Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders and the costs for civic engagement among college and university students: Insights from the Norwegian SHoT2022 cohort

The high prevalence of mental disorders has become a globally pervasive social issue resulting in its placement as among one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease. Noteworthy, prevalence estimates of college and university students affected by mental disorders are, in particular, exceedingly high. This may have important consequences for early habit formation of civic engagement given the developmental period (e.g., first time eligible voters). Using data from the Students’ Health and Wellbeing study (SHoT2022) – a nationally representative survey of college/university students across Norway – we examine how lifetime prevalence of common mental disorders (i.e., major depressive episode, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder) impact upon politically-oriented (i.e., voting) and community-oriented participatory activities (e.g., sports, cultural clubs, student-democracy, special interest groups, professional associations or off campus volunteering). Our findings suggest nuanced associations, whereby students with a lifetime prevalence of social anxiety disorder are less likely to turnout to vote (average marginal effects [AMEs] are 2.5 percentage points lower for both the national and municipal level elections). Meanwhile, students with either generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder are at risk of reduced participation in community-oriented activities (AMEs range from −1.5 to −2.3 percentage point across activities), and students with major depressive episode evidence both positive (participation in special interest groups equal to 2 percentage points) and negative (participation in sports equal to −1.5 percentage points) associations. Our results highlight the impact that lifetime prevalence of mental disorders, in particular anxiety disorders, may have on reducing mobilization into civic engagement (i.e., political- and community-oriented participatory activities) in college/university students. • Social anxiety disorder is linked to lower voter turnout in students. •Anxiety disorders are associated with lower student participation in community activities. •Depression shows mixed effects on student participation in community activities.