Background: Negative events in childhood are associated with increased risk of mental health problems, and evaluation could help identify students at high risk of mental health disorder. However, childhood adversity measures are difficult to implement in routine care. Perceived parental support in childhood and adolescence may be more easily assessed, as it is a rather neutral and non-intrusive question.
Methods: We retrieved students' health data collected from the French i-Share cohort, in a longitudinal population-based study including 4463 students of 18-24 years of age. Students in this cohort completed a self-reported questionnaire about major psychiatric problems at one-year follow-up.
Results: Among 4463 participants, 26% reported a major mental health problem-including suicidal behavior (17%), major depression (7%), and severe generalized anxiety disorder (15%). Adjusted logistic regression revealed that a lower level of perceived parental support was significantly associated with higher risk of any mental health problem. Compared to students who reported extremely strong perceived parental support, students who perceived no support had a nearly 4-fold higher risk of mental health problems (aOR 3.80, CI 2.81-5.13). Lower levels of perceived parental support were dose-dependently associated with higher incidences of suicidal behavior, major depression, and severe generalized anxiety disorder.
Limitations: Study limitations included a moderate follow-up response rate, and retrospective self-report questionnaires.
Conclusion: Perceived parental support was strongly associated with the incidence of mental health problems among college students. If validated, these results suggest that health professionals should consider using this simple marker to improve mental health risk assessment and screening.
Keywords: College students; Mental health problems; Perceived parental support; Screening.
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