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Abstract

Between 2002 and 2022, over 125 college athletes died by suicide, and Division I athletes represented 45% of these deaths. In 2023, Black women college athletes at Division I universities identified racism as a mental health stressor at a higher rate than their non-Black peers. The intersectional nature of social identities and athlete status may create gendered and racialized stressors that are uniquely experienced by Black women athletes. Given the underrepresentation of Black students (i.e., athletes and nonathletes), coaches, faculty, and staff at historically white institutions (HWIs), Black women athletes are likely navigating campus relationships and environments that are shaped by histories of exclusion, racism, and anti-Blackness. The purpose of this paper is to explore Black women Division I college athletes mental health experiences at historically white universities, namely how mental health is shaped by intersecting interpersonal, organizational and institutional relationships and norms. The goal is to offer recommendations for how athletic departments can holistically support Black women’s mental and emotional well-being, from an interpersonal and organizational lens.

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