An Exploratory Study of Undergraduate Students' Referral Preferences

We surveyed undergraduate college students from the psychology subject pool (N = 73) about where they would refer a depressed friend for help. Students from this sample were most likely to refer friends to the counseling center followed by social support options. Students were comparatively least likely to refer to other professionals, indicating that these students view the counseling center as their primary access point for mental health care. Implications of these findings for counseling centers include the continued importance of on-campus care, outreach geared at generating appropriate referrals from social support, fostering relationships with students' parents, and providing access to psychiatric care.