Experiences and attitudes towards mental health problems in first year German university students

The study should show how familiar German first year university students are with mental health issues and what their attitudes are regarding mental illness.

The study sample consisted of 293 first year German university students (20.37 years ± 1.88), most of them women (82.9%). The majority (77.6%) was studying a social type subject. An additive focus group consisted of four experts. The participants of the quantitative part were recruited at prevention workshops that were offered during the induction week at the beginning of the semester at 15 German universities. Experts of the focus group were recruited by telephone call. In addition to quantitative analysis, we realized a focus group with experts of our target group concerns and university system. For statistical analysis, we used statistic software programme "SPSS" 24 to conduct t-tests. We used content-analytical evaluation to build a category system.

Every fourth participant reported having had a mental health problem. Male participants had a slightly greater desire for social distance (p=0.008; df=288) and slightly stronger stereotypes (p<0.001; df=289).

The present study shows that first year university students in Germany have substantial experience with mental health problems.