Student Mental Health Research Articles

The association between teacher distress and student mental health outcomes: a cross-sectional study using data from the school mental health survey

BackgroundFew studies have examined the inter-relationships between teacher and student mental health. We aimed to examine associations between teacher distress and student mental health difficulties and if student perceptions of school safety moderate these associations.MethodData from 23,568 students in grades 6–12 and 1,478 teachers from 268 schools participating in the School Mental Health Surveys in Ontario, Canada, were used. Three-level (student, classroom, school) multivariable linear regression models were fit to examine associations between teacher distress and student internalizing and externalizing symptoms by elementary (grades 6–8) and secondary (grades 9–12) school. Statistical interactions were used to evaluate effect modification.ResultsSmall but statistically significant, positive associations were found between teacher distress and internalizing (b = 0.02; 95% CI [0.01, 0.04], p < 0.05) and externalizing symptoms (b = 0.03; 95% CI [0.01, 0.05], p < 0.001) among elementary students only. Student perceptions of school safety moderated the association between teacher distress and externalizing symptoms among elementary students, whereby the positive association was magnified among students reporting lower school safety.ConclusionsFindings from this study highlight the importance of concurrently addressing the mental health needs of educators and students. School safety represents a modifiable target for prevention and intervention efforts in schools that could serve to promote student mental health and mitigate potential risk factors in schools.

An investigative study on the causes of depression and the coping strategies among clinical medical students in private universities in North Central Nigeria

BackgroundDepression is among known mental health conditions and students in schools of medicine are not immune to it. In this investigative study, 211 clinical medical students of two private universities from North-Central Nigeria were examined on depression prevalence, the contributory factors and their coping strategies.MethodsThe Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), the Medical Student’s Stressor Questionnaire (MSSQ) and identified coping strategies according to Coping Oriented to Problems Experienced Inventory (COPE) were instruments of data collection.ResultsThe results were obtained by both descriptive analysis and test of association between some categorical variables. The depression prevalence amongst the participants was 159 (75.4%). Females (124 (78.0%)) were more depressed than males (35 (22.0%)). Factors identified as contributing to depression were the heavy academic workload (124 (78.5%)), insufficient family time (93 (58.1%)) and financial constraints (54 (34.0%)). The most utilized method of coping with their stress was engaging on social media (133 (84.2%)), followed by talking with relatives or friends (99 (62.7%)) and use of recreational drugs (20 (12.8%)). The findings from this study have shown that more than three-quarters of the respondents suffered from varying degrees of depression from mild, 63 (29.9%), moderate, 53 (25.1%) to severe, 43 (20.4%).ConclusionsThe heavy academic workload was a major source of depression. Colleges of Medicine should take pro-active steps towards their students’ mental health and academic workload should be well spaced to reduce the stress imposed by the frequency of examinations.

Mental Health Among First-Year Students Transitioning to University in Australia: A Longitudinal Study.

Objectives: Young people attending university for the first time may be at heightened risk of experiencing mental health problems. However, limited research has examined the mental health experiences of this cohort using longitudinal methods. This study aimed to examine mental health symptoms prior to commencing university, estimate changes in symptoms over the course of the first semester of study, and identify factors associated with initial symptom levels and changes. Methods: Australian first-year undergraduate students (N = 340) were recruited via social media and participated in a four-wave online longitudinal study conducted between February and June 2021. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress were assessed at each wave, along with psychosocial and lifestyle factors. Demographic characteristics were assessed at baseline. Results: Latent growth curve models indicated no significant linear change over time for depression (p = .26) or anxiety (p = .83) symptoms. However, a significant effect of time was observed for psychological distress (p = .03), indicating higher distress levels at wave 3 compared to baseline (p = .004). Financial stress, pressure to succeed, difficulty coping, greater loneliness, and more negative social interactions were each significantly associated with higher baseline depression, anxiety, and distress scores. Only greater loneliness and more negative social interactions were found to be associated with a greater increase in depression over time. Conclusion: The findings indicate that transition to university was not generally associated with an increase in poor mental health. However, several factors were associated with poorer mental health immediately prior to university commencement. Assisting students to manage financial distress, facilitating the development of social connections among students with limited social networks and skills training targeting coping and the development of realistic academic expectations may help support student mental health and promote improved wellbeing during transition to university.

