COLLEGE COUNSELLING PRACTICAL

AIMTo assess adjustment levels and counselling needs of female college students.

BASIC CONCEPT

The term counselling has eluded definition for years. However, in 2010, the American Counselling Association came up with a consensual definition that is as follows- “counselling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families and groups to achieve mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.”

According to Samuel Gladding (1992), counselling is a “relatively short term, interpersonal, theory based professional activity guided by ethical and legal standards that focuses on helping individuals who are basically psychologically healthy to resolve developmental and situational problems”

Practically all definitions of counselling concern themselves with the view that it is a process that involves bringing about sequential changes over a period of time leading to a set goal. These definitions stress that the counsellor-counsellee relationship is not casual, matter of fact and business like but that it is characterised by warmth, responsiveness and understanding.

By its nature, counselling is a theory based profession, with counsellors being professionally trained and bound by explicit ethics dealing with mostly ‘normal’ persons, either individually or in groups addressing various concerns such as professional, personal, familial etc. by a process set to achieve mutually agreed upon goals.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING

Counselling is a very broad category that encompasses many opportunities in any number of counselling subfields:

1. Marriage, Couple and Family Counselling:

Couples therapists and marriage counsellors treat some of the same issues as other psychologists, such as depression and anxiety, substance abuse, and PTSD. But their work focuses on issues that are specific to their target group, the family. Some common issues that family counsellors encounter are marital conflicts, adolescent behavior problems, domestic violence and issues related to infertility. Marriage and family therapists observe how people behave within the family, and identify relationship

problems. They then come up with treatment plans so that each individual has his or her needs met and the family unit can work for the benefit and happiness of all.

2. Substance Abuse and Addiction Counselling:

Substance abuse counsellors diagnose and assess addiction problems, and treat clients in a variety of ways. Because every patient is an individual and is struggling with addiction in different ways, substance abuse counsellors customize treatment plans for each client. They may meet regularly with clients as they recover, or work intensely with individuals in crisis. They teach clients how to alter their attitudes and false beliefs, and develop strategies to overcome denial and rationalization in the hope of achieving full recovery. Because clients are susceptible to relapse, many substance abuse counsellors work with clients on an on-going basis. 

3. Rehabilitation and Disability Counselling: People with disabilities face challenges that require creative solutions. Whether a person has a physical, mental or emotional disability, rehabilitative counselling helps them achieve personal and professional goals, and lead their lives more freely. Rehabilitation counsellors work in a variety of state departments and community programs. They are also employed in the private sector in for-profit and non-profit organizations, such as schools, colleges, residential care facilities and drug rehabilitation facilities.

4. Educational Counselling School psychologists work with students at all levels, from elementary school to college. They are advocates for students' well-being, and are a valuable resource for their educational and personal development. They help students work through issues such as bullying, disabilities, low self-esteem, poor academic performance, social anxiety, problems with authority or problems at home. School psychologists may do one-on-one therapy with students, or work in groups with family members or peers to understand and overcome psychological problems. The field of school counselling involves a wide range of ages, developmental stages, background experiences and types of problems. Some children are developmentally ready, eager and able whereas others are disadvantaged because of physical, mental, cultural or socioeconomic factors. Children these days face a barrage of complex events and processes that have temporary and permanent impacts on them. Years of research have concluded that, in school environments, counselling interventions have a significant impact on student’s educational and personal development. Counselling interventions tend to be particularly effective in increasing student’s problem solving behaviours. Overall, school counsellors and comprehensive guidance and counselling programs help children and adolescents become better adjusted academically and developmentally while feeling safe, having better relationships with teachers and peers, having fewer problems in school and getting higher grades.

School counselling functions may include individual, group and class work to provide both an intervention and prevention service:

Consultation, Planning and Coordination School: counsellors consult and plan collaboratively with students, other educators, the school based student services team, parents, other community agencies and outside professionals in planning goals and effective strategies to promote the emotional, intellectual, social, academic and career development of students.

