Background. Flourishing is negatively related with depression, but has been proposed as a separate axis and an independent aspect of overall mental health. One factor that has been shown to affect both depression and flourishing is racial discrimination. This study hypothesizes that, in young undergraduate women of color, discrimination experiences will be negatively associated with flourishing, even after accounting for the known negative associations between discrimination experiences and depressive symptoms. Method. Women (n = 109), few of whom identified as White non-Hispanic, completed baseline surveys regarding depressive symptoms, flourishing, discrimination experiences, and SES. Results. Discrimination was significantly associated with depressive symptoms but not flourishing. The relationship with socio-economic status was also explored, and SES was found to be a significant predictor of flourishing. Additionally, discrimination experiences and SES were related and were not independent predictors of depressive symptoms. Discussion. Despite no association being found between flourishing and discrimination, results still indicated that discrimination may be harmful to mental health as it was positively correlated with depression. Also, it was found that SES may be associated with the ability to flourish, indicating that SES may affect mental health.
Key Words: Flourishing, Discrimination, Depression, Psycholog
