Characterization of psychiatrically hospitalized college students.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize contemporary college students requiring psychiatric hospitalization.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Sociodemographic and diagnostic information was gathered retrospectively and analyzed from the electronic medical records (EMRs) of the consecutive inpatient hospitalizations of 905 college students admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit.

RESULTS: Significantly more females compared to males experienced the following: more hospitalizations, more family and financial stressors, more depression, and less psychotic and bipolar disorder. The most frequent diagnosis was a depressive disorder, followed by bipolar disorder, psychotic disorder, and personality disorder, most frequently borderline personality disorder. Half of participants had comorbid diagnoses with substance abuse most common. More than two-thirds of students endorsed social or intimate relationship, academic, and family challenges as psychosocial stressors. In all, 15% of participants had repeat admissions.

CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides demographic data from a sample of psychiatrically hospitalized college students. Findings can help improve screening and identification of decompensation in college students.