Keywords

university counseling, college mental health, college adjustment scales

Abstract

Greater numbers of students with increasingly serious psychological problems are served each year by college counseling centers. This fact, coupled with the threat of dwindling resources, underscores the need to improve evaluation procedures and accountability for counseling center services. This includes the identification of an appropriate assessment device, supported by adequate psychometric data, that addresses the variety of problems faced by college students. The College Adjustment Scales (CAS; Anton & Reed, 1991) is a multidimensional inventory designed specifically for use in college and university counseling centers. It consists of 108 items that yield scores on nine scales: Anxiety, Depression, Suicidal Ideation, Substance Abuse, Self-Esteem, Interpersonal Problems, Family Problems, Academic Problems, and Career Problems. The authors report a high degree of internal consistency for the CAS scales, ranging from .80 to .92.