Substance Use and College Student Health Daniel Eisenberg University of Michigan Workshop on “Future Technology to Preserve College Student Health and Foster Wellbeing” Northwestern University, July 30, 2015
Outline of Presentation Basic Facts about Substance Use in College Populations Our Approach: Link with Mental Health Core Challenge: Engagement (of students, researchers, providers, administrators, policymakers) 2
Basic Facts: Prevalence of Substance Use among College Students Binge drinking (past 2 weeks)41% Cigarette smoking (past 30 days)13% Marijuana use (past 30 days)16% (2015 Healthy Minds Study, N~15,000)Healthy Minds Study Similar statistics to Alcohol use disorder20% (vs 17% same-age non-college) Drug disorder 5% (vs 7% same-age non-college) Nicotine dependence15% (vs 21% same-age non-college) ( NESARC, reported in Blanco et al., 2008 Arch Gen Psych) 3
Basic Facts: Widely Used Online Programs 4
Our Approach: Link with Mental Health Psychological distress: cause and consequence of risky substance use Major depressive symptoms significantly correlated with binge drinking (Pedrelli et al., 2015 manuscript submitted for publication) 5
Core Challenge: Engagement Engaging students in: helping themselves mental health services positive coping skills helping others bystander/upstander behaviors intervention development, testing, dissemination 6
Tinyshifts: Brief Videos to Promote Help-seeking and Coping Skills “Tinyshifts” on YouTubeTinyshifts
Crowdsourcing Coping Skills
Healthy Minds Student Leader Coalition 9
Healthy Minds Network (>100 schools, >100,000 students) 10
Source: data.healthymindsnetwork.org
Economic Case for Mental Health Services Eisenberg, D., Golberstein, E., Hunt, J. (2009). Mental Health and Academic Success in College. B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 9(1) (Contributions): Article 40.
Contact Information Daniel Eisenberg: Healthy Minds team: Web: College Mental Health Research Symposium: March 8-9, 2016 in Ann Arbor (please join us!)