Differences in help-seeking behavior among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic depending on mental health status: results from a cross-sectional survey
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Current evidence suggests that a significant proportion of university students are affected by mental disorders and suicidal ideation. Despite this, a treatment gap exists. Therefore, the present study assessed students' knowledge and past use of on- and off-campus mental health services and help-seeking intentions. Furthermore, resilience was investigated as a potential barrier to help-seeking behavior. METHODS: = 5510 students from Saxony, Germany. To compare dependent variables, subgroups were computed according to students' mental health status. Variables were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Chi-square tests were used for comparisons between groups. Multiple regression models were used to investigate the influence of resilience on help-seeking behavior. RESULTS: Between 34 and 38% (depending on the subgroup) of participants indicated that they were not aware of their universities' psychosocial counseling services. Furthermore, between 17 and 19% of participants indicated that they were not willing to seek help from professional mental health services. Finally, the previously found negative effect of resilience on help-seeking behavior was confirmed. CONCLUSION: The results showed a lack of awareness regarding universities' mental health services and a treatment gap among university students. Universities and healthcare providers need to educate students about mental health services and how to access them. Further research is needed to elucidate the differential impact of resilience on mental health and help-seeking.
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Suicide rates have increased in tandem with increased depression rates among young students, whereby one in five students have reported suicidal ideation.
“Suicide rates have increased in tandem with increased depression rates among young students, whereby one in five students have reported suicidal ideation (30).”
From Investigating social media addiction and impact of social media addiction, loneliness, depression, life satisfaction and problem-solving skills on academic self-efficacy and academic success among university students (2024) · cites this paper as [30]
The Introduction reports that almost one in five university students reported suicidal ideation or non-suicidal self-injury, with the combined prevalence rising from 14.5% in 2020 to 19.6% in 2022. It also reports substantial depressive symptoms, but does not establish that depression rates rose in tandem or that suicide rates increased. The one-in-five figure is not for suicidal ideation alone. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Aslan, I., & Polat, H. (2024) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1359691 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
- Authors
- Guenthner, L., Baldofski, S., Kohls, E., Schuhr, J., Brock, T., & Rummel-Kluge, C.
- Affiliations
- Leipzig University (DE)
- University Hospital Leipzig (DE)
- Centre for Research, Further Education and Consulting, University of Applied Sciences for Social Work, Education and Nursing, 01307 Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Venue
- Behavioral Sciences
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2023-10-25
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 885
- ISSN
- 2076-328X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10669357
- OpenAlex
- W4387936640
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5
- FWCI
- 3.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Open-Access Publishing Fund of Leipzig University, supported by the German Research Foundation within the program Open-Access Publication Funding (100586917)
- Saxon Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (100586917)
- Saxon State Parliament (100586917)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Keywords
- help-seeking, university students, COVID-19 pandemic, mental health status, resilience, treatment gap, suicidal ideation, help-seeking intentions
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