The aim of this study was to evaluate the coping strategies used by college students and their association with socio‐demographic characteristics and distress. The sample was composed of 219 students, who had previously accessed the university counselling service over a 5‐year period. The Symptom Checklist‐90‐Revised, the General Health Questionnaire‐12 and the Brief COPE Inventory were administered. Results showed that male students tended to use more active strategies than female students and that students studying health‐related subjects presented less distress than those studying technical subjects. Moreover, the results indicated that the self‐blame coping strategy is a major predictor of mental health issues and that interaction between age and area of study aggravated the symptomatology. Further research is needed to better understand the experience of distress from the college students' perspective, and to identify what interventions are really effective in supporting students to cope with distress.
The availability of digital tools aiming to promote adolescent mental health is rapidly increasing. However, the field lacks an up-to-date and focused review of current evidence. This study thus looked into the characteristics and efficacy of digital, evidence-based mental health programs for youth (11–18 years). The selection procedure followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and resulted in 27 eligible studies. The high heterogeneity of the results calls for careful interpretation. Nevertheless, small, but promising, effects of digital tools were found with respect to promoting well-being, relieving anxiety, and enhancing protective factors. Some important factors influencing overall efficacy include the given setting, the level of guidance and support, and the adherence to the intervention.
Introduction. College students live a crucial period of transition from late adolescence to adulthood when they have to deal with important stressful tasks. Thus, university often represents a stressful environment, pushing students to cope with a high academic pressure. As a result, this period constitutes a sensitive age for the onset of mental disorders. Typically, students are not aware of the early signs of their own compromised mental health until symptoms aggravate to an overt disorder. Therefore, it is important to timely detect subthreshold symptoms mostly related to generic mental distress. Objective. First, to assess psychophysical well-being and mental distress among college students in northern Italy, and to detect predictors, among socio-demographic and academic characteristics, and risky drug use of these two outcomes. Method. The study involved 13,886 students who received an email explaining the purpose of the e-research. The questionnaires used were the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the University Stress Scale (USS), and a modified version of World Health Organization-ASSIST v3.0. Results. 3,754 students completed the web-survey. Students showed poor well-being and mental distress. The strongest predictor of mental distress and compromised well-being was physical health, followed by sex, study field, risky drug use, and academic performance concerns. Discussion and conclusion. This study shows that it is very important to promote in college students healthy behaviors in order to increase their physical exercise and reduce substance use. Moreover, it would be desirable to improve academic counselling facilities as an important front-line service to intercept mental health issues among young adults.
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