Epidemiological Studies of College Mental Health

SINCE the earliest reports of college mental health activities, there have been many attempts to describe the distribution in the college population of the phenomena observed. Some of these attempts have been more successful and have had wider generalizability than others. It is the purpose of this paper to review the history and current status of such epidemiological reports. First a historical review of the development of student health services is presented and then a review of literature dealing with estimates of incidence and prevalence of psychiatric illness among college students, discussing studies both of facility usage and those based upon population surveys. Some of the methodological considerations in comparing these results and using them as a basis for developing rational approaches for intervention are discussed.

The Early Development of College Psychiatry  Dr. Stuart Paton is generally given credit for formulating^1,2 and developing³ the first formal mental health