University students of the late 1960s and 1970s have been included in a study of factors affecting their mental health and academic functioning in many countries and cultures. Social change and intergenerational conflict were seen to be almost inseparable as social, economic and political concerns involve both students and their countries. Results of studies at Dalhousie University, six British universities, and the University of Singapore are examined in light of the socioeconomic problems existing at the time. High unemployment of university graduates, a growing factor in developing and developed nations, is pointed to as a major stress during a university education in the late 1970s.