Abstract

This study examines the association between 6 higher education institutional-level characteristics (institutional type, enrollment size, sector, housing, admissions selectivity, and graduation rate) and individual endorsed and perceived mental health treatment stigma scores among college students. We use data from the Healthy Minds Study during 2009–2017. The sample for this analysis includes 89,644 students at 105 unique institutions. We find a negative association between individual-level stigma scores and small enrollment institutions, private institutions, highly residential institutions, and institutions with the highest admissions selectivity and highest graduation rates. Moreover, these findings are generally similar across both individual measures of endorsed stigma and perceived stigma. Overall, our findings suggest that institutional environments where interactions are perhaps more frequent and personal (small enrollment institutions and highly residential institutions) are less likely to be associated with individual-level endorsements and perceptions of mental health treatment stigma.