Are student cohorts with psychopathology representative of general clinical populations? The case for OCD

A longstanding assumption suggests that college student cohorts are not representative of clinical cohorts as students are perceived as ‘high functioning’ which may limit generalizability. Yet little research has compared the profile of DSM disorders among students to those reported in community or treatment-seeking samples, particularly in the context of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To address this gap in the literature, we compared the profile of DSM OCD in college students, to treatment-seeking and community OCD samples, and student subsamples with other DSM disorders, or with no diagnosis. 529 students from two US and one Belgian university were screened using semi-structured interviews and completed self-report questionnaires. 36 students met DSM criteria for OCD. Comparison with non-OCD diagnoses (n = 183), and non-clinical student controls (n = 311) yielded expected differences on symptomatic OCD measures and comorbidity profiles. Comparisons with published OCD samples yielded a similar profile. Therefore, OCD in students is similar to OCD in clinical samples, with minor differences. We conclude that when appropriately screened, students are a viable population for the study of OCD. This may enhance research into OCD, allowing researchers without access to clinical cohorts to contribute to the field.