What is mental health and how does it affect student learning? Why are some students experiencing high levels of psychological distress while others are thriving?
Hear from psychiatrist and educator, Dr Lee Allen.
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Students and Mental Health
What is ‘mental health’?
How does mental health affect student learning?
Are university students distressed?
Some students are thriving – why the variance?
The importance of environmental settings
Research Snapshot 1.1: High levels of psychological distress among Australian university students
There is now a strong and expanding evidence base indicating that mental health difficulties are prevalent in university student populations across Australia, the UK and USA.
- University students are a ‘high risk’ population for mental health difficulties given that the prevalence of mental disorders is highest in the 16-24 year old age group. However, empirical studies suggest that young people undertaking university study may be experiencing higher levels of psychological distress than their age-matched peers in the general community (APS, 2014; Stallman, 2010)
- Commencing first year undergraduate students often report less distress than subsequent year students, indicating that the decline in student wellbeing occurs during the first year of university life and persists throughout the degree (Stallman, 2010)
- International and domestic students report similar levels of psychological distress (Schofield et al, 2016)
- While academic field of study accounts for some variation in students’ distress levels, high levels of distress have been recorded for students in diverse academic programs including Science, Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Law and the Bachelor of Arts (Larcombe et al., 2015).