Prevention: School counsellors spend much of their time developing and implementing plans and programs which could be categorized as preventative services. Prevention services may be described as follows:

o The Primary prevention level focuses on preventing a problem from occurring. The emphasis is on enhancing positive school climate. One example may be a school program to facilitate a safe school environment.

o The Secondary level of prevention focuses on early indicators of problems. The goal is to shorten the duration or lessen the impact of a problem.

o The Tertiary level focuses on minimizing the immediate consequences of an existing severe problem. The emphasis is on regaining control over a situation so remediation and prevention strategies can be developed, implemented and assessed.

Education: School counsellors may provide direct instruction to students in areas such as peer helping, conflict resolution, social skills, and life skills. As well, school counsellors provide support to other educators in implementing career and personal planning, promoting positive school climates and enhancing the emotional/social well-being of students. Their educational role may also include disseminating information to parents and other professionals, monitoring and assessment of the services they provide, and acting as a resource for professional and curriculum development.

5. Career Counselling Career counselling is a process that helps to know and understand yourself and the world of work in order to make career, educational, and life decisions. It is more than just deciding on a major and what job you want to get when you graduate. It involves one-to-one or small group relationship between a client and a counsellor with the goal of helping the clients integrate and apply an understanding of self and the environment to make the most appropriate career decisions and adjustments.There is a dire need to provide career information and counselling to potential users. Difficulties are related to three factors present both prior and during the decision making process:

Lack of readiness Lack of information Inconsistent information

Because the concept of career encompasses the life span, counsellors who specialize in this area find themselves working with a full range of clients, from young children to octogenarians. Career counselling with children: The process of career development begins in the preschool years and becomes more direct in elementary schools. Programs for children at this age should focus on awareness rather than firm decision making. They should provide as many experiential activities as possible and should help children realize that they have career choices. Jesser (1983) suggests that levels of career awareness in elementary schoolchildren may be raised through activities such as field trips etc.

Career Counselling with Adolescents: In middle school, career guidance activities should include the exploration of work opportunities and student’s evaluation of their own strengths and weakness in regard to possible future careers. Assets that students should become aware of and begin to evaluate are including talents and skills, general intelligence, motivation level, friends, family, life experience, appearance, and health. At the senior high school, career guidance and counselling activities are related to students’ maturity. Many high school students benefit from using self-knowledge as a beginning point for exploring careers. The greatest challenge and need for career development programs occur on this level, especially in the area of acquiring basic skills. In general, career counselling at the high school level has three emphases: stimulating career development, providing treatment, and aiding placement.

Career Counselling with College Students: Committing to a career choice is one of the main psychosocial tasks that college students face. Approximately half of all college students experience career related problems (Herr et al., 2004). Part of the reason is that despite appearances, most college students are rarely the informed consumers that they are assumed to be. Even students who have already decided on their college majors and careers seek such services both to validate their choices and 'additional information. Among these services are helping with the selection of a major field of study. Offering self-assessment and self-analysis through psychological testing, helping students understand the world of work. Besides offering these options, students need “life-career developmental counselling,” too. This broader approach seeks to help people plan for future careers while “balancing and integrating life-work roles and responsibilities” in an appropriate way.

Career Counselling with Adults: Career interest patterns tend to be more stable after college than during college. However, many older adults continue to need and seek career counselling even into late adulthood. There are two dominant ways of working with adults in career counselling: the differential approach and the developmental approach. The differential approach stresses that “the typology of persons and environments is more useful than any life stage strategies for coping with career problems”. It avoids age-related stereotypes. gender and minority group issues, and the scientific and practical difficulties of dealing with life-span problems. The developmental approach examines a greater number of individual and

environmental variables. The experiences people have with events, situations and other people play a large part in determining their identities, with the interplay of other people and events strongly influences career decisions in adulthood.

