Most college students have felt lonely. And a sizable portion have faced forms of psychological distress, according to a recent report from mental health nonprofit Active Minds and telehealth company Timely Care.
Amy Gatto
For the report, researchers looked at online survey responses from around 1,100 college and university students in February 2024, asking them about their mental health, levels of psychological distress, and concern about their mental health and that of others.
“What we have been seeing is that prevalence and severity of mental health concerns has been increasing over the past decade,” said Amy Gatto, vice president of measurement at Active Minds.
Respondents were asked to gauge how often they felt various signs of psychological distress in the past 30 days. More than a third (36%) answered that they had felt that everything was an effort, followed by about a third (32%) saying that they had felt nervous, restless, or fidgety. Smaller percentages of respondents reported feeling hopeless (16%), worthless (14%), and so sad that nothing could cheer them up (12%).
About one-in-three responding college students said they experienced severe psychological distress, a kind of distress that has ties to feelings of loneliness, according to the report.
Those feeling lonely were more than four times as likely to face high psychological distress, the report noted.
About two-thirds of respondents (65%) reported feeling lonely. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ+) students in particular experienced these hardships, with more than 70% describing feelings of loneliness, while non-LGBQ+ students were less likely (61%) to feel the same.
