Help-Seeking Patterns Among College Students with Mental Health Issues: Who Do They Turn to for Support?

Background and Purpose: While previous studies have identified barriers to mental health help-seeking among college students, little is known about who they turn to for support (e.g. healthcare professionals, academic personnel, or natural supports) when faced with such challenges. Our study addressed this gap by identifying preferred sources of support among a large national sample of college students.  Particularly, for students with depression, frequent binge drinking patterns, or suicidal ideation (SI) (n = 22,845), we seek to understand who they would turn to for support when experiencing serious and emotional distress. 

Methods: This study used data from the Healthy Minds Study (2010-2012), an annual web-based survey of college students that examines mental health related issues. Depression was screened with the PHQ-9 whereas binge drinking and SI were self-reported. We first used chi-square analysis to compare the preferred sources of support among students with depression (n = 12,928), SI (n = 5,417) and frequent binge drinking (n = 9,195).  We then calculated the Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR, adjusting for demographics) for each source of support. 

Results: Important help-seeking patterns were observed.  Only 45.14% of students who endorsed SI and less than one third of students with depression or frequent binge drinking (32.18%, 30.90%, respectively) would seek help from healthcare professionals. While academic supports would be chosen 50%-65% of the time, students would seek help from their natural supports most often (about 95%). Among natural supports, students would seek support from their friends first followed by their family members and then would choose to turn to others including significant others and spiritual contacts. Of note, there were a number of students with depression, SI, or frequent binge drinking who reported that they would not talk to anyone if they were to experience serious emotional distress (13.04%, 14.11%, and 6.02%, respectively).

Compelling patterns emerged from logistic regressions. Students with depression (AOR= 0.65 p< 0.05) or SI were less likely to turn to academic professionals (AOR= 0.67) or their natural supports (AOR= 0.57 & 0.55, respectively, p< 0.05).  Students reporting frequent binge drinking were less likely to seek any formal support (AOR=0.80, p< 0.05), however, they were more likely to turn to their natural supports (AOR=1.48, p< 0.05).

Conclusion and Implications: The majority of students would not seek professional help, which may have vital consequences for a successful academic and life trajectory.  Our  findings underline the importance of developing preventive strategies and interventions specifically targeting students with mental health issues who have chosen not to seek professional help.  Additionally, they point to the need for multi-faceted campus-based strategies that not only encourage students to seek professional help but importantly, to equip academic and natural supports with tools to recognize mental health issues and support students’ needs.  Moreover, interventions are needed to build mental health literacy and reduce known help-seeking barriers including stigma.