STEM, gender, and mental health: Understanding depression and anxiety in a national undergraduate sample

American universities have expressed increasing concern about the negative effects of mental health on undergraduates' performance and persistence. Despite national calls to optimize mental health resources across universities, little effort has been made to identify which students struggle the most. Determining where university resources should be focused is crucial for maximizing their impact. STEM fields are hypothesized to exacerbate anxiety and depression among undergraduates because of their notoriously competitive and unwelcoming environments. Given that women are more likely to experience anxiety and depression in the general population, this study sought to assess to what extent the severity of anxiety and depression differ among cisgender men and women in STEM versus non-STEM fields. We analyzed data from 43,910 undergraduates representing 135 institutions who completed the Healthy Minds Study survey in the 2022-2023 academic year. Women self-reported more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to men. STEM students self-reported more severe symptoms of depression, but not anxiety, compared to non-STEM students. The relationship between gender and major was not significant, meaning that the gender differences in anxiety and depression severity are neither magnified nor minimized in the context of STEM. However, women and STEM students disproportionately perceive that "anxiety/stress" affects their exam performance relative to men and non-STEM students, respectively. This study suggests that universities seeking to improve undergraduate mental health should recognize that college women and STEM students report more severe depression symptoms than their respective counterparts and that the impact of "anxiety/stress" on exam performance may disproportionately disadvantage women and STEM students.