Nowhere is Safe: Chronic Fears Among Latinx University Students

<i>Research on fear among college students in the US is under-studied. Fear of various forms of violence among college students is associated with adverse health outcomes including anxiety, depression, and substance use. Latinx college students often experience a higher prevalence of fear compared with White college students. Less is known about the types of fears commonly experienced by Latinx college students and the perceived impact of fear on health and well-being. Self-identified Latinx university students (n=20) were recruited, via convenience sampling, to participate in focus group discussions. The research team employed an inductive thematic analysis to explore various types of fears among students and their effects on health and wellbeing. Five themes emerged from the data including: (1) Hypervigilance, (2) Fear of White people, (3) Burden of being a person of color (POC)/Latinx, (4) Impacts on health, and (5) Interventions and programs to assist with decreasing fears. Proof and power quotes were identified and selected to substantiate the importance of each theme. Results of this exploratory qualitative study underscore substantial fear, particularly race-based fear, among Latinx college students and their perceived impacts on various aspects of health. Particular attention and intervention is needed to address the impact of these specific fears reported by Latinx college students that influence the prevalence of adverse mental and physical health outcomes in this population</i>