The Hospital del Mar has been the scene of a revealing international study that highlights a worrying situation: the mental health of university students is in a critical state. Led by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, and in collaboration with Harvard University, an analysis was conducted within the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative. In it, about 73,000 students from 71 universities in 18 countries participated.
The findings are not encouraging. Nearly half of the young people surveyed, 47%, confessed to having thought about suicide at some point in their lives, and 10% revealed that they had attempted to take their own life. These numbers highlight a latent crisis that is exacerbated at the start of university life, a period that is already, in itself, laden with emotional stress and personal challenges.
The study notes that traumatic events in childhood and having parents with mental disorders are significant additional risks. In particular, transgender students face a disproportionate risk, with a 2.4 times higher probability of considering suicide and a 3.6 times higher probability of attempting it, compared with their peers.
Dangerous combinations such as emotional abuse, severe depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder emerge as the main catalysts of suicidal behaviors. Academic pressure and the transition to university life exacerbate preexisting mental health difficulties, generating greater social fragmentation.
Doctors Philippe Mortier and Jordi Alonso have highlighted the urgency of reinforcing resources in universities to address this problem. They propose the development of effective preventive interventions and urge early detection of risk factors. Addressing these problems could be essential not only for improving the mental health of young people, but also for ensuring a better quality of life in the long term.
