Social Justice Activism and Critical Agency Among Undocumented Students: Coping Mediators Between Discrimination and Depression

Undocumented students experience everyday discrimination and heightened depression compared to peers who hold permanently protected immigration statuses (Cadenas & Nienhusser, 2021; Gonzalez et al., 2015). Social justice activism (SJA) can be an outlet for undocumented students to develop critical agency to change discriminatory social conditions. Grounded in a model of critical consciousness and coping (Cadenas et al., 2021), we investigated the mediational role of SJA and critical agency in the link between discrimination and depression in a sample of 171 predominantly Latinx undocumented college students. We analyzed the data using structural equation modeling, probing indirect effects with bootstrapping. Results supported the hypothesis that discrimination has a strong and predictive effect on students' depression. Simultaneously, SJA and critical agency served as serial mediators in this link, weakening the indirect effect of discrimination on depression. We discuss implication for college and university counseling services, higher education practices, and institutional leadership affirming undocumented students' activism.