The Crisis in White Women's Mental Health

Mental health can be challenging for individuals of varying racialized and gendered identities. However, not everyone experiences mental health in the same way. Contemporary research and literature have suggested that white women, especially within the United States of America, experience significant difficulties and disadvantages that result in poor mental health experiences and states. In this paper, I adopt an intersectional life course approach to consider how race and gender intersect to affect mental health and overall wellbeing across the life span. This approach will allow me to understand an interesting paradox in mental health wherein white women experience poorer mental health because of various cultural and social stressors that have less of an impact towards the mental health of men and minority populations. Findings situate that white women’s poorer mental health experiences are a result of not only racialized and gendered differences, but can also be attributed to age, income, marital status, trust, and education.