The prevalence of psychological distress and help-seeking in a college student population

Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence of treated and untreated psychological distress as measured by various indices within subgroups of a student population. Comparisons are made on these indices between a random sample of the college population of 1502 respondents and applicants from the same population seeking psychiatric and counseling assistance. As anticipated, we found high levels of reported distress in the random sample although it is difficult to assess the clinical significance of such reports. Forty-five per cent of students in the random sample scored six or higher on the Langner 22-item scale as compared with 75 % among psychiatric applicants and 66 % among counseling applicants. While half of the psychiatric sample, and a third of the counseling sample, reported that their problems often prevent activities, only a tenth of the random sample gave comparable responses. Forty-seven predictors of levels of reported distress were examined. Most socio-demographic factors have either modest or no effect on reported distress; women, younger students and unmarried students were more likely to report distress. Other variables found to be correlated with reported distress include: having a high proportion of friends with emotional problems, identifying with introspective others and a low sense of self-efficacy and control. The significance of these and other findings is evaluated in light of methodological issues and uncertainties in the measurement of distress in community populations.