Mental health problems are as prevalent among college students as they are among their non-college attending peers. Most mental health disorders begin before this age, and social, economic, and academic pressures combined with the transition to college may exacerbate these problems, making college a potentially important site for preventive intervention. One significant point of intervention is through peers and social networks in the college setting. To understand the influence of peers on mental health, the researchers will conduct a natural experiment based on random assignment of first-year students to residences and roommates. They will use a sample of 9,500 first-year students at 3 large universities and will focus on measures of mental health, help-seeking behaviors, and related attitudes and knowledge. Data will be collected from administrative records of the colleges and student surveys. This will be one of the first studies to estimate the “contagion” of mental health variables in a randomized design.
Most mental health disorders begin before youth are in their late teens and early 20s, and social, economic, and academic pressures combined with the transition to college may exacerbate these problems, making college a potentially important site for preventive intervention.
