Trends in college students’ mental health diagnoses and utilization of services, 2009–2015

Abstract

Objective: To examine changes in diagnoses/treatment for 12 mental health (MH) conditions, previous use of campus MH services, and willingness to seek MH services in the future. Participants: ACHA–NCHA II participants from 2009 to 2015 (n?=?454,029). Methods: Hierarchical binary logistic regression with step 1 controlling for demographics and step 2 considering time. Results: Time was significant except for bipolar disorder, bulimia, and schizophrenia with increases for all conditions except substance abuse. Anxiety (OR?=?1.68), panic attacks (OR?=?1.61), and ADHD (OR?=?1.40) had the highest odd ratios. Use of MH services at current institution (OR?=?1.30) and willingness to utilize services in the future (OR?=?1.37) also increased over time. Conclusions: Based on a national sample, self-reported diagnoses/treatment of several MH conditions are increasing among college students. This examination of a variety of MH issues can aid college health professionals to engage institutional stakeholders regarding the resources needed to support college students’ MH.     

Evaluation of Proactive and Reactive Strategies for Polio Eradication Activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Only Pakistan and Afghanistan reported any polio cases caused by serotype 1 wild polioviruses (WPV1s) in 2017. With the dwindling cases in both countries and pressure to finish eradication with the least possible resources, a danger exists of inappropriate prioritization of efforts between the two countries and insufficient investment in the two countries to finish the job. We used an existing differential‐equation‐based poliovirus transmission and oral poliovirus (OPV) evolution model to simulate a proactive strategy to stop transmission, and different hypothetical reactive strategies that adapt the quality of supplemental immunization activities (SIAs) in response to observed polio cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To account for the delay in perception and adaptation, we related the coverage of the SIAs in high‐risk, undervaccinated subpopulations to the perceived (i.e., smoothed) polio incidence. Continuation of the current frequency and quality of SIAs remains insufficient to eradicate WPV1 in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Proactive strategies that significantly improve and sustain SIA quality lead to WPV1 eradication and the prevention of circulating vaccine‐derived poliovirus (cVDPV) outbreaks. Reactive vaccination efforts that adapt moderately quickly and independently to changes in polio incidence in each country may succeed in WPV1 interruption after several cycles of outbreaks, or may interrupt WPV1 transmission in one country but subsequently import WPV1 from the other country or enable the emergence of cVDPV outbreaks. Reactive vaccination efforts that adapt independently and either more rapidly or more slowly to changes in polio incidence in each country may similarly fail to interrupt WPV1 transmission and result in oscillations of the incidence. Reactive strategies that divert resources to the country of highest priority may lead to alternating large outbreaks. Achieving WPV1 eradication and subsequent successful OPV cessation in Pakistan and Afghanistan requires proactive and sustained efforts to improve vaccination intensity in under‐vaccinated subpopulations while maintaining high population immunity elsewhere.     

Influence of Social Context on Children's Affect Regulation: A Functionalist Perspective

This study investigated the influence of social context (mothers, fathers, best friends, medium friends) and type of negative affect (anger, sadness, pain) on 66 second-grade and 71 fifth-grade children's goals and strategies for affect regulation. Hypothetical vignette methodology was used. Results indicated that children perceived parents to be more accepting of emotional expressivity than peers. Children endorsed instrumental, prosocial, and rule-oriented goals and verbal regulation strategies more for anger and sadness than pain. Girls endorsed affective more than aggressive strategies, whereas the opposite pattern held for boys. Older children endorsed more regulation strategies than younger children.     

“We Come Not Here to Talk”—Revisiting the Work of Anna Julia Cooper: An Analysis of Standpoint Theory and Her Placement in the Academic Canon

This paper examines the writings and influence of Anna Julia Cooper. The honest, historical narrative of scholarship is in question when theorists of color are repeatedly forgotten or removed from the academic record. Anna Julia Cooper is just one example of someone who has been overlooked. I detail how Cooper's analysis of group identity, located in shared experience, provided the groundwork for intersectional frameworks and feminist standpoint theory. I further contend that Cooper's lived-experience narrative not only informed her own work but the work of others of her time, including the more esteemed W.E.B. Du Bois. She addressed how race-gendered politics and the legacies of slavery and colonialism shape scholarship. Cooper's critique of academia determined that the relationship between colonialism and academia is intrinsically tied. My analysis examines how the work of theorists of color is often omitted, erased, or contextualized within the writings of white theorists due, in part, to a lack of generational intellectual wealth. A concept that recognizes the historical discrepancy in scholarship between white scholars and scholars of color and how that exclusion has shaped and defined established knowledge. This paper analyzes Cooper's placement within the lineage of the academic canon.     

Penalties and payoffs: The short-term economic consequences of human capital acquisition for resettled refugees in the United States

The relationship between refugee investments in human capital and short-run economic outcomes may influence the extent to which refugees invest in human capital that is associated with positive future economic mobility. Using data from the Annual Survey of Refugees from 2016 and 2017 we assess the relationship between recent investments in human capital and hourly wages for employed refugees in the United States. Results suggest that recent job training has a positive effect on hourly wages. In contrast, enrollment in English classes and educational programmes have no short-term positive effects on hourly wages. When combined with the pressure resettled refugees experience to find employment quickly, these results suggest that the lack of short-term wage benefits from English language or educational courses may dissuade refugees from sufficiently investing in the amount of English language or education necessary to promote positive long-term economic mobility.     

Companion piece: Convention on the Rights of the Child special protection measures: overview of implications and value for children in the United States

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is an international treaty that commits ratifying states parties to uphold the rights of all children under the age of 18. This article discusses the issues of highest relevance to the United States and reviews the pros and cons of ratifying, from the perspective of the convention's intent and potential, sovereignty of states, and national public policies, and regarding the special protection recommended for particularly vulnerable children. Specific implementation issues discussed include training, accountability, and monitoring.     

Accommodating a social work student with a speech impairment: the shared experience of a student and instructor

This ethnographic study describes the results of a collaborative journaling process that occurred between a student and his instructor of a second-year social work communications course. Many questions from the student's and the instructor's perspectives are raised regarding accommodating the student with a severe speech impairment in a course that specifically focuses on communication skills. Preliminary recommendations are made for social work students and professionals with communication limitations, and for social work educators.