EPIDEMIOLOGY OF EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE AMONG COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

Some of the most important implications of the college experience as a focus for epidemiological research arise from considering the college or university as a community, where informal rewards and demands loom as large as formal ones for community participants. Compared to less specialized populations, college communities are relatively well bounded in space; also, their members remain in them for specifiable time periods. Student bodies are relatively well standardized in terms of social class and intellectual ability. These conditions simplify most forms of epidemiological research in college settings.