Mental Health and Its Determinants among Students of Ilam University, Iran

Students may experience increased pressure and stress especially during late adolescence and early youth (as they enter university). Facing numerous stressors in a period of transition can jeopardize their mental health. Therefore، this study evaluated mental health status and its determinants among students of Ilam University (Ilam، Iran).

This study was conducted on all undergraduate and postgraduate students who had entered Ilam University in 2010. In a total number of 661 students، there were 288 boys and 373 girls. The mental health questionnaire (developed by the Iranian Ministry of Sciences) was used to collect data. This questionnaire included the demographic variables that may affect mental health. We considered a cutoff point of 100 to identify individuals who required psychological measures and psychotherapy. Data was analyzed using Friedman test، correlation coefficients، regression analysis، analysis of variance، and t-test in SPSS16.

Overall، 17% of the evaluated students were at risk. Mental health was significantly related with academic field and interest in the academic field. The highest and lowest ranking means belonged to social anxiety and anxiety، respectively. According to regression analysis، all factors (depression، anxiety، obsession، social anxiety، and sleep disorders) had significant correlations with the students’ total psychopathology scores. Suicidal thoughts had significant relations with total psychopathology scores، self-efficacy، and perfectionism. Self-efficacy was significantly correlated with social support and perfectionism.

Our findings highlighted the need for more attention to students’ mental health.