Date: December 5, 2003
Contact: Pam Willenz
Public Affairs Office
(202) 336-5707

APA COMMENDS DAVIS/OSBORNE BILL TO IMPROVE MENTAL AND HEALTH SERVICES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Campus Care and Counseling Act Aims To Better Address Students’ Adjustment Issues, Alcohol Problems and Depression and Suicide On College Campuses

WASHINGTON – The American Psychological Association (APA) applauds Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and Rep. Tom Osborne (R-NE) for introducing the Campus Care and Counseling Act (HR 3593), legislation that would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965. Passage of this bill will provide funds to increase student access to and the range of services provided by campus mental and behavioral health service centers. In the past decade, the prevalence and severity of many mental and behavioral problems among college students has increased. The goal of the proposed legislation is to help student mental health centers better meet the psychological and behavioral health needs of all students.

“The passage of this bill is important because the mental and behavioral health of students can affect their ability to function successfully in a college environment, socially, emotionally and academically,” said Dr. Cynthia Belar, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Education Directorate of APA. “If the Campus Care and Counseling Act is adopted, more on-campus mental health resources would be available to students where and when the recent evidence suggests they greatly need them,” added Belar.

There is clear evidence of an increase of depression among college students. According to a survey based on the responses of 3,680 freshmen at 50 four-year institutions, depression among freshmen nearly doubled (from 8.2 percent to 16.3 percent) between the fall of 2000 and the fall of 2001. Without treatment, the researchers noted “depressed adolescents are at risk for school failure, social isolation, promiscuity, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, and suicide – the third leading cause of death among 10 to 24 year olds.” The survey was conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles and reported in the February 2002 Chronicle of Higher Education.

Researchers from Kansas State University who conducted a study over a 13-year period (1989-2001) of 13,257 students seeking help at a large midwestern university counseling center, stated that “students experience more stress, more anxiety and more depression than a decade ago. Some of these increases were dramatic. The number of students seen each year with depression doubled, while the number of suicidal students tripled and the number of students seen after a sexual assault quadrupled.” This study appeared in the February, 2003 issue of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, a journal of the APA.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported in 2002 that 1,400 college students die each year from alcohol-related injuries and those college students who drink alcohol are more likely to assault others and commit acts of sexual assault and vandalism. The NIAAA also report that 25 percent of college students attribute their academic problems to excessive drinking. According to the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 20 percent of full-time undergraduate college students use illicit drugs; moreover, serious mental illness is highly correlated with substance dependence or abuse.

The bill authorizes ten million dollars in competitive grants to centers on college campuses that provide mental and behavioral health services to students. Any center located on the campus of an institution of higher education that provides these services to students would be eligible to apply for a grant. Eligible entities include college counseling centers, college and university psychological service centers, mental health units and psychology training clinics.

HR 3593 Campus Care and Counseling Act – available from APA Public Affairs Office

Article: "Changes in Counseling Center Client Problems Across 13 Years," Sherry A. Benton, Ph.D., John M. Robertson, Ph.D., Wen-Chih Tseng, M.Ed., Fred B. Newton, Ph.D., and Stephen L. Benton, Ph.D., Kansas State University; Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Vol. 34, No. 1.
Full text of the article is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/pro34166.pdf

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

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