Mental health in higher education students and non-students: evidence from a nationally representative panel study.

Evangeline Tabor,Praveetha Patalay,David Bann

doi:10.1007/s00127-021-02032-w

Abstract

Despite increasing policy focus on mental health provision for higher education students, it is unclear whether they have worse mental health outcomes than their non-student peers. In a nationally-representative UK study spanning 2010–2019 (N = 11,519), 17–24 year olds who attended higher education had lower average psychological distress (GHQ score difference = − 0.37, 95% CI − 0.60, − 0.08) and lower odds of case-level distress than those who did not (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.81, 1.02). Increases in distress between 2010 and 2019 were similar in both groups. Accessible mental health support outside higher education settings is necessary to prevent further widening of socioeconomic inequalities in mental health.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00127-021-02032-w.

Highlights

Three-quarters of all lifetime mental disorders emerge before the age of 25, and young people are increasingly likely to report mental ill-health [1, 2]
Half of young people currently attend a higher education institution in the UK, which combined with concern around mental health among students has prompted recent focus on university mental health provision [3, 4]
In the current study we present data comparing higher education students and non-students among 17–24 year olds from a large nationally-representative household panel study and examine trends in this difference from 2010 to 2019

Summary

Introduction

Three-quarters of all lifetime mental disorders emerge before the age of 25, and young people are increasingly likely to report mental ill-health [1, 2]. Half of young people currently attend a higher education institution in the UK, which combined with concern around mental health among students has prompted recent focus on university mental health provision [3, 4]. Despite these worsening trends overall, it is unclear if those attending higher education—a comparatively socioeconomically advantaged group [3]— experience worse mental health than their non-student peers [5, 6]. Understanding such differences is important to inform the allocation of resources to improve population mental

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Conclusion