Impact of self-restraint by COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in college students-COVID-19 Longitudinal survey of the 2nd and 3rd waves

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in students at university. [Method] 1880 students from university were surveyed. Survey period: July-August 2020 Demographic factors were used department, grade, gender, age. Mental health factors (PHQ-9 Japanese version, GAD-7 Japanese version, IES-R) were used. Decreased motivation to learn, loneliness: Japanese version UCLA loneliness scale was used. [Results] As a result of the survey, in (July-August), 737 patients (123 males and 614 females) were recovered (recovery rate 40.9%). As a result, in terms of gender difference, males had a higher total of "loneliness" than females and had a higher total of PTSD and "invasive symptoms". Students whose parents corresponded to corona had high "anxiety" and "depression". Students who felt rumors had high scores for "PTSD," "depression," "anxiety," and "loneliness." Students "seeking support" also scored higher on PTSD, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Those who were "not very careful" about infection control were more likely to be depressed than those who were "careful", and those who were "quite careful" were less motivated to learn. Family structure and parental profession have no effect. In addition, the relationship between each psychiatric symptom (PTSD, depression, anxiety disorder) and "loneliness" and "motivation to learn" was examined using covariance structure analysis. When the model was examined, the models of "loneliness" ⇒ "decreased learning motivation" ⇒ "PTSD" ⇒ "depression" and "anxiety" were verified. In other words, it was shown that it is important to deal with "loneliness" to improve mental health and learning motivation during the COVID 19 pandemic. [Conclusion] At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, college students may be high-risk persons with mental health problems.

Links Between Racial Discrimination and College Student Mental and Physical Health: Examination of Parent-Youth Relationships as Protective Factors

Links Between Racial Discrimination and College Student Mental and Physical Health: Examination of Parent-Youth Relationships as Protective Factors

Machine learning predictive models to guide prevention and intervention allocation for anxiety and depressive disorders among college students

AbstractCollege student mental health has been a critical concern for professional counselors. Anxiety and depressive disorders have become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. Utilizing machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), we developed predictive models (i.e., eXtreme Gradient Boosting [XGBoost], Random Forest, Decision Tree, and Logistic Regression) to identify US college students at heightened risk of diagnosable anxiety and depressive disorders. The dataset included 61,619 students from 133 US higher education institutions and was partitioned into a 90:10 ratio for training and testing the models. We employed hyperparameter tuning and cross‐validation to optimize model performance and examined multiple measures of predictive performance (e.g., area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], accuracy, sensitivity). Results revealed strong discriminative power in our machine learning predictive models with AUC of 0.74 and 0.77, indicating current financial situation, sense of belonging on campus, disability status, and age as the top predictors of anxiety and depressive disorders. This study provides a practical tool for professional counselors to proactively identify students for anxiety and depressive disorders before these conditions escalate. Application of machine learning in counseling research provides data‐driven insights that help enhance the understanding of mental health determinants, guide prevention and intervention strategies, and promote the well‐being of diverse student populations through counseling.

The impact of university basketball course settings on students' physical health

With the increasing societal focus on students' physical health, university basketball courses have gradually been integrated into the educational system as an important physical education course. Basketball courses not only enhance students' physical fitness but also positively impact healthy behaviors and mental health. However, systematic research on how basketball courses specifically affect students' physical health remains insufficient. This paper analyzes the teaching content and structure of university basketball courses, their implementation, and existing issues to explore their impact on students' physical fitness, health behaviors, and mental health, and proposes suggestions for course optimization. The study finds that basketball courses have a significant effect on improving physical fitness, promoting healthy behaviors, and enhancing mental health, but there are still problems in course design, student participation, and teaching effectiveness. Therefore, this paper suggests optimizing course design, improving student participation, and enhancing teaching effectiveness to better promote students' physical health.

