engleski

Psychological problems among students at University of Rijeka, Croatia

Brief Introduction Research on youth mental health indicates high prevalence of psychological problem among college students with significant increase in the last two decades. The goal of our longitudinal study was to determine the incidence of psychological problems among college students at the beginning of their study and during 3- years follow-up. Materials & Methods Representative sample of 492 freshmen at University in Rijeka (60% female) has been assessed by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck anxiety Inventory (BAI), Aggressiveness scale (subscale from YASR), Substance abuse (subscale from CAS), and Subjective Health Complains (SHC). Content The results indicate that 52% students have increased level of anxiety, 23% increased level of depressive symptoms, and 7% report suicidal thoughts when starting college, while psychosomatic symptoms and aggressive behaviour are not so pronounced. At the 2nd year, students showed increased level of psychosomatic and anxiety symptoms, while there is no change in the level of depression. At the 3rd year of study, the students show lower level of anxiety symptoms and aggressive behaviour, but more problems due to substance use. Girls have higher level of all kind of symptoms. Conclusion The results stress the importance of mental health issues among students during their first years of studying. In our University Counselling Centre, we have already started the pilot project of early recognition of students with psychological problems and development of early intervention in order to encourage students to ask for and accept psychological help.

psychological problems ; students ; university

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