Short communication Psychological distress among college students in Kerala, India—Prevalence and correlates Jaisoorya TS a, *, Anjana Rani b , Priya G. Menon b , Jeevan CR b , Revamma M b , Vineetha Jose b , Radhakrishnan KS b , Anupam Kishore c , Thennarasu K d , Sivasankaran Nair B b a Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS Bengaluru, 560029, India b Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Ernakulam, India c Park Royal Secure Services, London, United Kingdom d Department of Bio-statistics, NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 560029,, India A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 20 December 2016 Received in revised form 4 March 2017 Accepted 15 March 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: College students Psychological distress Prevalence Correlates India A B S T R A C T Aims: To study the prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among college students in Kerala, India. Material and methods: 5784 students across 58 colleges were self-administered Kessler’s Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and other standardized instruments. Results: The prevalence of psychological distress was 34.8% (Mild-17.3%; Moderate-9.2%; Severe-8.3%) with a female predominance. Students with psychological distress were more likely to report academic failures, substance use, suicidality, sexual abuse and symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Students with severe distress had higher morbidity. Conclusions: Psychological distress is common among college students and its association with negative correlates suggests the need for early interventions. © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. 1. Introduction Psychological distress is an unpleasant subjective state associated with symptoms from the anxiety-depression spectrum which leads to poor mental health and impact level of functioning (Bayram and Bilgel, 2008). Psychological distress is common among college students owing to multiple challenges they encounter in academics, social and personal life (Dyrbye et al., 2006). Studies of prevalence of psychological distress among college students have reported rates between 25 and 83% (Adlaf et al., 2001; Dyrbye et al., 2006), with a higher prevalence among females (Adlaf et al., 2001; Iqbal et al., 2015). Indian studies have also reported prevalence rates of 25–50% (Nath et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2013; Iqbal et al., 2015). Poverty, family dysfunction and social disadvantage have been strongly associated with psychological distress among college students (Dyrbye et al., 2006; Singh et al., 2013; Iqbal et al., 2015). Students with psychological distress also reported academic difficulties (Adlaf et al., 2001; Dyrbye et al., 2006), substance use (Geisner et al., 2004; Nitcher and Colder, 2009), suicidality (Dyrbye et al., 2006; Nath et al., 2012), ADHD (Rabiner et al., 2009) and abuse (Haz-Yahia and Tamish, 2001). Despite the high prevalence and the range of negative correlates reported, studies of psychological distress among college students in India have been few, confined to a single or limited number of institutions, to students doing particular courses, and with limited sample sizes (Nath et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2013; Iqbal et al., 2015). It is in this context that we examined the prevalence of psychological distress and its correlates among college going young adults in the state of Kerala, India. The findings reported here are part findings of a larger study which assessed psychological issues among college students. 2. Material and methods This survey was conducted in 58 colleges from the 123 colleges offering various courses selected by cluster random sampling in * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: tsjaisoorya@gmail.com (J. TS), anjanadoctor@yahoo.co.uk (A. Rani), doctorpriyamenon@gmail.com (P.G. Menon), jeevancrajan@gmail.com (J. CR), revurajan2009@gmail.com (R. M), vinitashaji@gmail.com ( . Jose), drksrad@gmail.com (R. KS), anupam.kishore@nhs.net (A. Kishore), kthenna@gmail.com (T. K), tsjaisoorya@gmail.com (S.N. B). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2017.03.026 1876-2018/© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. Asian Journal of Psychiatry 28 (2017) 28–31 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Asian Journal of Psychiatry journal home page : www.elsevier.com/locat e/ajp