Social Support as a Correlate of Mental Health Status of Undergraduate Students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Osun State

This study investigated the mental health status of the undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and examined the types of social support experienced by undergraduate students. It also investigated the relationship between social support and mental health status of the undergraduate students. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population for the study consisted of 26,382 undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo Universities in Ile-Ife. The sample comprised 900 undergraduate students selected using a multistage sampling technique. Six faculties were selected from the 13 faculties in the University using simple random sampling technique. A total of 150 students was selected from the three departments using systematic random sampling technique. Two instruments, titled Mental Health Status Scale (MHSS), Social Support Scale (SSS) were used to elicit information from the respondents. Percentages, Frequency counts and Point Biserial Correlation were employed to analyze the data. The results showed that 14.9%, 68.6% and 16.4% of undergraduates of Obafemi Awolowo Universities, Ile-Ife demonstrated low, moderate and high mental health status respectively. The results also showed that family and friends support were the most common types of social support experienced by undergraduates with 96.1% and 71.4% respectively. Finally, the results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between social support and mental health status (N=845, rpb= 0.327, p< 0.05). It was concluded that social support was a good correlate of mental health status among undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo Universities, Ile-Ife.