A recent study from George Mason University shows that college students faced heightened psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic but were less likely to use mental health services, especially among minority groups. The findings urge the development of culturally aware mental health strategies on campuses.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted university students’ mental health, amplifying distress while simultaneously reducing their utilization of vital support services, according to a new study from George Mason University’s College of Public Health.
Elaine Russell, a doctoral candidate in public health at George Mason University, led the study under the mentorship of Kenneth Griffin, a professor in the Department of Global & Community Health.
Collaborating with fellow doctoral candidate Tolulope Abidogun and former professor Lisa Lindley, now at Lehigh University, the team analyzed data from the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA III) to gauge the shift in mental health needs among university students from pre-COVID-19 to the peak of the pandemic.
“More U.S. college students suffered from mental health concerns during the pandemic, but fewer received necessary mental health treatment,” Russell said in a news release.
This pioneering study is the first to leverage a national dataset to explore changes in university students’ mental health and their use of mental health services from pre-COVID-19 to the height of the pandemic.
Consistent with prior research on diverse populations, the study found that racial/ethnic, gender and sexual minority groups faced a higher risk of mental health struggles during the pandemic. Notably, students of color, particularly female students, were less likely to receive mental health support.
“When developing innovative approaches to improving mental health outcomes on college campuses, it is important to be culturally sensitive and understand the diverse needs of the specific student population,” added Russell.
The team utilized data spanning from Fall 2019 and early Spring 2020 (pre-pandemic) to Spring 2021 (during the pandemic), focusing on full-time undergraduate students aged 18-24 at four-year universities in the United States.
They applied several validated psychological scales to measure students’ self-reported levels of distress, loneliness, stress, well-being and resilience. The study also assessed COVID-19-specific stressors and students’ mental health service usage within the 12 months preceding the survey.
“These findings are important to better understand sub-groups who disproportionately suffer from severe psychological distress but may not be accessing the necessary care,” the study reports. It identifies barriers such as lack of access to mental health services, discrimination within the health care system and mental health stigma as contributors to students’ reluctance to seek help.
“Improvements in mental health resources must also address stigma and empower students to access necessary care,” Russell added. She suggests that utilizing peer health educators and normalizing mental health treatment could be effective strategies.
Russell concludes by calling for future research to delve deeper into the barriers preventing high-risk university students from using mental health services.
The study has been published online in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.