Mental health among first-generation college students: Findings from the national healthy minds study, 2018–2021

ABSTRACT

A mounting body of evidence reveals that college mental health outcomes are worsening over time. That said, little is known about the mental health needs of the nearly eight million first-generation students in U.S. postsecondary education. The present study uses population-level data from the national Healthy Minds Study to compare prevalence of mental health symptoms and use of services for first-generation and continuing-generation students from 2018–2021. The sample includes 192,202 students at 277 campuses, with 17.3% being first-generation. Findings reveal a high prevalence of mental health symptoms among both first-generation and continuing-generation students. Controlling for symptoms, FG students had significantly lower rates of mental health service use. Just 32.8% of first-generation students with symptoms received therapy in the past year, relative to 42.8% among continuing-generation students, and this disparity widened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings have important implications for the design and implementation of higher education policies, mental health delivery systems, college persistence and retention initiatives, and public health efforts in school settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• mental health treatment
• college student populations
• first-generation students

Acknowledgments

This study would not be possible without the student participants who lent their time and energy to completing the survey and their colleges and universities, which prioritized the need for collecting student mental health data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Grant K01MH121515; the William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Program; and the Gates Millennium Scholars Program.

Data availability statement

Data from the Healthy Minds Study (HMS) are made publicly available (with precautions to protect respondent and institutional anonymity). HMS data requests can be made online at the following link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdG96RypTFpxqOVAtkECv7Rbd7q5taoLi7Rq-BKpCWdkM6DmQ/viewform.