Psychiatric Hospitalizations of College Students

What is it about?

Young adults are at increased risk for developing serious mental illness and experiencing psychological distress. For college students, this distress may lead to an in-patient hospitalization stay. Although it is unclear whether this intervention is ultimately helpful to the student or not, we do know it is a high stakes process that should be minimized if possible. We examined demographic, academic, and clinical characteristics of students in a 5-year hospitalization sample compared to a 5-year student body average to identify students who may be under- or over-represented among hospitalizations, as well as characteristics associated with involuntary hospitalizations. Results can help clinicians and administrators identify groups of students who may be at greater risk of hospitalization and provide additional support and intervention to these students.

Featured Image

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings begin to fill a gap in our understanding of college student mental health and associated procedures and interventions. As student mental health continues to increase in severity, hospitalizations are increasingly more likely to occur. Results from this study identify several groups of students who may be at increased risk for psychiatric hospitalization, as well as those who may be less likely to be hospitalized. These results highlight the need to further explore not only associations of severe psychological distress among students, but also potential barriers to help-seeking and protective factors.