Title: Consequences of Poor Mental Health - Campus Health and Safety
Headings: Consequences of Poor Mental Health
Consequences of Poor Mental Health
Content: In fact, four out of the five leading factors found to negatively affect students’ individual performance in the last year were related to mental health. These included stress (ranked first), sleep (third), concern for a troubled friend or family member (fourth), and depression, anxiety disorder, or seasonal affective disorder (fifth). These findings are not surprising in light of other data that illustrate how poor mental health negatively impacts academic success. For example, students with mental health problems like anxiety or depression tend to have lower grades and are more likely than their peers without these problems to drop-out of school prematurely. In fact, researchers estimate that approximately 5 percent of all college students, or more than 4.29 million people, never finished school because of a mental illness. Some authors have suggested that attrition is more often caused by emotional rather than academic factors, which suggests that students who are emotionally healthy may be more capable of meeting the demands of college. Campus and Societal Impacts
The academic consequences of poor mental health go well beyond the individual student. Institutions of higher education can experience the impact of undetected or untreated mental health problems in terms of lost tuition, fees, or alumni donations. In more serious cases, such as when a student attempts or commits suicide, colleges and universities may face lawsuits and encounter negative publicity for years to come. The impact of poor mental health among college students can also have devastating consequences on future employers and society-at-large.