely, will be revealed in this section. It can

be assumed that all other participants answered “not really”, “somewhat”, or “neutral” in these

questions. All other data will also be revealed here. After the 6 days and a total of 12 hours of

conduction, the results are as follows: Out of 61 responses, 100% of participants are enrolled in

classes at BHSU (Figure 2). Out of 61 responses, 87% of participants are in a professional

program at BHSU. Out of 61 responses, 70% of participants are in the nursing program and 30%

are in an allied health program. Of the 61 responses, 13 participants have not started their

professional courses yet, 16 started in 2023, 15 in 2022, 14 in 2021, 3 in 2020, and 1 in 2019.

14.8% of black students do not experience any emotional or social stress around white students

whereas 14.8% absolutely experience emotional and/or social stress around white students. 8

of 61 participants rated their academic stress at a 1(low stress) whereas 16 of 61 participants

rated theirs at a 5 (high stress). 6.6% of participants said that they absolutely do not think that

being a black student in a program with mostly white classmates causes more academic

stress/the need to do better, whereas 34.4% said that they absolutely feel that way (Figure 3).

9.8% of participants said that they absolutely do not believe they have to work harder than

their white counterparts to be given equal opportunity and achieve the same goals whereas

41% of participants said they absolutely believe that way (Figure 4). 6 students said that they
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rate their emotional stress at a 1 (low stress) and 13 students rated their emotional stress at a 5

(high stress). 26.2% of students believe their white classmates do not get treated differently by

their instructors whereas 13.1% said they absolutely believe it. 18% of students do not have

feelings of loneliness because they are the minority in their classes, while 13% do have those

feelings. 15% of students absolutely do not feel comfortable talking with their instructors about

their academic or emotional stress while 18.3% said they absolutely feel comfortable. At the

end of the survey the participants were also asked what 3 factors contribute to their stress as a

student at BHSU. A few trending answers in this section were: Course workload, clinical hours,

personal life/money, being a minority, and time management

Discussion

The main purpose of this study was to examine the social stressors of black students in

predominantly white programs. When analyzing the 50 scholarly articles and research

performed on the subject, it was found that 100% of the studies uncovered that at least one

subject within the participants had additional social, academic, or emotional stress due to the

color of their skin. In fact, it is said that a lot of black students’ stress causes them to transfer or

drop out of certain institutions if these feelings become overwhelming7. The research

conducted in this study was consistent with these findings as well. As stated above, 21 of 61

participants stated that they have more academic stress due to being in classes or a program

that is predominantly white. This commonly causes these black students to feel the need to

work harder and do better than their white counterparts to be given equal opportunities,
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whether it’s in the healthcare field or just in society8. Research has since proven that the

academic environment of the students has a major impact on their academic performance 9.

This can mean positive or negative effects on the student’s performance based on professors,

classmates, or clinical instructors. A large contributor to academic success is the support from

families and professors. Students as a whole perform better academically with the support of

their teachers. It has been proven in past research that faculty support and encouragement was

important to black students in predominantly white environments10. Black students performed

better academically when they felt welcomed and incorporated in the academic setting. Black

students that they feel their white classmates are further supported11. It has been proven that

black students perform well when they feel comfortable with their instructors 12. Student

teacher relationships have proven to be very effective in previous research as it pertains to

black students and their success. The relationship of Black students and instructors is thought

to be a critical factor in black students continuing their professional aspirations in college.

These students would feel comfortable enough to discuss their struggles with their professors

without feeling like they are a bother or being judged. Only 18% of the students at Baptist

Health Sciences University do not feel any sense of hostility or discomfort talking with their

professors about their emotional or academic stress. Previous research indicated that black

students used their relationships with their instructors to help them cope with their social and

emotional stress around white students13. This made the students feel like they belonged in the

environment and that they deserved to be in the institution's professional program just as

much as white students.

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The feeling of loneliness and alienation without a healthy student-instructor relationship can

hinder the success of these students, and it is said by 13% of participants that they feel this way

at Baptist Health Sciences University. Being a Black student requires resilience in today’s world

and perseverance is no stranger to black students because of the challenges many of them face.

