College Student Response to Peers in Distress: An Exploratory Study

Today's college students experience a multitude of emotional and psychological difficulties, ranging from developmental struggles to more severe psychopathology (Bishop, Gallagher, Pledge, Lapan, Heppner, Kivlighan, & Roehlke, 1998) and there may be increasing numbers of students who seek counseling for problems such as anxiety and depression (Benton, Robertson, Tseng, Newton, & Benton, 2003). Although most colleges provide psychological counseling and other support services, students themselves are often the first to deal with troubled students on campus. For example, a student may observe his or her roommate engaging in self-destructive behavior, or a student may have a friend who confides in him or her about having problems with school, family, or other issues. In a sense, students are on the front lines and may have knowledge of other students having problems well before anyone else on campus.