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A new study suggests college students are getting better at asking for help when it comes to their mental health and well-being.
For the third year in a row, the Healthy Minds Study—an annual nationwide effort co-led by a Boston University researcher—indicates that the mental health of college students is improving.
The team surveyed more than 84,000 US college students, finding a fall in the number of students experiencing moderate or severe depressive symptoms, moderate or severe anxiety symptoms, and suicidal ideation. They also found that more students are seeking professional help and medication.
While these changes are undoubtedly a good thing, Sarah K. Lipson, a study principal investigator and a BU School of Public Health associate professor of health law, policy, and management, says that we should still be keeping a close eye on student mental health.
“This is still an urgent problem, and there’s a lot of inequalities that persist,” she says. “There’s a lot of reasons to still be paying very close attention to student mental health, but there’s also, for the first time in a long time, a little bit of good news and motivation for schools to keep on doing some of the things that they’ve been doing.”
The number of students experiencing symptoms of severe depression dropped to 18%, compared to 23% in 2022, and suicidal ideation was down to 11%, from 15% in 2022. However, more than half of students still report experiencing loneliness, and substance use among students continues to rise.
The study is conducted by the Healthy Minds Network, led by researchers at BU, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the University of California, Los Angeles, Fielding School of Public Health, and Wayne State University. The 2024-2025 study had responses from students at 135 colleges and universities—including BU—and over 9,000 faculty and staff members from 22 institutions. This is the second year that campus employees have been included in the survey.
Here, Lipson digs into the study’s findings and how college students can improve their mental health:
Source: Boston University