Hot on HuffPost Parents:
Zoe Armstrong: Five Ways to Fake a Break and Avoid Parenting Burnout
Lianne Castelino and Andrea Howick: How Do You Deal With Nightmare…
Number of Depressed College Students On the Rise, Study Says
Filed under: Behavior: Teens, Nutrition: Teens, Education: Teens
A breeding ground for depressed students. Credit: AP
A recent study of college students suggests that their declining emotional condition is a critical situation schools have failed to fully address, according to The Chicago Tribune.
The results are discouraging, says Michael Fleming, one of the study's lead authors and a professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
"I think the stress of academic performance has helped cause an increase in the rate of depression among students," Fleming tells the Tribune. "That's why it's important to take the opportunity to screen at every visit."
If colleges boost their depression screening efforts for all students, that would be the first step toward better emotional health, Fleming tells the Tribune. About 25 percent of all students who visited on-campus health centers were diagnosed as depressed, according to the report published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.
The researchers recommend that university health centers should conduct comprehensive screenings of all student visitors to more accurately assess how many may be at risk of depression.
Researchers spent two years surveying more than 1,600 college students who visited health centers on the campuses of the University of British Columbia, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin.
The study, "Depression and Suicide Ideation among Students Accessing Campus Healthcare," was the first of its kind to screen for depression among a large pool of students who were visiting a campus health center to seek treatment for ailment or injury, according to the report.
By screening more students, Fleming says, the research team found the rates of depression and suicidal thoughts were nearly twice as high as those found in previous studies. Those studies were based on students' answers on general college surveys and data collected from those who visited counseling centers, he tells the Tribune.
"Depression screening is easy to do," Fleming says. "We know it works, and it can save lives."
A growing number of studies are focusing on the rising number of college students diagnosed with depression and other emotional conditions.
According to the International Association of Counseling Services' 2010 National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, 91 percent of the more than 300 counseling center directors surveyed reported seeing an increase in numbers of students with psychological problems over the past year, reports the Tribune.
Another recently published study that surveyed incoming college freshmen found the number of students who ranked their emotional health as "below average" was the highest in more than 20 years.
"It's really hard to know why our numbers are going up," Dianna Stencel, a licensed clinical social worker at Loyola University Chicago's campus health center, tells the Tribune. "Some speculate that our medications are so much better now that people who traditionally wouldn't have been able to go to school away from home are able to do that now."
Want to get the latest ParentDish news and advice? Sign up for our newsletter!
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
Recently Asked
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Student Receives Animal Ban After Frying Hamster
Some people should never have animals. Case in point – 21-year-old, James White. Reportedly, the college student who studies in York, United Kingdom fried his roommate's hamster while he was intoxicated.
-
Pittsburgh Area College Students Studying in Rome Talk About the Conclave
WTAE Action News' Mike Clark checks in live from Rome with his interviews with local Pittsburgh college students (Duquesne University) studying in Rome.
-
College Week: Higher Education Elitism
A recent study found that most low-income students with high academic ability never apply to a single highly-selective college. Why aren't colleges fighting to reverse this trend and locate talented low-income students?
-
Why a San Francisco Student Chose to Study at Yale
In Chapter 7 of 20, while in high school, Louise Davis prioritized colleges located in urban settings. She explained that the college should have resources that can be committed to serving the local community in need and enable students to apply these resources. Seeking something comparable to her San Francisco childhood, Davis decided to attend Yale University, given its high priority in serving the local New Haven, Connecticut community.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
3-12-2011 @ 6:39PM
Joyce Dade said...Thank you for this article. It is sad to read of this but there is much that we elders can do to support our young people. With respect, this comment it is disingenuous to state this:
"It's really hard to know why our numbers ... (an increase in numbers of students with psychological problems over the past year, reports the Tribune) are going up," Dianna Stencel, a licensed clinical social worker at Loyola University Chicago's campus health center, tells the Tribune. It should be obvious to all of us that young people and in this case college students are under more stress and pressure than ever and with bleak future prospects in light of the long and protracted recession we are undergoing. Our youth need all of our love, support, encouragement and financial support that we can muster on the individual level as well as in terms of the government (grants and so forth). They are our children. They are our future. They deserve the love and support that appears to be needed in greater amounts now, more than ever. God bless our young people, our future and God bless us all.
Reply
3-14-2011 @ 5:01AM
Eva-Maria said...An interesting article....
Joyce, totally agree with your comment; today's world brings a lot more stress to the younger generations. I live in New Zealand and every 5th person in this country has been diagnosed with depression. The numbers are truly alarming, however perhaps there's another way to look at it. My research of coaching and interviewing over 1500 (and counting) young people aged 12-18 and their parents over the past 7 years observes that although young people (and people in general) are prone to depression, the daily pressures are much higher than what they were 20, 30, 40, whatever number of years ago. The standards for diagnosing depression, however have not evolved with the times and practitioners are still using the old methods to pin-point depression. Every young person goes through a stage in life when they question and analyze life, themselves, etc. From research, this is normal. There is no need to label this young person because by doing so, they will be living with a label for the rest of their life, and something to fall back on when life may not seem to be going their way, so instead of working through problems, they are more likely to settle for failure because they've been labelled as 'redundant' in society. I agree there are severe cases, but there is no need to rush a child to the doctor's as soon as they start having a bit of a questioning phase in their life - considering this day and age when there is a lot more things to ponder over, to think about and to question. Don't you remember yourself as a teenager?...
Eva-Maria
20 year old Bestselling Author, Speaker, Consultant, Family Coach
Reply
3-14-2011 @ 2:37PM
LungBung said...Wow, this makes a lot of sense.
www.anon-tools.es.tc
Reply
3-14-2011 @ 3:19PM
Dmitry said...Abuse of social media is to blame. Many college students replace meaningful in-person social interaction with Facebook and texting. It is said that over 90% of human communication is nonverbal, and 10% is the actual words. Many students are isolating themselves and using only 10% of their communicative ability.
Reply
3-17-2011 @ 10:56PM
jayce said...it totally sucks to have to deal with this sort of thing, i'm a freshman in college currently and i honestly don't know where to turn. i don't know if my college has help for me or not and if they do i bet it's not gonna be something free and i just don't have the money for that. i was really hoping that this article would have something on it but at least i don't have to feel like i'm alone like i have been the last few weeks, thank you for the article
Reply