Chinese college freshmen's mental health problems and their subsequent help-seeking behaviors: A cohort design (2005-2011)

PLoS One. 2017 Oct 17;12(10):e0185531. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185531. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Based on cohort data obtained from 13,085 college freshmen's (2005 to 2011) SCL-90 (the Symptom Check-List-90) reports and their subsequent 4-year psychological counseling help-seeking records, this study examined the association between college students' mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors across four college years. Female students' mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors increased from the 2005 to the 2011 cohorts and no changes emerged for male students across cohorts. Overall, male students reported higher levels of mental health problems than did female students in the first college year, whereas female students reported more help-seeking behaviors than did male students in the following four college years. College students' mental health problems was associated positively with help-seeking behaviors. College students were more likely to seek help from the college psychological counselling center when they experienced relatively few or quite a lot of mental health issues (i.e., an inversed U shape). Implications for future studies and practices are discussed.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • China / epidemiology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Counseling / statistics & numerical data
  • Female
  • Help-Seeking Behavior*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Mental Disorders / physiopathology
  • Mental Disorders / psychology
  • Mental Disorders / therapy
  • Mental Health / trends*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Psychotherapy / statistics & numerical data
  • Students / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Universities*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research was supported by YangziRiver Professor Supportive Program to Dr. Xiaoyi Fang and a grant from Chinese Ministry of Education of Ideology and politics to support the development of a screening tool for college students’ mental health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.