Expert System For Diagnosis of Mental Health Disorders in Students Using Case-Based Reasoning Method With a Web-Based Positive Psychology Approach

Mental health issues among students have become a significant concern affecting their quality of life and academic performance. An effective expert system is needed to diagnose and provide appropriate interventions. This research develops a web-based expert system that utilizes the Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) method combined with a positive psychology approach to diagnose mental health disorders in students. The CBR method identifies similarities between new and previous cases, while the positive psychology approach focuses on individual strengths and potential for growth. The system integrates a database of student mental health cases and CBR algorithms to produce relevant diagnoses. This study investigates four types of mental health disorders: panic, anxiety, stress, and depression. The method used for data analysis is Case-Based Reasoning. The diagnosis results are based on calculations from symptom choices within the system, where each symptom has a weight. The highest similarity calculation obtained from past cases is used as a solution to address the problem. System testing, based on expert knowledge with 15 test data samples categorized by mental health disorders and 38 symptoms, achieved an accuracy rate of 85%.

Digital CRM in Nagpur's Primary and Secondary Schools: A Health Systems Approach to Enhancing Student Wellbeing in the Digital Transformation Era

Over the last couple of years, a significant increase in the use of educational technologies has changed the ways of student relationships and students’ well-being management. This study aims at establishing the extent and nature of utilization of Digital CRM system in primary and secondary schools in Nagpur from a health systems perspective, and the effects on students health. The research explores the effectiveness of the adopted digital CRM platforms to enhance more friendly, effective communication, and to create supportive mental and physical health student centred programs. The study utilizes survey questionnaires and short interviews with school administrators, teachers and students to determine the extent in which the digital CRM systems are effective and the difficulties encountered in the learning environment. Other relevant areas of interest include improvement in the services available to students, parents and strengthening of efficient mechanisms of collecting student health data for policy formulation. The details will describe the implication of the future digital CRM tools on the present issues related to the Nagpur students’ needs and the implications of health systems integration among schools. Based on this study it is suggested that digital CRM can greatly enhance the capacity of the school to support and respond to students’ needs through timely interventions, accessible collaboration communication, and a positive school climate. However, the program maintains several difficulties which have the potential to hinder valuable implementation: Data protection issue; Training of the system for the stakeholders; and Resource issues. Based on integrating the concepts of digital CRM with health systems the following recommendations for development of student’s wellbeing in the conceptual normal of digital transformation have been formulated by this research for the policymakers, educators, and technology suppliers.

Integral Pedagogy in LIS Education

LIS educators have an obligation to assist burgeoning LIS practitioners and scholars in developing field competency and enacting their visages into the LIS industry. Our work concerns care for the whole person of our students. Student well-being has experienced heightened consideration and conversation in academia since 2020. Masters level LISprograms are not immune to these discussions, or the student, faculty, and campus administrator concerns—retention rates, student mental health—that warrant them. Campuses actively promote services and resources aimed to help students that are in crisis, coping with an aspect of neurodivergence, or another condition—chronic or undiagnosed. Since 2019 I have experienced increasing levels of three student behaviors that cause me concern: 1) perfectionism, 2) anxiety, and 3) validation-seeking. Wholly ignored, or mitigated simply by pedagogical discipline, these behaviors persist in classroom, distend beyond a student’s time at campus, and eventually permeate sectors of LIS. Proven teaching and learning strategies—active-learning, grading rubrics, gamification modules—increase students’ immersion with course content and assuage student coursework anxieties. However, teaching and learning tools cannot holistically impart the needed competencies for an LIS professional to our students. Conversely culture of care pedagogies solely center student inclusiveness and belonging to promote a shared education community. Integralpedagogy provides LIS educators with a model that integrates both teaching and learning best practices and culture of care pedagogies to promote student self-regulation of concerning behaviors, self-actualization via a commitment to gaining LIS field competencies during their studies, and continued life-long discovery during their career.