ADJUSTMENT ISSUES AND COUNSELLING NEEDS AT COLLEGE LEVEL

College provides a time of socially recognized independence from parental rules and restrictions. Although the legal age of adulthood varies for such things as voting and drinking, going to college is an obvious sanctioned move towards independence. However, independence is not conferred automatically at a certain age or in a specific place. It is achieved by practicing how to think for oneself and take responsibility for one's actions. College students can feel invincible and able to take risks. But both the opportunities and the consequences can be high. The college freshman will be confronted with abundant pressures related to social situations — sex, drugs and alcohol. With respect to academics, students today are feeling increasing pressure to know what they want to do, pick a career path and plan for their futures. This pressure may cause substance abuse, anxiety, depression or other concerns. Challenges for the college student include:

Fitting in

It can be daunting to leave the security of family and friends. When going to college, students often must leave, or give up, one group (of family and friends) then accommodate and learn about a new group. It can be stressful to analyze new social norms, learn a new set of behaviors, and consider adopting a particular identity and group affiliation. The opportunities can be exhilarating, but the choices should not be made hastily.

Balancing socializing and working

College offers an assortment of opportunities for advancement and distraction — there are so many potential friends, parties, courses, things to do and places to go. Not knowing what direction is best and not wanting to miss out on anything, students often try to be included in everything.

Knowing when help is needed

Students often doubt their ability to handle their course work and may be bothered by new and unexpected feelings, precipitating a downward spiral. There is also an increased risk of certain disorders in the teen and young adult years (e.g. depression, bipolar and anorexia). Students may find themselves seeking out a mental health pr

Transition from school to college is a complex process for almost all students. Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) describe this transition as a "culture shock involving significant social and psychological relearning in the face of encounters with new ideas, new teachers and friends

with quite varied values and beliefs, new freedoms and opportunities, and new academic, personal and social demands." Adjustment difficulties arise from the differences between the expectations of the students and realities of college life. Many researchers (Eg., Bennett and Okinaka, 1990 and Martha, 2003) reveal that almost all freshman level college/university students face some form of adjustment problems during transition to higher level education and several factors have been documented as causes. Besides, the psychological makeup individual students built up during the pre-university period, expectations of campus climate equally contribute to freshman students’ adaptation to campus life.

The nature of students expectations about university, and their relation with adjustment in university, were examined in a longitudinal investigation by Jackson, Pancer, Pratt, & Hunsberger, 2000. Students whose expectations were fearful reported more stress, depression, and poorer university adjustment than students with other types of expectations, particularly prepared.

In a study done) on 1st year students in India, it was seen that female college students have more adjustment problems in comparison to male college students and that there exists negative relationship between adjustment and academic achievement among college students. (Sangeeta & Chirag, 2012).

Another study comparing the emotional maturity and college adjustment processes between first and final year female students indicated that the first year undergraduate students were less emotionally mature, and had difficulty in adjusting emotionally and socially to the changing demands of the environment and faced more academic difficulty as compared to final year students. The final year students were more socially adjusted and more integrated into the social fabric of the college. (Sharma, 2010)

A study in Ethiopia concluded that social interaction and establishing quality relationship were the most challenging tasks for the freshman students in campus. Freshman students residential background does not make any difference in the level of adjustment problem they may face in campus. It also indicated that freshman students’ adjustment difficulties do not vary for the reason that they were urban or rural dweller before moving to university campus (Jemal, 2012)

STATUS OF COLLEGE COUNSELLING IN INDIA

In India the counselling needs have emerged in a significant social change in circumstances. Economic reform the past decade has increased the pace of these changes and has transformed lifestyles. Counselling services are poorly defined and now someone with little or no training in this discipline may offer its services. Counselling services are largely referred to western approaches of psychology although they are widely criticized as not being appropriate to the Indian cultural context.

During the past few decades, attempts have been made to set up counselling centres at various universities. Patna University in 1945 is said to be the first university to pay attention

to the problems faced by its students, which lead to the establishment of the Department of Psychological Research and Services, counselling of college students being one of the major projects. In 1965-66, Delhi University unofficially started a programme of counselling in the Department of Psychology.

