Factors related to psychological distress in college stu-dents: a review of the literature

Abstract

Higher education institutions are seen as a gateway to a promising future. Despite being a source of knowledge and a place to train excellent professionals, universities are also responsible for divergences regarding the personal world of each student. Moving to another city, changing circle of friends, and changing lifestyle to adapt to the university world are circumstances that lead to psychological imbalance, to the point of developing psychological distress. This work consists of a literature review, in which nineteen articles were selected from the Scielo platform and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Sistema de Bibliotecas, using, as one of the criteria, the publication period (which was established from 2015 to the first semester of 2022). All articles are related to the descriptors: psychological distress; university students; and associated factors, such as adaptation to the new routine, sedentary lifestyle, diet, and use of psychotropic medications. Of these, sixteen were analyzed and subsequently ad-dressed in the review. In this regard, this review has brought us the knowledge that, upon entering the university environment, a large proportion of these students develop mental and psychological disorders, which are caused by factors related to both the students and university life. Given the context of university health and the high fre-quency of psychological distress, the importance of carrying out projects whose objectives are to understand the target audience and to develop intervention strategies is highlighted, since interpersonal relationships and student development are reflec-tions of mental health during this period of academic life.