Investigating College Student Mental Health Needs and Barriers Using Natural Language Processing

College students’s mental health has been declining, despite efforts by universities to improve outreach and programming. Though a variety of resources are available, students, especially those who experience marginalization, often do not engage with them. LGBTQ+ students in Florida, in particular, may face unique challenges. To understand marginalized college students’s mental health experiences, we conducted ten focus group interviews (N = 65) with students with various marginalized identities. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, we conducted sentiment analysis with respect to students’s responses on interview questions (e.g., mental health needs, how needs are met/not met) among LGBTQ+ and other minority groups. Overall, LGBTQ+ students yielded a more negative sentiment than the other groups, with a marginally significant (at 0.1 level) difference suggested by Wilcoxon rank sum test. This project presents a novel approach to leveraging traditional qualitative methods and AI, provides deeper understanding of the mental-health-related needs of marginalized college students, and practical implications for prevention and intervention efforts to promote college students’s mental health.

The association between visual impairment, educational outcomes, and mental health: insights from eyeglasses usage among junior high school students in rural China

This study examined the association between visual impairment, visual impairment corrected by wearing eyeglasses, academic performance, and mental health among junior high school students in rural China. Visual acuity assessments were conducted on 19,425 junior high school students by trained medical and research professionals to determine the presence of visual impairment. All sample students were surveyed with a questionnaire that asked about individual and family characteristics, eyeglasses ownership, and educational aspirations and included a standardized math test. Students then completed an official Chinese simplified version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess their mental health multidimensionally. Among our sample, 37.2% of them suffered from visual impairment, but only 43.4% of the visually impaired students wore proper eyeglasses. Approximately 9.3% of students were categorized as high risk for mental health problems based on their SDQ score. A significant positive association existed between impaired vision and poorer mental health, and eyeglasses usage was associated with better mental health among visually impaired students. For students with better academic performance, eyeglasses usage associated with better mental health. Eyeglasses usage shows a positive association with higher education aspiration both for students with better and worse academic performance. The significant positive relationship between eyeglasses usage and mental health may guide future interventions and policies designed to improve student mental health by supplying them with eyeglasses.

The association of diet quality with the mental health of students during their transition to university.

University students are at risk of experiencing mental health and diet quality problems during their transition to university. This study aimed to examine the bidirectional associations between the diet quality and mental health of students during their transition to universities in the UK, and the impact of the transition on diet quality and mental health. The study adopted a cross-sectional design and took place during the first semester of year 2021-2022. Participants were first year undergraduate students at four UK universities, living at student halls. They were invited to participate by completing online surveys, including a diet quality instrument (Short Form Food Frequency Questionnaire), a mental health instrument (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale) and a quality of transition instrument (College Adjustment Questionnaire). Results showed that a healthy diet was associated with good mental health (b = -3.46, 95% CI [-6.14, -.78]). Unfavourable mental health was associated with having an unhealthy diet (b = -.01, 95% CI [-.02, -.00]). Transition did not moderate the relationship between diet quality and mental health of students, or vice versa (ps> .05). Preliminary analyses showed a significant direct effect of good quality of transition to university on good mental health (b = -1.51, 95% CI [-1.88, -1.13]), but did not have an indirect effect via diet quality; there were no significant direct or indirect effects on diet quality, however larger studies are needed to replicate these preliminary analyses. Our current findings can inform university policies and health education research, and further research is needed to determine whether interventions to improve diet quality at the university level could reduce mental health issues, and whether interventions to support students under stress may lead to healthier dietary habits. Cross-sectional studies cannot determine the directionality of effects, hence longitudinal studies are required to enhance our understanding of the relationships between diet quality and mental health over time.