With more than 110 universities in the country, one can see that very few of them have any semblance of counselling programs. The Student Advisory Bureaux under the Ministry of Education and the Univeristy Employment Service are imparting educational and vocational information and guidance to students respectively. However, both of these work under different deans at the same university, leading to a lack of central direction and co-ordination, resulting in a lot of duplication of effort and wastage of resources.

The career advising units in colleges too are existing in name only. They have not made their presence felt in the institutions due to a lack of sense of commitment in the liaison officers, and patronage and support on the part of administration on the one hand and lack of latest occupational formation material on the other. The integrated programme of guidance composed of vocational, educational and other important and desirable aspects of guidance and counselling for dealing with emotional and psychological problems of students, has not been introduced anywhere.

Of late, there has been an emphasis on student welfare services. Unfortunately, guidance and counselling do not occupy an important place in these services. Some universities have created the post of a student counsellor. A few serious minded counsellors are doing useful work, but their number is very small. Most of these counsellors are not well qualified. It has also been observed that these counsellors are busy with odd jobs assigned to them.

So far we have not taken any steps to train counsellors for working in universities-and colleges. The Education Commission had also recommended that some competent university should take up the ‘ task of training the counsellors but unfortunately, no universality has felt so far the urgency of starting a training programme at the post-graduate level because there is no immediate plan before the universities to introduce counselling service as one of the major programmes under student services.

There is an unfortunate absence of national policy, clear-cut, straight-forward and viable on guidance and counselling. There is lack of direction and coordination; supervision and planning, administrative support and finances. That an urgent case for the introduction of this service exists was emphasised by the Indian Education Commission (1964-66) and was convincingly brought to light by an empirical study several years ago by the All lndia Educational and Vocational Guidance Association.

Time is ripe that in the wake of innumerable student needs and problems and an urgent need to channelize the national talent, that at clear-cut policy regarding the introduction of this essential service in our colleges and universities.

(Kocchar, 2010)

METHOD

The Present Study

The present study aims to assess and evaluate the level of adjustment to college experienced by freshman and senior female college students to under the need of counselling requirements and services at the college level. The area of research was chosen because there is insufficient amount of research available in this area, specifically in the Indian context. The difference in adjustment to college and difference in perceived counselling needs in freshmen students and senior students were considered, based on which focus areas of problems were analysed and interventions suggested.

The study was conducted on a total of 74 female students of University of Delhi, with an equal number of freshman and senior students. The tools used was the College Adjustment Scale by Anton and Reed, and a self-constructed, semi-structured survey focusing on counselling needs.

Tools Used 1. Consent form

2. The College Adjustment Scale by Reed and Anton is an inventory used mainly as a screening tool by professionals who provide counselling services to college students to understand the problem areas frequently faced by college students. This 108-item rating scale is designed to identify college students who are experiencing psychological and adjustment problems, based on 9 areas: Anxiety, Depression, Suicidal Ideation, Substance Abuse, Self-Esteem Problems, Interpersonal Problems, Family Problems, Academic Problems, and Career Problems

3. Survey: the survey used is a self-constructed, semi-structured interview based around the awareness of, availability of, perceived needs of and barriers to counselling.

Sample The sample consisted on female college students studying at the University of Delhi. The individual data was collected on 2 subjects, one in the first year and one in the final year of undergraduate study. This data was then pooled together to arrive at a total sample of 80 students, with equal numbers from the first and final year. The final analysis was done on individual data as well as group data collected by the class.

Preliminaries Subject 1 Name: Chhavi Age: 18 Year of Study: First

Subject 2 Name: Shreya Age: 20 Year of Study: Third

PROCEDUREThe physical location of the interview was decided upon, keeping in mind that it should be properly illuminated, with quiet clutter, an absence of clutter and other distractions. A comfortable chair and desk for the Subject was arranged in a L-shape to comfortably take the scale and survey. The client was then called in, and casual conversation to form rapport ensued. The consent form with formal instructions was given to the client and the details of both the CAS and the survey, along with the aim of the study was explained to her.

