Mental Health Characteristics of Social Work Students: Implications for Social Work Education

No studies have examined to date the mental health and substance use characteristics of social work students. Therefore, this study was undertaken to describe and identify these characteristics among a sample of social work students located in a Florida school of social work. Results indicated that approximately 34% of the participants reported high levels of depressive symptoms, 12% had a history of suicidal ideation, and 4% reported having thought about suicide recently. Six percent reported high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology, and 3% were highly likely to have a dissociative disorder. High proportions of the students reported having multiple traumatic experiences. Students in this sample were less likely to report lifetime or current alcohol or marijuana use than national college student samples, but more likely to report lifetime or current use of illicit substances other than marijuana.