COUNSELING ISSUES: DISCUSSION OF A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY
Existing research on college client counseling center populations has consistently shown increases in levels of psychopathology and symptom severity which has led some to suggest that students of today are facing more complex counseling issues (Robbins, May, & Corazzini, 1985; Gallagher, Gill, & Sysco, 2000; O'Malley, Wheeler, Murphey, O'Connell, & Waldo, 1990). In the study discussed in this paper, Sherry A. Benton and colleagues (2003) examined whether the counseling issues of college students today are indeed more complex than they were a decade ago.
Sample subjects consisted of 13,256 students who had sought counseling help at a large Midwestern university counseling center over a 13 year period. The conclusion of the study was that collected data showed dramatic increases in the complexity of the counseling issues faced by students. The purpose of this article is to discuss the descriptive statistics used and the degree of support they offer for the researchers' conclusion.
If the issues college students at the Center studied are truly more complex than they were a decade ago, then it seems reasonable to suspect that there would be more students in need of counseling in a host of mental health areas. Benton & colleagues (2003) reported exactly this, finding that in 14 of the 19 mental health problem areas studied, counseling center clinicians reported increases in the percentages of individuals having difficulties. The increased was determined by tallying up the number of students and comparing proportions using the Chi Square analysis along with pair-wise comparison tests. According to Linton and Gallo (1975), the Chi Square statistic is relatively powerful for a non-parametric procedure with a lot of flexibility in terms of its use.
Regarding additional Chi Square findings, Benton et al (2003) reported that until 1994, relationship problems were the most f...