After the administration of the CAS, the Subject was then interviewed on the basis of the survey. It made sure that the researcher’s responses were non-intrusive and non-judgemental and that the client was made to feel secure via verbal and non-verbal gestures.

The session ended with the researcher thanking the Subject for their time and participation. It

was ensured that the client did not harbour any negative feelings towards the experience and

any apprehensions and questions she had were adequately addressed.

DATA

1. Individual Data

a. CAS and profile of individual Subjects

Area AN DP SI SA SE IP FP AP CP

Subject A 23 20 12 12 19 26 20 25 29

Subject B 31 35 35 24 36 29 23 30 36

b. Survey Forms of Subjects attached

2. Pooled Dataa) Mean CAS scores for freshers (rounded off)

Area AN DP SI SA SE IP FP AP CP

Freshmen 23 22 19 17 27 24 22 26 26

Seniors 25 23 20 16 27 25 20 25 25

Combined 24 22 19 17 27 24 22 26 26

Graphical Representation of difference in mean scores of freshmen and senior students

AN DP SI SA SE IP FP AP CP0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Comparison Between Mean Scores of Freshmen and Senior Students

FreshmenSeniors

Scale

Scor

es

b) Group Analysis of Survey Responses

1. Availability of services in college/university

Subjects ResponseYes No Do not know

Freshers (37) 12 13 12Seniors (37) 10 16 11Combined (74) 22 29 23

2. Perceived need, if no counselling service available

Subjects ResponseYes No Not sure

Freshers (37) 19 3 3Seniors(37) 21 4 2Combined (74) 40 7 5

3. Reasons for need of Counselling services

Reasons SubjectsFreshers Seniors Combined

Career & professional concerns(including Career guidance,

7 11 18

counselling& professional issues)Mental health related concerns(Depression, Anxiety, Addiction)

2 4 6

Stress & Adjustment issues(Adjustment problems, Changes in life, stress, adapting & coping with changes in life)

7 9 16

Interpersonal difficulties(Relationship problems- family & friends &Social concerns)

6 3 9

Problem solving(Sorting disputes & problem solving)

2 2 4

Value education(Inculcating good values)

1 0 1

Academic concerns(Academic problems & guidance)

3 1 4

Intrapersonal concerns( Personality, Body image concerns, emotional issues)

3 2 5

Miscellaneous(Guidance & Other pressures)

3 0 3

4. Perceived barriers in approaching counsellor

S.No.

Reasons SubjectsFreshers

(37)Seniors (37) Combined

(74)1. Lack of counselling services in

close proximity20 21 41

2. Unaware about counselling services being provided

25 22 47

3. Fear of being judged 27 26 534. Negative attitude of family &

friends towards counselling15 20 35

5. High fee charged by counsellor 26 17 436. Lack of clarity about role of

counsellor16 11 27

7. Preference for help from family, friends & teachers

14 20 34

8. Unsatisfactory previous experience 8 6 14

with counselling9. Any other 1 (being

shy)1 (confidentiality being compromised)

2

5. Areas of Concern to be addressed by College Counselling Services

S.No.

