Italian students seeking psychological assistance from the university counseling service: Mental health problems and intentions to drop out

Abstract The purpose of this study was to describe the mental health problems and dropout intentions of university students seeking psychological help from an Italian university counseling service (UCS). Psychological distress, perceived loneliness, emotional dysregulation, and dropout intentions were measured through an online survey administered to 191 students (72.2% female, mean age 22.61 ± 2.8) seeking psychological help (“seeking help” [SH] group) and 382 matched university students (72.2% female, mean age 22.62 ± 2.27) not seeking psychological help (“not seeking help” [NSH] group). Respectively, 92.7% and 70.7% of SH university students showed high levels of psychological distress and loneliness. These students had significantly higher levels of psychological problems (psychological distress, perceived loneliness, and difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, all p < .0001) and dropout intentions ( p = .026) than NSH students. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant correlation between mental health problems and dropout intention, which did not vary between SH and NSH students. In both groups, perceived loneliness and emotion regulation difficulties were associated with dropout intentions, mediated through psychological distress. Overall, the model explained a reasonable percentage of the variance of dropout intentions (17% for SH and 23% for NSH students). Mental distress was widespread among Italian university students, regardless of whether they sought psychological help from a UCS; this calls for timely interventions to counter student mental distress and prevent university dropout.