Online Mental Health Help Seeking Behaviors Among College Students

Abstract

Even before the pandemic, utilization of online mental health resources continues to grow among young adults. There is limited research on online help seeking behaviors, let alone specific research on college students’ online mental health help seeking behaviors. This study aims to identify which terminology college students utilize on online search engines to seek assistance related to mental health. A cross-sectional survey design was used during the 2019-2020 academic year. The respondents consisted of 259 college students at one of the 50 largest public institutions of higher education in the Southeastern United States.Overall, the sample data suggests that college students utilize general words such as mental health help, as well as specific symptoms and diagnoses, and words related to cost and insurance when searching online for mental health assistance. This data suggest online search word utilization for mental health has gender, racial, and age differences, which could further inform the way online search engines operate to provide adequate services for specific populations seeking help.