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Key Findings

1. Prevention and early intervention (PEI) initiatives may be associated with a 13 percent increase in the number of students who used mental health services on California's public higher education campuses between 2013 and 2014.
2. This increase in treatment — and a corresponding decrease in dropouts — could yield a societal benefit as high as $56 million for each year of investment in PEI programs.
3. Campus climate is an important factor in terms of students' use of mental health services: On campuses that are perceived to be supportive of mental health issues, rather than stigmatizing, students are over 20 percent more likely to seek treatment and 60 percent more likely to do so on campus.
4. Students with "active" coping skills — who work out problems by talking or writing about them, or who actively seek alternate solutions to a personal problem — are more likely to use mental health services.

Among college and university students in the United States, there is a substantial gap between the need for mental health treatment and the use of mental health services. Almost 20 percent of college students experience some form of serious psychological distress — anxiety, depression, or feelings of hopelessness — yet only about a third of these students, many of whom have access to on-campus providers, as well as insurance to cover services, ever receive treatment. The picture is particularly bleak for community college students, who are often the least likely to receive help for a mental health problem. This unmet need for mental health care among college students represents a significant public health issue. Young adulthood is a pivotal moment in life: Without treatment for their mental health problems, students face a range of potentially serious and lasting consequences, from dropping out to substance misuse to difficulties with social relationships to a lower lifetime earning potential.