Valutazione del disagio mentale e dello stress percepito tra gli studenti universitari = Evaluation of mental uneasiness and perceived stress between university students

Introduction. The principal aims of this study are: to find the stress levels and the psychological uneasiness perceived in our sample; to draw a profile of the subjects more vulnerable to psychological stress; to find what has more influence on the development of psychological uneasiness; to find the main causes that lead to a delay in the help-seeking by a sample of 1067 first-year college students. Materials and methods. The evaluation of the perceived stress was made by Stress-related Vulnerability Scale (SVS). The anamnestic and clinical information was collected using a multiple choice questionnaire. A descriptive analysis of all the data collected was made and the principal links between variables and the SVS scores were detected. Finally the reasons of the unexpressed help-seeking were investigated. All the data was analysed using SPSS software. Results. About 5% of the sample showed a pathological level of stress using the SVS, 40.3% perceived in the last year such a psychological uneasiness to feel the need of a psychological/psychiatric support but just 43% of them went to a psychiatrist/psychologist. The mean reasons of this "gap" turn out to be: "cost" and "distrust". The variables associated with high level of stress and psychological uneasiness, between the other, are the status of "non-resident student" and a conflictual family atmosphere. Conclusions. In this sample the psychological uneasiness associated to high level of stress shows a significant percentage. Nevertheless the level of unexpressed help-seeking turned out to be high for multiple reasons.