The aim of this review was to synthesize extant literature concerning the prevalence of mental health problems among Italian university students seeking psychological help in university counseling services (UCS) and the effectiveness of these interventions. A systematic search was conducted on main scientific databases following the PRISMA guidelines. Using the PICO method, the study included research on college students seeking psychological help through UCS (P), focusing on psychological interventions delivered by UCS (I), examining the prevalence of psychological problems and/or the effect of UCS intervention on symptoms of mental health issues as (primary or secondary) outcome (O). Class comparisons (C) did not apply to this study. Studies excluded consisted of non-peer-reviewed journal articles, qualitative studies, or publications that reported only descriptive or not fully relevant information. The systematic search was conducted on the PsycInfo, PsycArticles, PsycCRITIQUES, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases up to December 17, 2023. The data was organized in a narrative synthesis. Finally, the review was registered on OSF (osf.io/t2y9q). Study quality was assessed using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Thirty-six studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria for a total of 7,432 participants (5,390 female, 6,625 accessing UCS). Most studies (n = 21) had a pre-post intervention design, followed by cross-sectional (n = 12) and case-control (n = 3) designs. Data from the period between 1983 and 2022 were collected (n = 7 studies focused specifically on the COVID-19 pandemic period), primarily using self-report measures. Students attending UCS exhibited significant psychological distress (63.2-92.7 %), various psychopathological symptoms, and poor psychological functioning, including depressive symptoms (9-30 % up to 48.9 %) and anxiety symptoms (11.2-36 %). Studies (n = 21) testing the effectiveness of counseling intervention showed that treatment was helpful in improving students' mental health, regardless of the approach employed. Limitations in the examined studies' design (e.g., heterogeneity in studies outcomes and measures, small sample size, self-reported data, low methodological quality) should be addressed in future research to obtain a more comprehensive picture on the topic under investigation. The high levels of psychological problems and psychopathological symptoms found in students attending UCS support the need of mental-health promotion activities. Counseling interventions seems to be an effective first-line service for university students experiencing psychological problems.

This study was aimed at exploring students’ psychological condition (operationalized through psychological distress and perceived loneliness) one year after the COVID-19 lockdown and testing its role in predicting academic motivation. The possible mediating role of emotional regulation in this relationship was also investigated. A non-random sample of university students completed a cross-sectional online survey assessing their psychological distress, feelings of loneliness, emotion regulation strategies, and academic motivation. Structural equation modeling multi-group analysis was used to examine the relation between variables. The final sample comprised 479 students (62.8% female, Mage = 22.16 ± 2.79 years) from several degree courses attending Italian universities. Of these, 56.6% and 41.5% of the participants showed high levels of psychological distress and perceived loneliness, respectively. Psychological distress and loneliness were positively associated with problems with emotion-regulation abilities and negatively associated with academic motivation. The lack of emotional awareness, in turn, reduced their academic motivation levels. Analysis of the indirect effects showed that psychological distress affected academic motivation via awareness (β = -.02, p < .05 and β = -.03, p < .05 in males and females, respectively). Overall, the model was able to predict academic motivation in university students, explaining a reasonable percentage of the variance (14% for males and 17% for females). These results indicate a meaningful effect of students’ psychological condition on academic motivation. Implications for the definition and implementation of actions to support students in managing psychological problems and feelings of loneliness and to foster students’ psychological health in university settings are discussed.

Background and Aims: University counselling services and their effectiveness is a growing field of interest, given their key role in students' well‐being and mental health improvement. The poor homogeneity in defining outcome variables and predictors of treatment efficacy has resulted in considerable variability across studies, with some important aspects having received limited attention or being underexplored. The present study aimed to contribute to this field by analysing the effectiveness of a psychological counselling service in reducing students' psychological difficulties. The main aim of the study was to identify the main predictors of reliable change (RC) in psychological distress and dropout intentions, with a particular focus on the role played by emotion regulation and loneliness. Methods: A one‐group pre‐post‐test design was adopted. A total of 263 students (183 female, M _age 23.85 ± 3.98) from a university in Southern Italy were asked to complete CORE‐OM, Dropout Intentions Questionnaire, DERS and UCLA‐LS3. Data were collected between March 2021 and October 2023, at the beginning (T0) and at the end (T1) of the intervention. Results: Of the 263 participants, 154 (111 female, M _age 24.86 ± 4.15) completed the pre‐post assessment. Repeated‐measures ANOVA showed a significant decrease at T1 in all dimensions of psychological distress, emotion regulation difficulties, loneliness and dropout intention (all p < 0.0001). A total of 107 (69.5%) students showed RC in distress levels. A multiple group structural equation model (SEM) indicated that RC for emotion regulation difficulties significantly and positively affected the RC for the psychological distress and dropout intention scores. Conclusions: These findings emphasise the effectiveness of psychological counselling intervention in reducing psychological difficulties among university students. Furthermore, they underscore the role of emotion regulation as a potential predictor of psychological distress and dropout intention, contributing to a more precise definition of the key variables that may play a role in making psychological counselling interventions effective in supporting psychological well‐being and mental health. Trial Registration: The study has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT06333444

The purpose of this study was to describe the mental health problems and dropout intentions of university students seeking psychological help from an Italian university counseling service (UCS). Psychological distress, perceived loneliness, emotional dysregulation, and dropout intentions were measured through an online survey administered to 191 students (72.2% female, mean age 22.61 ± 2.8) seeking psychological help (“seeking help” [SH] group) and 382 matched university students (72.2% female, mean age 22.62 ± 2.27) not seeking psychological help (“not seeking help” [NSH] group). Respectively, 92.7% and 70.7% of SH university students showed high levels of psychological distress and loneliness. These students had significantly higher levels of psychological problems (psychological distress, perceived loneliness, and difficulties in emotion regulation abilities, all p < .0001) and dropout intentions ( p = .026) than NSH students. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant correlation between mental health problems and dropout intention, which did not vary between SH and NSH students. In both groups, perceived loneliness and emotion regulation difficulties were associated with dropout intentions, mediated through psychological distress. Overall, the model explained a reasonable percentage of the variance of dropout intentions (17% for SH and 23% for NSH students). Mental distress was widespread among Italian university students, regardless of whether they sought psychological help from a UCS; this calls for timely interventions to counter student mental distress and prevent university dropout.

School dropout is an issue that requires the attention of institutions. Related research indicates that both family (e.g., parental monitoring) and personal (e.g., academic motivation and school engagement) factors affect adolescents’ decision to quit school. As no studies have jointly examined these variables in Italian adolescents over time, this two-wave study aimed to investigate the role of parental monitoring in the relationships among academic motivation, school engagement, and dropout intention. This study enrolled 377 adolescents (boys = 178; M_age = 14.41, SD_age = 0.72) from two public upper secondary schools in Italy, and followed them over 6 months from November 2024 (T0) to May 2025 (T1). They completed a questionnaire at T0 and T1 comprising the following measures: parental monitoring, academic motivation, school engagement, and dropout intention. Structural equation modelling showed a good fit to the data, χ²₍₅₄₎ = 84.589, p = 0.005, RMSEA = 0.04 [0.02–0.05], CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, SRMR = 0.02. At T0, parental monitoring was positively associated with academic motivation and school engagement and negatively associated with dropout intention. A positive reciprocal association was observed between academic motivation and school engagement at T0 and T1. Academic motivation and school engagement at T0 were negatively associated with dropout intention at T1. Parental monitoring at T0 had a significant indirect effect on dropout intention at T1 via academic motivation and school engagement at T0. These findings suggest that interventions targeting family and personal factors may reduce school dropout rates among adolescents.