Objective:

To estimate psychopathology and self-harm behavior of incoming first-year college students, socio-demographic correlates, service use and willingness to seek treatment.

Materials and methods:

4 189 male and female incoming first-year students of six universities in four different states of Mexico responded to an online survey with a 79.3% response rate.

Results:

Almost one in three incoming students has experienced some type of psychopathology; however, only one in five has received treatment. Female, students who are older, whose parents are not married or deceased, and who have a non-heterosexual orientation, no religion or a non-Catholic/Christian religion have greater odds (1.18 - 1.99), whereas those who attend a private university and have a parent with some college education have lower odds (0.68 - 0.75) of experiencing any probable disorder.

Conclusions:

Substantial unmet need for mental health services combined with reported willingness to use university services suggests an opportunity for the detection, referral, and treatment of incoming students to promote a successful transition.

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