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Survey Paper | Psychology | Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2026 | Pages: 1557 - 1566 | India
Exploring College Students' Attitudes, Trust, Acceptance, and Perceived Effectiveness of AI-Based Mental Health Support
Abstract: Accessible psychological care is more important than ever due to the rising mental health problem among college students, which is fuelled by social demands, financial strain, and academic pressure. The purpose of this study was to investigate if attitudes, trust, acceptance, and perceived efficacy toward AI-based counselling vary by gender and academic level among college students. Using a descriptive and comparative quantitative research design, 350 college students from arts and science colleges in Coimbatore-178 male and 172 female students, 210 undergraduates and 140 postgraduates-were given a structured questionnaire that included four validated psychometric scales. The findings showed that students' views of all four dimensions-attitudes (M = 3.72), acceptance (M = 3.65), perceived efficacy (M = 3.55), and trust (M = 3.48)-were considerably favourable and well above the neutral midpoint (p <.001). Students who feel comfortable utilizing AI systems are far more willing to use them, as seen by the greatest association between trust and acceptance (r =.72, p <.01) among the four aspects. In terms of attitudes, acceptance, and perceived efficacy, male students were more enthusiastic than female students; nevertheless, both groups exhibited similar caution when it came to trust. In every aspect, postgraduate students had a higher positive opinion of AI counselling than undergraduates. These findings suggest that college students are genuinely open to AI-based mental health support, not as a replacement for human counselling, but as a meaningful, stigma-free, and always-available first step toward getting the help they need.
Keywords: AI - based counselling, mental health, technology acceptance, perceived effectiveness
How to Cite?: Dr. Saroj Sangeetha G, "Exploring College Students' Attitudes, Trust, Acceptance, and Perceived Effectiveness of AI-Based Mental Health Support", Volume 15 Issue 4, April 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 1557-1566, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26424120109, DOI: https://dx.dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26424120109