WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project

Prevalence and distribution of mental disorders

Bibliographic Data

ID5804155
AuthorsRandy P Auerbach (0000-0003-2319-4744, Columbia University), WHO WMH-ICS Collaborators, Philippe Mortier (0000-0003-2113-6241, KU Leuven), Ronny Bruffaerts (0000-0002-0330-3694, KU Leuven), Jordi Alonso (0000-0001-8627-9636, Hospital Del Mar), Corina Benjet (0000-0002-4569-6094, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz), Pim Cuijpers (0000-0001-5497-2743, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Koen Demyttenaere (0000-0001-5331-487X, KU Leuven), David Daniel Ebert (0000-0001-6820-0146, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Jennifer Green (0000-0002-3541-4989, Boston University), Penelope Hasking (0000-0002-0172-9288, Speech Pathology Australia), Elaine Murray (0000-0003-0170-6809, University of Ulster), Matthew K Nock (0000-0001-6508-1145, Harvard University), Arthur D P Mak (0000-0003-1627-6434, Harvard University), Stephanie Pinder-Amaker, Nancy A Sampson (0000-0003-2971-6072, Harvard University), Dan J Stein (0000-0001-7218-7810, University of Cape Town), Gemma Vilagut (0000-0002-3714-226X, Municipal Institute for Medical Research), R C Kessler (0000-0003-4831-2305, Harvard University), Alan M Zaslavsky (0000-0003-1072-6043, Harvard University)
Year2018
Volume127
Issue7
Pages623-638
Publication date2018-09-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Abnormal Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-843X • E-ISSN: 1939-1846
PublisherAmerican Psychological Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1037/abn0000362
PMID30211576
OpenAlexW2891230948
LanguageEN
Citations received493
References cited33

Increasingly, colleges across the world are contending with rising rates of mental disorders, and in many cases, the demand for services on campus far exceeds the available resources.The present study reports initial results from the first stage of the WHO World Mental Health International College Student project, in which a series of surveys in 19 colleges across 8 countries (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain, United States) were carried out with the aim of estimating prevalence and basic sociodemographic correlates of common mental disorders among first-year college students.Web-based self-report questionnaires administered to incoming first-year students (45.5% pooled response rate) screened for six common lifetime and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders: major depression, mania/hypomania, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, alcohol use disorder, and substance use disorder.We focus on the 13,984 respondents who were full-time students: 35% of whom screened positive for at least one of the common lifetime disorders assessed and 31% screened positive for at least one 12-month disorder.Syndromes typically had onsets in early to middle adolescence and persisted into the year of the survey.Although relatively modest, the strongest correlates of screening positive were older age, female sex, unmarried-deceased parents, no religious affiliation, nonheterosexual identification and behavior, low secondary school ranking, and extrinsic motivation for college enrollment.The weakness of these associations means that the syndromes considered are widely distributed with respect to these variables in the student population.Although the extent to which cost-effective treatment would reduce these risks is unclear, the high level of need for mental health services implied by these results represents a major challenge to institutions of higher education and governments

Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Digital Mental Health Interventions · Mental Health Treatment and Access