Trends in College Student-Athlete Mental Health in the National College Health Assessment (NCHA), 2011–2019

ABSTRACT Context: Recently the athletic training community has paid increased attention to college student-athlete mental health, treatment-seeking, and impacts on athletic and academic performance. Ongoing efforts to better-educate and equip athletic trainers to help student-athletes in this regard should result in improved mental health-related outcomes. Objective: Examine changes in student-athlete mental health over the past decade compared to non-athlete students. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: United States colleges and universities. Patients or Other Participants: Varsity athletes (n=54,479) and non-athlete students (n=448,301) who completed the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) between 2011 and 2019. Main Outcome Measures: Survey responses (self-report) to questions in five mental health-related domains: symptoms, diagnoses, treatment-seeking, institutional information distribution, and academic impacts. Results: Student-athletes consistently reported significantly lower symptom and diagnose rates than non-athletes, except for attempted suicide, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Diagnoses increased over time in both groups, but remained lower in athletes. Treatment-seeking and openness to future treatment increased over time in both groups, but remained lower in athletes. Student-athletes received more information on stress reduction, substance abuse, eating disorders, and handling distress/violence than non-athletes. Both groups received information more frequently over time. Athletes reported lower academic impacts, especially for depression and anxiety, but impacts grew over time in both groups. Impacts of injuries and extracurricular activities on academic performance were higher in athletes than in non-athletes. Conclusions: Athletes reported overall lower levels of symptoms, diagnoses, and academic impacts than non-athletes. While non-athlete rates climbed over the past decade, athletes' rates broadly remained flat or climbed less rapidly. Increasingly positive attitudes toward treatment are encouraging, but the deficit relative to non-athletes remains. Ongoing efforts of athletic trainers to educate athletes and guide them to mental health resources are needed in order to continue (or, better yet, accelerate) the observed positive trends in information dissemination and treatment-seeking.

U.S. and Canadian College Students’ Fear of Crime: A Comparative Investigation of Fear of Crime and Its Correlates

Being fearful of crime is, unfortunately, a common experience. Research shows that many factors influence a person’s fear of crime, demonstrating that certain groups are generally more fearful than others. Even though they are typically young, college students express being fearful of crime on and off campus. What has yet to be investigated is whether college students who attend school in the United States are fearful at similar levels to their Canadian counterparts. Further, the correlates of fear of crime may also be different. To explore these issues, data from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment II survey of U.S. and Canadian college students are used. Results show that Canadian college students generally perceive their safety as being higher than U.S. college students, even though they face elevated victimization risks. Further, some correlates of fear of crime differ for U.S. and Canadian college students. These findings suggest the need for additional cross-national comparative work to see if patterns generalize across contexts.

0553 Hallucinogen Use Among College and University Students: Associations with Insufficient Sleep and Insomnia

Introduction Previous studies have shown that poor sleep is associated with alcohol use, smoking, and other substance use, especially among young adults. Yet, very little is known about hallucinogen use. Methods Data from the 2011-2014 National College Health Assessment were used (N=113,749), representing a wide range of students across the US. Hallucinogen use was reported as “never,” “past,” and “present” (reflecting use in the past 30 days). Students also self-reported nights/week they did not get enough sleep to feel rested (insufficient sleep), as well as nights/week they had difficulty falling asleep (initial insomnia). Responses for both were categorized as 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, or 7 nights/week. Multinomial logistic regressions examined hallucinogen use as outcome (past or present vs never) and sleep as predictor, with adjustment for covariates (age, sex, race/ethnicity, and survey year) and mental health (past 30 days depression/anxiety). Results Hallucinogen use was infrequently reported, with 4.8% (N=5,493) reporting past use and 0.98% (N=1,119) reporting present use. In adjusted analyses, increase likelihood of past use was associated with insufficient sleep on 1-2 (RRR=1.28, p=0.001), 3-4 (RRR=1.37, p<0.0005), 5-6 (RRR=1.30, p<0.0005), and 7 (RRR=1.34, p<0.0005) nights per week, as well as 1-2 (RRR=1.30, p<0.0005), 3-4 (RRR=1.52, p<0.0005), 5-6 (RRR=1.58, p<0.0005), and 7 (RRR=1.49, p<0.0005) nights per week of initial insomnia. Present use was associated with 1-2 (RRR=1.44, p<0.0005), 3-4 (RRR=1.76, p<0.0005), 5-6 (RRR=2.05, p<0.0005), and 7 (RRR=1.83, p<0.0005) nights per week of initial insomnia. When mental health was entered into the model, results were maintained. Conclusion Past use of hallucinogens was associated with insufficient sleep as well as insomnia. Present use was also associated with insomnia. When mental health was included in models, all results were maintained. It is not clear whether hallucinogen use leads to, or is predicted by, sleep difficulties. Support Dr. Grandner is supported by R01MD011600

National College Health Assessment II: propriedades psicométricas e concordância dos formatos impresso e on-line

Os objetivos do estudo foram: (a) identificar e comparar as propriedades psicométricas da versão brasileira do questionário National College Health Assessment II (NCHA IIc) nos formatos impresso e on-line; e (b) verificar a capacidade de concordância entre os dados levantados por ambos os formatos. Ambos os formatos do questionário foram preenchidos por 371 estudantes universitários voluntários. Para identificar as propriedades psicométricas foi calculado coeficiente alfa de Cronbach (consistência interna) e realizada análise fatorial confirmatória e de multigrupo. A concordância entre os modelos foi medida por meio do percentual de concordância, estatística Kappa e coeficiente intraclasse. Os resultados do estudo indicam que a versão brasileira on-line do NCHA IIc forneceu dados de qualidade semelhante ao formato impresso tradicional, com vantagens logísticas e de custos substanciais, possibilitando, desse modo, sua aplicação em estudos futuros com finalidade de analisar condutas de proteção e risco para saúde de estudantes universitários no Brasil.

Treating the Wounds of Survivors of Sexual Assault on College Campuses

This paper briefly explores the resources available on U.S. college campuses for survivors of sexual assault. Data reported in the National College Health Assessment II indicated that only half of the participating U.S. institutions of higher education provided multiple resources for their students whom were survivors of sexual assault. One of these resources were mental health services. Although Cognitive Processing Therapy is recognized as an evidence based therapy, little is known about the inclusion of LGBT survivors in Cognitive Processing Therapy groups or the resulting treatment outcomes.

Treating the Wounds of Survivors of Sexual Assault on College Campuses

This paper briefly explores the resources available on U.S. college campuses for survivors of sexual assault. Data reported in the National College Health Assessment II indicated that only half of the participating U.S. institutions of higher education provided multiple resources for their students whom were survivors of sexual assault. One of these resources were mental health services. Although Cognitive Processing Therapy is recognized as an evidence based therapy, little is known about the inclusion of LGBT survivors in Cognitive Processing Therapy groups or the resulting treatment outcomes.