Our findings over the three years have consistently shown that there is a demonstrable difference between different subgroups of the student community and their mental health scores.

Gender, Ethnicity and Disability

Students with disabilities and long-term illness report the worst living experience, demonstrating some of the lowest MHI-5 scores in the survey at 46.2. Gender non-confirming students score the lowest at 45.4. Creating connections and communities to facilitate a sense of belonging and working with expert organisations to better support non-traditional students must be a central objective for operators.

Male respondents score 61.1, going over 60 MHI5 threshold, while women score 56.7. While numerical data doesn’t show evidence why, we found from testimonials that safety is a major concern for women that impacts their mental health.

Little difference is noted across ethnicity, with Caucasian students scoring slightly more. Caucasian, male, cis-gendered students have among highest MHI5 scores at 62.3

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Note: The total percentages to do always add to a 100% as those who chose not to respond to the above questions have been excluded.

We also see that female students are unhappier than male students (who collectively represent the only group over the MHI5 threshold). Reports of loneliness are higher among women. There are no indications from the SLM data that women are unhappier due to safety or security reasons.

Study level and student residence status

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When it comes to undergraduate students, we found that specifically, 1st years (32% of the survey respondents) report among the lowest comparatively score by year and level of study at 57. This is partly due to the change many experiences shifting from schooling to university. We noticed a marginal but steady increase in MHI5 scores from students in their 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and/or final year of study.

One of the key reasons behind the lower MHI5 score of domestic students when compared to internationals is the aspect of financial constraints.

We note here that of all exchange students who took the SLM survey, 90% are living in PBSA or university halls. There wellbeing scores are the highest and the only one which crosses the 60 threshold for okay mental health.  However, other research shows that exchange students struggle a lot more with finding good accommodation (ESN report 2023) due to their short-term requirements.

We asked the respondents what the biggest stressors in three areas (university, social and academic performance) of their life are, these were our findings:

Top stress Factors in Student’s life

Stressors

MHI-5 score of affected respondents

MHI-5 score of unaffected respondents

% of users affected

Difference in MHI-5 between affected and non affected users

Homesickness

54.48

59.66

30%

-5.18

Meeting people and making friends

51.71

60.61

28%

-8.90

Getting on with the people I live with

51.36

59.40

16%

-8.03

Relationships (family, friends, love and sex, professional relationships)

51.13

60.91

29%

-9.78

Loneliness

49.89

63.69

41%

-13.81

Discrimination

47.28

58.87

7%

-11.60

Bullying

47.02

58.39

3%

-11.37

None of the above

68.21

54.28

27%

13.93

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41% of students said that their happiness and living have been negatively impacted by loneliness. Conversely, those not experiencing loneliness report the best living experience in the survey. The mental health score difference of 14 points between those who are lonely vs not is also the largest in the survey

Similarly, and unsurprisingly, those impacted by bullying/discrimination are much unhappier than those who are not. SLM data shows that loneliness, bullying and discrimination can have devastating effect on a student’s living experience. Creating tolerant communities, and access to right protocols and reporting mechanisms that allow for a sense of safety, and belonging for all students will help minimise issues.

Around 30% of students are struggling with relationships (including making new friends). This are all understandable in the context of going to university to a new place, but these are ongoing major pressures which contribute to the happiness and living experience in general. Knowing where to turn for support is a challenge for many students, and universities and operators can play a critical role by actively guiding and connecting students to the right resources, thereby significantly improving their living experience.