About one in five students (19%) report having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives. About one in three students (33%) report moderate to severe depression at the time of survey administration.² By comparison, 27% of students in the national HMS sample reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives and 41% reported moderate or severe depression at the time of survey administration.²

About one in four students (26%) report have been diagnosed with anxiety at some point in their lives. Similarly, about one in four students (27%) reported moderate to severe anxiety at the time of the survey administration.³ By comparison, 31% of students in the national HMS sample reported having been diagnosed with anxiety at some point in their lives and 35% reported moderate or severe anxiety at the time of survey administration.³

About 6% of students reported having been diagnosed with an eating disorder at some point in their lives.¹ To further screen for those who may be at risk for an eating disorder the SCOFF questionnaire (a five item self-report measure) is commonly used. Using a cut-off score of 3 or higher suggests about one in eight students (12%) may be at risk for an eating disorder.⁴

Dartmouth’s female students (15%) and transgender, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, and genderqueer (TGNQ) students (17%) were more likely to have scores in the at-risk range than male students (7%).⁴

National data indicate that 4% of students report having been diagnosed with an eating disorder at some point in their lives and 12% screen for being at risk (SCOFF score of 3 or greater).⁴

Using a lower cutoff score (SCOFF score of 2 or higher), an additional 16% of Dartmouth students may be considered at risk. This measure is less commonly recommended for clinical screening as 3 has been shown to better balance between statistical sensitivity and specificity. However, as we work to build a community with healthy attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, it is valuable to know more about this additional percentage of students. 

About half of Dartmouth students (50%) reported consuming no alcohol or consuming alcohol at a low-risk level in the two weeks prior to taking the survey and about half (50%) reported having engaged in high-risk drinking at least one time during the preceding two weeks. About 27% reported consuming no alcohol, and about 23% reported consuming alcohol at a low-risk level.

Among students who consumed any alcohol, Dartmouth's transgender, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, and genderqueer (TGNQ) students were less likely to report drinking during those two weeks (53%) than male and female students (73-75%). Among all students who reported consuming alcohol in those two weeks, 68% percent reported high-risk drinking at least one time, higher than the national HMS sample (59%).

Differences among Dartmouth students were observed by gender and degree type. Among students who reported drinking within the prior two weeks, 73% of males, 64% of females, and 43% of transgender, gender-non-conforming, non-binary, and genderqueer (TGNQ) students reported high-risk drinking at least one time; however, the number of responses for TGNQ students was small, making it difficult to draw strong conclusions for that group.⁵ Among all students who reported consuming alcohol in the two weeks before taking the survey, a higher percentage of undergraduates (75%) reported high-risk drinking than graduate and professional students (58%).⁵

Overall, about one in nine students (11%) report having seriously thought about attempting suicide in the past year, which is similar to the national HMS results (13%). Underrepresented minority (URM) students were also more likely to report suicidal ideation (14%) than white students (10%) and Asian American/Asian students (10%). According to the Trevor Project, a leading organization on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth mental health, LGBTQ youth have higher rates of suicidal ideation than their straight, cis-gender peers. This is consistent with Dartmouth’s HMS results, although the number of respondents to this question is too small to draw any strong conclusions. A similar percentage of Dartmouth students reported having made a suicide plan within the last year (4%) in comparison with the national HMS dataset (5%) and a similar percentage reported having attempted suicide within the last year (less than 1%) compared to the national dataset (1%).

Many students (38%) believe that most people will think less of someone who has received mental health treatment; however, only 10% of students report that they would think less of someone who gets that help. This indicates that perceptions of public stigma are much higher than personal stigma. In the national HMS sample, 45% of students believed that most others would think less of someone who has received mental health services and 6% reported personal stigma.

While most students identified one or more people at their school that they would talk with if a mental health problem were affecting their academic performance, about one in three students (32%) would not talk with anyone.

Based on combined responses to multiple questions, most Dartmouth students report normal emotional resilience (62%). About 10% of students report high resilience and about 28% low resilience. 

About 20% of students reported often or always feeling stressed about finances. Underrepresented minority (URM) students were about twice as likely to report these financial concerns (33%) compared to white students (15%) and Asian American/Asian students (17%). Similarly, graduate and professional school students were more likely to report often or always feeling stressed about finances (26%) than undergraduates (16%). 

Close to 8% of students reported that within the last year the food they bought didn’t last and they didn’t have money for more. These findings were similar for graduate and professional students (nearly 8%) and undergraduates (about 7%).

The effects of COVID-19 are inequitably felt by Dartmouth students. Underrepresented minority (URM) students were more likely to report having a loved one, close family member, or friend who experienced significant COVID-19 illness (34%) compared to white students (22%) and Asian American/Asian students (19%). Moreover, URM students were more than twice as likely to report having grieved the loss of a loved one, close family member, or friend due to COVID-19 (19%) compared to white (8%) and Asian American/Asian students (7%). These results are consistent with national COVID-19 data, showing lower rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalization, and death in white and non-Hispanic Asian communities than in other communities.

¹ Some students completed a few demographic questions at the start of the survey but replied to no mental health related questions thereafter. Their responses are excluded from Dartmouth’s analysis.

² Moderate or severe depression, as measured by Patient Health Questionairre-9 (PHQ-9) score of 10-27.

³ Moderate or severe anxiety, as measured by a General Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) score of 10-21.

⁴ At risk of an eating disorder, as measured by a Sick-Control-One stone-Fat-Food (SCOFF) score of 3-5.

⁵ The JED Foundation measures high-risk drinking as five alcoholic drinks in a row for males and four for females, and Dartmouth has used those thresholds when reporting the HMS data for students identifying as male or female. No known, validated measure of high-risk drinking exists for TGNQ people. The national HMS sample sets the threshold for high-risk drinking among these students at five alcoholic drinks in a row or more. A more inclusive range of “4 or 5 or more alcoholic drinks in a row” was used for TGNQ students at Dartmouth, as universally setting a higher threshold of five drinks for all students runs the risk of underreporting high-risk drinking for some students.