College student mental health: Tomorrow’s leaders in peril today
For many of the brightest minds of the future, college stands as a bridge between adolescence and adulthood. It comes with its own challenges, beyond – but including – academic pressures, developing one’s identity, experimenting with the freedoms of newly found independence, exploring career possibilities, establishing friendships, and prioritizing values. Recent studies have highlighted the substantive distress that college students experience across the world, namely in terms of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicide. Additional research is needed to better understand the causes and consequences of mental health problems among college students, as well as effective treatments for psychological problems. Furthermore, we have limited empirical knowledge of what constitutes the “good life” for college students, and so research that examines psychological wellbeing in this population also would be beneficial.
This collection investigated the multiple aspects of college life and the circumstances that may prompt both problematic and optimal mental health. A step back to look at wider factors provided insight into how higher education itself could change worldwide, as well as treatment at campus counseling centers.
Guest advisors
Dr Jeffrey A. Hayes(Pennsylvania State University, United States)
Dr. Hayes received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Maryland. Throughout his career, Dr. Hayes has conducted research on college student mental health and psychotherapy, publishing 100+ articles, book chapters and books. Dr. Hayes’ scholarship has been recognized with awards from the SPR, the PPA and the APA, where he is a fellow in two divisions. Dr. Hayes is a licensed psychologist and has provided psychotherapy to college students and other adults for more than 35 years.