Psychopathology and self-harm among incoming first-year students in six Mexican universities
- PMID: 30753769
- DOI: 10.21149/9158
Psychopathology and self-harm among incoming first-year students in six Mexican universities
Abstract
Objective: To estimate psychopathology and self-harm behavior of incoming first-year college students, sociodemographic correlates, service use and willingness to seek treatment.
Materials and methods: 4 189 male and female incoming first-year students of six universities in four different states of Mexico responded to an online survey with a 79.3% response rate.
Results: Almost one in three incoming students has experienced some type of psychopathology; however, only one in five has received treatment. Female, students who are older, whose parents are not married or deceased, and who have a non-heterosexual orientation, no religion or a non-Catholic/Christian religion have greater odds (1.18 - 1.99), whereas those who attend a private university and have a parent with some college education have lower odds (0.68 - 0.75) of experiencing any probable disorder.
Conclusions: Substantial unmet need for mental health services combined with reported willingness to use university services suggests an opportunity for the detection, referral, and treatment of incoming students to promote a successful transition.
Objetivo: Estimar psicopatologías y autolesiones en universitarios de nuevo ingreso, así como los correlatos sociodemográficos, el uso de servicios y la disposición para recibir tratamiento.
Material y métodos: 4 189 estudiantes de nuevo ingreso de seis universidades en cuatro estados contestaron una encuesta en línea con una tasa de respuesta de 79.3%.
Resultados: 32.5% han padecido psicopatologías en su vida, pero únicamente 19.5% han recibido tratamiento. Mujeres, estudiantes con una orientación no heterosexual, estudiantes de mayor edad, quienes tienen padres fallecidos o no casados, sin religión o con una religión no católica/cristiana tienen mayor probabilidad de presentar psicopatologías (RM= 1.18-1.99), mientras que aquellos de universidades privadas y cuyos padres tienen estudios universitarios tienen menor probabilidad (RM= 0.68-0.75).
Conclusiones: La alta tasa de psicopatologías no tratadas combinada con la disposición reportada de recibir servicios a través de su universidad sugiere una oportunidad para la detección, canalización y tratamiento de alumnos de nuevo ingreso para promover una transición exitosa.
Keywords: Mexico; mental disorders; students; substance-related disorders; suicide.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.