Racial and ethnic minority (REM) students are more likely to experience poor mental health than their White peers yet are less likely to seek help from university counseling services. In attempting to explain this puzzle, the role of environmental factors are rarely explored, despite evidence which suggests that the university environment is itself a major factor. Here, I take a qualitative paired comparison approach to examine the influence of the university environment on the mental health and help-seeking attitudes of REM undergraduate students, evaluating their experiences at a Russell Group university (RGU) with low REM participation and a neighboring non-Russell Group university with high REM participation. While both universities declared a commitment to widen participation and promote inclusion for REM individuals, semi-structured interviews with 48 REM students reveal that feelings of isolation and the experience of discrimination were heightened at the RGU. However, students at both universities described having to navigate a “minefield” of racial microaggressions and “othering.” Further, these environmental pressures are compounded by personal factors (i.e., prior help-seeking experiences, cultural norms, and family pressures). Together, these factors largely influence both their mental health and their help-seeking attitudes. I argue that these factors create a widening participation penalty for REM students and suggest that support for these students must go beyond initial acts of increasing diversity on campus (for example, through Widening Participation schemes). Rather, efforts should focus on addressing and reforming the institutional environments and behaviors that hinder university campuses from becoming truly inclusive and mentally healthy environments.

中文翻译：

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支付不断扩大的参与惩罚：英国大学的种族和少数民族学生与心理健康

与白人同龄人相比，种族和少数族裔 (REM) 学生的心理健康状况较差，但不太可能寻求大学咨询服务的帮助。在试图解释这个谜题，尽管有证据表明大学环境本身就是一个主要因素，但很少探讨环境因素的作用。在这里，我采用定性配对比较方法来检验大学环境对 REM 本科生的心理健康和求助态度的影响，评估他们在 REM 参与率低的罗素集团大学 (RGU) 和邻近的非- REM 参与度高的罗素集团大学。虽然两所大学都宣布承诺扩大 REM 个人的参与和促进包容，但对 48 名 REM 学生的半结构化访谈显示，RGU 的孤立感和歧视经历加剧了。然而，两校的学生大学描述了必须在种族微观侵略和“其他”的“雷区”中导航。此外，这些环境压力因个人因素（即先前的求助经历、文化规范和家庭压力）而加剧。总之，这些因素在很大程度上影响了他们的心理健康和寻求帮助的态度。我认为这些因素对 REM 学生造成了更大的参与惩罚，并建议对这些学生的支持必须超越增加校园多样性的初始行为（例如，通过扩大参与计划）。相反，努力应该集中在解决和改革阻碍大学校园真正具有包容性和心理健康的制度环境和行为环境。