Areas of Concern SubjectsFreshers

(37)Seniors

(37)Combined

(74)1. Adjustment problems 30 22 522. Cultural differences 13 14 273. Academic issues 24 22 464. Career guidance 2 34 365. Issues with classmates 17 10 276. Issues with teachers 8 17 257. Relationship issues 19 19 388. Personality and self esteem issues 29 22 519. Depression & Anxiety 28 23 5110. Addiction 15 16 3111. Issues related to sex 14 15 2912. Self harming behavior 13 15 2813. Family issues 18 20 3814. Health issues 7 11 1815. Any other….. 1 (stress-

related issues)

1 (coping issues)

2

INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION

This study seeks to examine and compare the adjustment level and counselling needs in college students, both freshmen and senior. With the help of the CAS and a survey on counselling needs, areas of concern and problems were narrowed down and possible interventions and recommendations suggested. The data was first interpreted on an individual basis for both the subjects, taking into account both the answers on their survey and the CAS scores. Both these subject’s results were then compared to each other. The total data of the entire class was then pooled together and the mean CAS scores of freshmen and senior students were compared. Common themes were taken from the combined survey responses and analysed, together as well as separately for the freshmen and senior students.

Most of Subject A’s scores, who is a freshman student, fall with the moderate range and the general profile is one of good adjustment to college life. The subject scored a raw score of 12 on both the scales of suicidal ideation (SI) and substance abuse (SA), along with a 19 on self-esteem problems (SE). The subject experienced moderate levels of anxiety and depression, as seen by her score for anxiety (AN) being 23 and depression (DP) being 20, which can be attributed to everyday stresses and experiences. The subject also seems to achieved successful emotional separation from her family, as indicated by her score of 20 on (FP). A score of 25 on the scale of Academic Problems (AP) indicates that the subject experiences a moderate to low level of difficulties in the academic area, which can be understood when taken into context of today’s cut-throat world. The subject’s moderately high score in interpersonal problems (IP) indicates that she may have some difficulty in relating to others and an excessive yet distrustful dependence on them. The major area of concern for the subject however is that of her career (CP), where her score of 29 falls in the high category. It is possible that leaving school and entering college might have heightened the anxiety regarding making decisions related to career, a point highlighted by her survey response where she stated career guidance as one of the important services that should be offered at the college level. Studies have indicated that most first-year students are most likely making uninformed choices when determining a major, as they are still in the process of understanding their own identity and, having lived a majority of their lives under someone else’s guidance, they may not yet be able to come to legitimate conclusions about themselves. 

Subject B, who is a final year student in college, showed major signs of poor adjustment to college. Most of her scores fall in the high to very high category, indicating that she experiences severe difficulties in most of the areas in her life, and requires counselling attention. Her survey responses indicate that while she is aware of counselling services around her but factors like monetary access fear of judgement and lack of perceived privacy act as barriers to accessing and making use of those resources. Particularly notable and significant are her scores on the scales of depression and suicidal ideation, which fall in the very high category, and require immediate attention and follow up. These can be linked to the elevated scores of self-esteem, which indicate that she is self-critical, and dissatisfied with her abilities, which may have led to high scores of depression and anxiety. A study by Joiner, Alfano and Metalsky (1992) also shows that college students with low self-esteem often face rejection or alienation by their close peers, which can also explain the high score in the scale of interpersonal problems as the subject might feel highly dependent and increasingly vulnerable. The subject has good relations with her family and has a stable family life. Despite her moderate substance abuse, the subject does not experience any major academic problems, she is facing a great deal of anxiety in making career decisions, exacerbated by the fact that she is in her final year and the impending immediate consequences of her choices.

A look at both the scores of subject A and B Show that while the freshman student shows good level of adjustment to college life, the senior student is experiencing sever maladjustment and psychological troubles in her college life. Both the subjects are aware of what counselling is and about its availability in their vicinity but do not deem them as enough

and believe more efforts should be taken. While both the subjects cite career guidance as one of the most important services that should be offered, Subject B also stresses upon the importance of counselling being provided for adjustment issues, issues related to sex, and personality issues.

