Psyche Machina

Clinical and sociodemographic predictors of AI use for mental health among college students

Journal of affective disorders, 2026

L4of 5
Design
Cross-sectional survey
Risk of bias
Some concerns
Sample
n = 675
AI type
General-purpose assistants
Outcomes
Help-seeking, Mood
Authors' conclusion
“Students with severe mental health symptoms and some marginalized groups are using unregulated AI tools at elevated rates. Findings underscore the need for research on AI safety for distressed individuals and policies accounting for heterogeneity in who uses these tools.”Quoted verbatim from the abstract.

Draft grade. Level and risk of bias were assigned by our agent and await expert review. How we grade

Read the paper →DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2026.122058