Abstract
Mental health problems in college and their associations with academic performance are not well understood. The main aim of this study was to investigate to what extent mental health problems are associated with academic functioning.
METHODS:
As part of the World Mental Health Surveys International College Student project, 12-month mental health problems among freshmen (N = 4921) was assessed in an e-survey of students at KU Leuven University in Leuven, Belgium. The associations of mental health problems with academic functioning (expressed in terms of academic year percentage [or AYP] and grade point average [GPA]) were examined across academic departments.
RESULTS:
Approximately one in three freshman reports mental health problems in the past year, with internalizing and externalizing problems both associated with reduced academic functioning (2.9-4.7% AYP reduction, corresponding to 0.2-0.3 GPA reduction). The association of externalizing problems with individual-level academic functioning was significantly higher in academic departments with comparatively low average academic functioning.
LIMITATIONS:
Limited sample size precluded further investigation of interactions between department-level and student-level variables. No information was available on freshman secondary school academic performance.
CONCLUSIONS:
Mental health problems are common in college freshman, and clearly associated with lower academic functioning. Additional research is needed to examine the potentially causal nature of this association, and, if so, whether interventions aimed at treating mental health problems might improve academic performance.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 97-103 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of Affective Disorders |
| Volume | 225 |
| Early online date | 25 Jul 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2018 |
Funding
The Leuven College Survey was carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) survey initiative and is a part of the World Mental Health International College Student project. The WMH survey is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH; R01MH070884 ), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Pfizer Foundation, the US Public Health Service ( R13-MH066849 , R01-MH069864 , and R01 DA016558 ), the Fogarty International Center ( FIRCA R03-TW006481 ), the Pan American Health Organization, Eli Lilly and Company, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, GlaxoSmithKline, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. We thank the staff of the WMH Data Collection and Data Analysis Coordination Centers for assistance with instrumentation, fieldwork, and consultation on data analysis. None of the funders had any role in the design, analysis, interpretation of results, or preparation of this paper. A complete list of all within-country and cross-national WMH publications can be found at http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/ . In Belgium specifically, these activities were supported by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research ( 11N0514N/11N0516N ), the King Baudouin Foundation ( 2014-J2140150-102905 ), and Eli Lilly ( IIT-H6U-BX-I002 ). We also thank the Student Health Centre and the Administration Offices of the KU Leuven for their support in the data collection.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical | |
| US Public Health Service | R01 DA016558, R13-MH066849, R01-MH069864 |
| National Institute of Mental Health | R01MH070884 |
| Fogarty International Center | FIRCA R03-TW006481 |
| John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation | |
| Eli Lilly and Company | IIT-H6U-BX-I002 |
| GlaxoSmithKline | |
| Pfizer Foundation | |
| Pan American Health Organization | |
| Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS | 11N0514N/11N0516N |
| Koning Boudewijnstichting | 2014-J2140150-102905 |