There is documentation that shows many black students face everyday lifetime discrimination

which means most of these students experience a form of racism before they ever enroll into

college14. These students are stressed before they start classes with white students based off of

the experienced racism they have encountered beforehand. The black students start college

and hold on to the previous racial experiences which exacerbates their feelings of scrutiny and

unworthiness15. Many are first generation college students, overcoming the life struggles that

were handed to them and the lack of resources to better education16. Socioeconomic status,

gender, age, and more can alter the way these students perform in their professional programs,

paired with being the minority17. The stereotypes black students face were also found to play a

major role in the social stress of black students in the presence of white students. Black

students feel targeted and placed on the spot because of stereotypical statements made from

their white classmates18. Previous studies showed that black students felt uncomfortable and

insulted by comments made by their white classmates, even if the statements were unintended

to cause harm19. The distraction of stereotypical comments and microaggressions makes it

impossible for black students to be stress free and focus on their studies. The free response

answers provided in the survey by the participants prove this to be true. According to past

research black students that are first generation college students face assimilation challenges

around white students, because the black students felt that they had nothing in common with
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white students20. They felt like they did not fit in with white students, so many of them did not

know how to cope with this social stress and maintain academic success. The feeling of not

knowing how to cope with social stressors came from black students feeling as if they had to

change their identities of their true authentic selves just to fit in with a white environment 21.

There were many students that felt like money, personal life, and race contributed to their

overall stress in the presence of a predominately white environment. Most black students

struggle with the sense of belonging in their institution of higher learning when there is no

sense of diversity. It has been documented that diversity and inclusion is important to black

students so they will not have a feeling of alienation22. Therefore, it has been thought that

culture awareness and cultural diversity on college campuses could take away the imposter

syndrome that most black students face and replace that feeling with the sense of belonging 23.

The problem that the black students face in addition to the imposter syndrome, is the

microaggressions from their fellow classmates. It has been documented in previous studies that

there has not been support from white students, only destructive actions that cause the black

students to experience stress24. Unlike their white counterparts, black students think about

their race every day when encountering the struggles they face that other students do not have

to, forcing them into this imposter syndrome25. Experiencing these effects from the

predominantly white environments will sometimes cause a discrepancy between how the

student feels towards their white counterparts, which can in turn have an adverse effect on the

way the student will care for patients in their future careers26. With the impact this imposter

phenomenon has on black students, it is highly probable that their emotional stress will

increase just as their academic stress. Feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness are high
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throughout these students’ educational journey, and most times it goes unnoticed 27. That is

proven to be true in the research conducted in this study where over one-fifth of participants

felt an additional compromise of their emotional stability. Emotional stability and academic

success go hand in hand. If a student’s mental health is poor, and they have feelings of lower

self-esteem, they will be less motivated to do as well as others because they have previous

notions that they cannot perform this way28. Black students eventually become overwhelmed

and drained while in the setting of white students, and eventually these students become burnt

out before they finish their professional program29. The burnout of these students eventually

led to lower retention rates of black students in college.

Some limitations of the study include the availability of the days that the research investigators

were able to conduct. With the prior obligations of the 2 students to complete their other

classwork, clinical hours, or personal commitments, there were only 2 set days for each of the 3

weeks of participation, making a total of 6 conduction days. Because of conflicting class or clinic

time of the other students, some were not able to participate where they might have if the

research had been conducted on a different day of the week. Another potential limitation is the

building in which the researchers recruited students to complete the survey. Due to the

availability and the number of students, the researchers kept the research conduction down to

one building. There was one attempt to conduct in a second building on campus, but no classes

were being held on that day. Keeping the research conduction to one building can be

considered a limitation because there are many students that attend the university that do not

have any classes in the building or do not have any reason to come into it, making them

unknowing and unable to get the chance to participate in the research.

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Conclusion

There is a desperate need for diversity in all areas of healthcare in order to eradicate some of

the racial discrepancies that can occur within all areas and department 30. Many incidences of

racial microaggressions go unnoticed within the class and clinical setting31. This needs to be

recognized so that the number of black students claiming that they have increased stress load

can decrease. This change happens with one person at a time, and it is important for the future

of our profession to recognize that this is not a problem of the past; the problem is now. It is

real, and it is carried out in the professional world of not only sonography, and not only

healthcare, but all aspects of life. This does not only happen in other schools, but it is proven by

the research done in this study that it happens at Baptist Health Sciences University. Black

students at all universities deserve the same encouragement, opportunities, and successes that

all other students are able to obtain with the same amount of hard work and dedication.

Key Takeaways

Social stress of black students in the college setting is real, and it should be known that race

does contribute to the possibility of black students not performing satisfactorily. Students are in

college to learn the necessary skills to be able to successfully take care of patients. If black

students are stressed because they do not fit in with white students, that indicates that these

students are not able to effectively focus on their studies and their grades will soon reflect as

such. BHSU is dedicated to the success of their students, so it is imperative that it is known

what stressors the black students enrolled in the university face, because these students will

eventually transition into the healthcare field. It is important for black students to know how to
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mix with other races and cultures without feeling like they are beneath them. It is pertinent for

the university to understand that microaggressions and stereotypical remarks do occur, and it is

the black students who are at a great risk of academic and emotional compromise because of

the stress they are placed under in these conditions.

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