Mental health services: use and disparity among diverse college students

In this empirical study, the authors examined (1) actual use of counseling for emotional problems and (2) the assumptions that ethnicity, sex, social class, and psychological distress are associated with disparities in use of counseling.

Participants were 1,773 diverse undergraduate students at an urban university.

The authors collected data via self-administered questionnaires between 1999 and 2005; they used a cross-sectional correlational research design, including analysis of variance statistical procedures.

Students' level of counseling use (10%) was similar to that estimated for a national college sample. Students reporting higher levels of distress were more likely to use counseling; however, more than three-fourths of students who reported clinically significant levels of distress had not received counseling.

The authors observed no disparities in use of mental health services in terms of sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.