University Honors

The majority of research in the field of Psychology has been conducted by American researchers, in American-based institutions, with participants who have largely come from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) backgrounds. This has severely limited thegeographical and cultural applicability of the results of our studies. This is particularly true formental health assessments, which are highly correlated with local cultural influences. Thepresent study was conducted in Kenya. Using African university students as participants, weused three surveys to determine the relationship between cultural, socioeconomic factors andlocal mental health. We focused on three main mental health variables: depression level, anxietylevel, and general mental health, as well as five cultural and socioeconomic factors: age, familyincome, perceived social support, gender, and ethnic (tribal) identity. Hypotheses included thefollowing: (1) A positive correlation between age and the three mental health variables, and apositive correlation between experience of inter-ethnic discrimination and these variables. (2) Anegative correlation between income level and the three mental health variables, and a negativecorrelation between perceived social support and these variables. (3) Higher levels of anxiety anddepression among females and ethnic minorities. The results of the study supported ourhypotheses regarding the experience of ethnic discrimination. Perceived social support wasnegatively associated with depression and general mental health, but not with anxiety. Membersof minority ethnic groups reported higher levels of anxiety, but not depression. No significantresults were found for age, gender, or household income level.