College Stress

For college-bound students and their families, the start of the school year can be a time of excitement and optimism, but a new study brings to light that the college years are also a time of increased risk of stressful events and a wide range of accompanying mental health challenges, including risk of suicide.

Published online in Depression and Anxiety, study by Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital that looked at more than 67,000 college students from across more than 100 institutions found that while racial or ethnic and sexual or gender minorities are especially vulnerable, high rates for stress events, mental health diagnoses and the risk of suicide or suicidal thoughts were reported among all students surveyed.