Violence Exposure and Mental Health of College Students in the United States.

Shervin Assari,Maryam Moghani Lankarani

doi:10.3390/bs8060053

Shervin Assari, Maryam Moghani Lankarani

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/bs8060053

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Abstract

Background: Despite the well-established link between exposure to violence and mental health problems, less is known about this association among college students. The current study aimed to investigate the association between history of exposure to violence and mental health of American college students. Methods: Healthy Mind Study (HMS, 2016–2017) is a national online survey of 41,898 adult college students. The independent variable was lifetime history of exposure to violence (psychological, physical, and sexual). The dependent variables were anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Race, age, gender, sexual orientation, parental education, financial stress, transfer status, enrollment status, and graduate status were covariates. Linear and logistic regression models were used for data analysis. Results: History of exposure to violence was associated with all three aspects of poor mental health, namely general anxiety, depression, and suicidality. These associations were independent of covariates and type of abuse. Conclusions: There is a need to address various mental health needs of college students who have experienced various forms of violence. College students who screen positive for history of violence exposure should be evaluated for anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors.

Highlights

Despite the well-established link between exposure to violence and mental health problems, less is known about this association among college students
Using a national data [71,72], the current study investigated the association between history of exposure to violence and psychological health of American college students
Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1. 15.74% of the students reported history of violence victimization

Summary

Introduction

Despite the well-established link between exposure to violence and mental health problems, less is known about this association among college students. The current study aimed to investigate the association between history of exposure to violence and mental health of American college students. Results: History of exposure to violence was associated with all three aspects of poor mental health, namely general anxiety, depression, and suicidality. These associations were independent of covariates and type of abuse. College students who screen positive for history of violence exposure should be evaluated for anxiety, depression, and suicidal behaviors. Many college students experience multiple sources of stress which increases their risk of mental health problems [4]. Given the unique stressors in the lives of college students, there is a need to understand the specific risk factors that affect mental health of this population [1]

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