Disparities in mental health help-seeking and treatment utilization by race, ethnicity, and severity of mental health symptoms among college students.

IF 1.5 4区医学 Q2 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Journal of American College Health Pub Date : 2026-10-01 Epub Date: 2026-05-14 DOI:10.1080/07448481.2026.2668611

Priya B Thomas, Baojiang Chen, Anna V Wilkinson, Emily T Hébert, Nalini Ranjit

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: Disparities in mental health care among racial/ethnic minority college students persist. Severity of mental health symptoms may explain these disparities.

Participants: N = 43,633 (weighted) college students from the Healthy Minds Study (2022-2023) with mental health symptoms.

Methods: Mixed effects multinomial regression models investigated effects of race/ethnicity and severe mental health symptoms on mental health help-seeking and treatment utilization.

Results: Students with severe symptoms were more likely to seek formal treatment modalities (aRRR range: 2.36-3.37; 95% CI range: 1.82-4.37) across all racial/ethnic groups. The impact of severe symptoms on seeking both counseling and medication was larger in racial/ethnic minority students (e.g., non-Hispanic Black with severe symptoms (aRRR: 3.37, 95% CI: 2.60-4.37)) than in non-Hispanic White students with severe symptoms (aRRR: 2.36, 95% CI: 2.19-2.56).

Conclusion: Colleges should prioritize pathways to care for racial/ethnic minority students with severe symptoms to ensure timely care.

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大学生心理健康求助和治疗利用的种族、民族和心理健康症状严重程度差异

目的：少数民族大学生心理健康服务存在差异。精神健康症状的严重程度可以解释这些差异。参与者：N = 43,633（加权）来自健康心理研究（2022-2023）的有心理健康症状的大学生。方法：采用混合效应多项式回归模型，考察种族/民族和严重心理健康症状对心理健康求助和治疗利用的影响。结果：在所有种族/族裔群体中，症状严重的学生更有可能寻求正式的治疗方式（aRRR范围：2.36-3.37；95% CI范围：1.82-4.37）。严重症状对寻求咨询和药物治疗的影响在种族/少数民族学生中（例如，有严重症状的非西班牙裔黑人（aRRR: 3.37, 95% CI: 2.60-4.37））大于有严重症状的非西班牙裔白人学生（aRRR: 2.36, 95% CI: 2.19-2.56）。结论：高校应优先考虑对少数民族重症学生的护理途径，确保及时护理。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of American College Health Multiple-

CiteScore

5.40

自引率

12.50%

发文量

388

期刊介绍： Binge drinking, campus violence, eating disorders, sexual harassment: Today"s college students face challenges their parents never imagined. The Journal of American College Health, the only scholarly publication devoted entirely to college students" health, focuses on these issues, as well as use of tobacco and other drugs, sexual habits, psychological problems, and guns on campus, as well as the students... Published in cooperation with the American College Health Association, the Journal of American College Health is a must read for physicians, nurses, health educators, and administrators who are involved with students every day.