Abstract
The recent increase in mental health concerns and service utilization for students has been characterized as the “mental health crisis in higher education.” At the same time, there are social inequities on who gets to be well and under what conditions. This three-paper dissertation analyzes the well-being support networks of Black and Indigenous college students. While previous scholarship suggests that campus climate and key interactions play a role, understudied is how the structure and composition of relationships and networks shape well-being. I conducted a transformative multiple methods social network analysis project to explore well-being networks and support at national and institutional levels. The first paper summarizes and synthesizes the theoretical and methodological approaches to examining the subjective well-being of Black and Indigenous college students. I argue that scholarship on college student Subjective Well-Being (SWB) often focuses on individualized factors that contribute to well-being, and the research on well-being is disconnected from the larger scholarship on college student success. Utilizing national Healthy Minds Survey Data, the second paper explores the well-being affiliations of (n=1200) Black and Indigenous college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and found significant differences in support connections by gender, level of well-being, and other factors. The third paper is a transformative mixed structural analysis of (n=22) well-being networks at one predominantly White institution. Results suggest three profiles of networks that are uniquely shaped by the number and density of on- and off-campus support, levels of reciprocity, and the presence and absence of shared identity and experiences. Collectively these papers advance scholarship on the current state of well-being from relational and network perspectives with the goal of bringing attention to the conditions that enhance or impede well-being.
Link to full disseration
The recent increase in mental health concerns and service utilization for students has been characterized as the “mental health crisis in higher education.” At the same time, there are social inequities on who gets to be well and under what conditions. This three-paper dissertation analyzes the well-being support networks of Black and Indigenous college students. While previous scholarship suggests that campus climate and key interactions play a role, understudied is how the structure and composition of relationships and networks shape well-being. I conducted a transformative multiple methods social network analysis project to explore well-being networks and support at national and institutional levels. The first paper summarizes and synthesizes the theoretical and methodological approaches to examining the subjective well-being of Black and Indigenous college students. I argue that scholarship on college student Subjective Well-Being (SWB) often focuses on individualized factors that contribute to well-being, and the research on well-being is disconnected from the larger scholarship on college student success. Utilizing national Healthy Minds Survey Data, the second paper explores the well-being affiliations of (n=1200) Black and Indigenous college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and found significant differences in support connections by gender, level of well-being, and other factors. The third paper is a transformative mixed structural analysis of (n=22) well-being networks at one predominantly White institution. Results suggest three profiles of networks that are uniquely shaped by the number and density of on- and off-campus support, levels of reciprocity, and the presence and absence of shared identity and experiences. Collectively these papers advance scholarship on the current state of well-being from relational and network perspectives with the goal of bringing attention to the conditions that enhance or impede well-being.
Link to full disseration
Publications
Wicker, P. (Accepted-Forthcoming). A descriptive social network analysis of Indigenous well-being support through the human and more-than-human relations of Indigenous college women. Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education
Wicker, P. D. (2024). Well-Being and support network affiliations for Black and Indigenous college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Education Sciences, 14(8), https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080832
Wicker, P. D. (2024). Well-Being and support network affiliations for Black and Indigenous college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Education Sciences, 14(8), https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14080832