A look at the combined data of freshmen and final year students reveal that there is no significant difference in the issues experienced by these two groups. Self-esteem problems reveal the highest scores, signifying the importance of addressing this issue pervasively. A study by Nordstrom et all in 2014 found that self-esteem mediated relations between social anxiety and academic, social, and institutional adjustment. College is also seen as a place of breaking away from the nest and family and getting into the world on your own. At the same time, for students who have spent their life having their life controlled by their parents, the free world of college can seem terrifying and difficult to navigate and these students may find themselves incapable of navigating the world on their own, which may lead to doubts about their self-efficacy and affect their self-esteem. A study by Bun, Mueller et all in 1988 found that authoritarianism and authoritativeness of the mother and the father were found to correlate significantly with self-esteem; authoritarianism was inversely related to self-esteem while authoritativeness was directly related to self-esteem. 

Interpersonal problems were also an area of concern, which can be explained by the sudden lack of parental support and other major upheavals that come attached with the transition from school to college. Entering and being in college requires youths to face multiple transitions, including changes in their living arrangements, academic environments, and friendship networks, while adapting to greater independence and responsibility in their personal and academic lives. Although many successfully make this transition to college, others experience long-term emotional maladjustment and depression along with a host of other issues.

A study in 2003 by Crocker and Luhtanen revealed that low self-esteem predicted social problems, and that contingencies of self-worth uniquely contribute to academic and financial difficulties experienced by college freshmen beyond. Low self-esteem, on the other hand, appears to uniquely contribute to later social difficulties. Another significant area of concern was the level of anxiety experienced both by freshman and final year college students. Anxiety faced by the subjects can be seen in relation to the other scales in CAS, where poor self-esteem, academic problems, substance abuse issues and career problems.

The results of CAS indicate that there is a dire need for good, directional and accessible counselling services at the college level. Out of 74 respondents in the survey, 29 stated that there are no counselling services in their college, while 23 said that they were not aware of any such service being offered. Out of those who said that they were not aware or that there were no counselling services available, the majority said that there is a major need for such services to be provided. The topmost reason for the perceived need for counselling was career and professional concerns, a fact supported by the high levels of career problems faced by unanimously by both freshman and final year college students as seen in the CP scores in the College Adjustment Scale. For senior students especially, career guidance was the most important area that should be addressed by college counselling services. Stress and adjustment issues came a close second, with again both freshmen and final year students citing changes in life caused by transition from school to college and the impending transition from college to outside world as major stressors. A study by Ross in 1999 examined the major sources of stress in college students and found that interpersonal, intrapersonal, academic and environmental issues were the major causes. For freshman students, adjustment to college problem was the topmost issue that should be addressed to help them ease into college life. Majority of the subjects also cited depression and anxiety related issues, along with personality and self-esteem issues as concerns that should be addressed by college counselling services.

It is clear that there is a need for counselling services in the Indian college system. However, even when present, these services are usually not availed by those who need them. There are a majority of reasons for this. The results of the survey indicate that the stigma attached with visiting a counsellor is the biggest barrier in approaching a counsellor, with both freshman and senior students being equally afraid of being judged, followed by the high fee charged by the counsellor. Negative attitutes towards counselling held by friends and family also had an effect on students reaching out to counsellors. A study by Sheikh and Furman in 2000 sought

to see relationship between culture beliefs about the causes of mental distress and attitudes associated with seeking professional help for psychological problems and concluded that culturally determined causal beliefs of mental distress contribute to attitudes towards seeking professional help for psychological problems for Asians. Another study by Crisp at all in 2000 determined that the stigma that comes attached with counselling leaves the clients in a vulnerable position leaving them prone to social isolation, distress and difficulties in general functioning. Vogel, Wade and Hackler in 2007 examined the mediating effects of the self-stigma associated with seeking counseling and attitudes toward seeking counseling on the link between perceived public stigma and willingness to seek counseling for psychological and interpersonal concerns.

CONCLUSION

While both freshman and final year college students on an average presented moderate levels of adjustment to college, the areas of self-esteem, career guidance, and anxiety were all citied as sources of distress and areas where there is a need for counselling services. While most students were aware of and had counselling services available nearby, the stigmas attached to it like judgement, negative attitudes and financial unviability acted as barriers to accessing it.

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