This is part 2 of a two-part series on the mental wellbeing of college students. Last week my Executive Assistant, Amy Masaschi, wrote about her son’s anxiety and depression at the start of his college career. This week, I’ll offer several steps to help parents navigate the college years in a supportive way.
College students need support for their mental health—and a growing body of research bears this out.
The Annual Healthy Minds survey, which received responses from more than 76,000 U.S. college students during the 2022-23 academic year, revealed these alarming statistics:
- 61% said they sometimes or often felt lonely
- 41% reported symptoms of depression
- 36% experienced anxiety
- 14% had seriously thought about suicide (6% had made a plan, 2% had attempted it)
Another national survey of students found that more than half (56%) have experienced chronic stress in college, while three in four say stress is negatively affecting their academics. Only 4 percent say stress had no impact on their academics!
First-year and female students are at highest risk, according to a recent smartphone-enabled tracking study conducted by Dartmouth researchers.
Armed with this data, parents of new college students cannot afford to assume, “That’s not my child.” Our college kids might in fact be in that mix of statistics. So, picking up where Amy’s guest blog left off last week, I’ll offer four more tips for supporting our college students’ emotional health.
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