Influence of Non-academic Factors on the Overall Evaluation of International: Chinese Students and Their Adaptation to Universities

This article explores the impact of non-academic factors on the overall evaluation and university adaptation of international and Chinese students. The study involved non-academic factors such as family background, personality traits, learning environment, and social interaction. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews, and literature analysis. The results showed that factors such as family economic status, parents' educational level, family upbringing style, personality traits, interests and motivation, self-efficacy, adequacy of learning resources, learning atmosphere, use of online resources, teacher-student relationship, peer relationship, and cross-cultural communication significantly affect students' academic performance, mental health, and university adaptability. Based on this, this article proposes suggestions such as strengthening home-school cooperation, optimizing the learning environment, and promoting social interaction, in order to provide a reference for universities to improve their student evaluation system and enhance students' adaptability to university life.

A walk to the river: nature and student mental health

ABSTRACT This narrative explores outdoor learning for post-secondary students, the myriad health benefits of nature experience, and the importance of engaging with the more-than-human world. Some comparisons are drawn between indoor- and outdoor-based learning, and the affordances the latter offers for place-based wonder, emergent learning, and the promotion of psychological well-being. Given the concerning rates of mental distress among college students, the natural world is fitting medicine for stress reduction and fostering healthy bodies and minds. Indigenous perspectives for mutually beneficial interactions with the land and the importance of reciprocity are also discussed.

School Climate and Student Mental Health: Conceptions and Experiences of Nonbinary Students

Anti-transgender school policies have proliferated in the United States from 2019 to 2024, impacting school climate for transgender and nonbinary learners. In this quantitative study, we examined differences in the experiences of school climate factors (e.g., safety, mattering, mental health outcomes, etc.) between male, female, and nonbinary high school students in Virginia ( N = 219,233) using a gender minority stress framework. Nonbinary students reported greater exposure to distal and proximal minority stressors and worse mental health outcomes than male or female students. We explore implications for school counselors.

The Use of Social Media and Effect on the Mental Health of Students

Today Mostly students using social networking sites for interaction with one another have significantly increased. Due to this their daily routine of life has been changed. The use and gratification hypothesis looks at how social media use affects university students' sleep patterns as well as how it increases their anxiety and unhappiness. Social media users make and share content for a brief period of time, adding content that enables them to project the perfect image that has a significant impact on their mental health and life satisfaction.

The Use of Social Media and Effect on the Mental Health of Students

Today Mostly students using social networking sites for interaction with one another have significantly increased. Due to this their daily routine of life has been changed. The use and gratification hypothesis looks at how social media use affects university students' sleep patterns as well as how it increases their anxiety and unhappiness. Social media users make and share content for a brief period of time, adding content that enables them to project the perfect image that has a significant impact on their mental health and life satisfaction.

Developing a High School Mental Health Action Checklist in Thailand: insights on perception and communication.

This study aimed to develop a mental health action checklist for high school students that emphasized the importance of readiness, safety, and good hygiene at work to enhance their mental health and prepare them for the workforce. In total, 949 students from public high schools in Bangkok, Thailand voluntarily participated in this study. The 15-item High School Mental Health Action Checklist was developed based on a literature review and a pilot study. We used the index of item-objective congruence (IOC) to verify the content validity of the Checklist and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to establish its construct validity. The tool's internal consistency was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The High School Mental Health Action Checklist had good content (IOC = 0.867) and construct validity. EFA revealed four factors that accounted for 46.5% of the variance. The overall reliability coefficient for the High School Mental Health Action Checklist was 0.788, and the reliability coefficients of the subdomains were 0.783-0.797. The Checklist will allow schools to develop an annual action plan for student mental health promotion activities, in accordance with public health guidelines. Our results indicate the High School Student Mental Health Action Checklist has good psychometric properties.

Optimizing the Impact of Musical Education on Mental Health of Students using Q-Learning

Optimizing the Impact of Musical Education on Mental Health of Students using Q-Learning