State-level analyses of race-based education laws and risk for suicidality among U.S. college students.

OBJECTIVE

We examined the state-level association between legislation prohibiting the instruction of race and racism [i.e., Critical Race Theory (CRT) bans] in higher education and past-year suicidality.

METHOD: Participants (N = 95,561;72% female; 61% non-Hispanic white) were college students from the 2023-2024 wave of the Healthy Minds Study. Two-way fixed effects logistic regression models were estimated adjusting for student and college characteristics.

RESULTS

Students in states that passed CRT bans, compared to students in states that did not, had significantly higher odds of past-year suicidality even after accounting for student and college characteristics (aOR = 1.057; 95%CI = 1.016, 1.100, p < .05). Both student race and college status (i.e., Minority Serving Institution) independently moderated this relationship.

CONCLUSION

Identifying systems-level risk and protective factors associated with suicidality may offer new opportunities for multi-level suicide prevention strategies to promote well-being among college students.