Approximately 20 percent of Americans ages 19 to 25 have a personality disorder, according to a new study that explores mental disorders in young adults, the Associated Press reported. The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, also shows that fewer than 25 percent of young adults with mental problems are diagnosed and treated. These findings suggest that access to treatment and medical centers is limited for young adults with these disorders, which can include obsessive tendencies and anti-social behavior and potentially result in violent behavior, the Press reported. The study also compared the mental health of students and non-students, extensively interviewing more than 5,000 young adults between 2001 and 2002. Research showed that 8 percent were diagnosed with obsessive compulsive personality disorder in both categories, suggesting little difference in the distribution of personality disorders between the two groups.
Harvard University, which currently has the largest university endowment in the United States at $36.9 billion, is planning to sell $1.5 billion of its limited partnership holdings in leveraged buyout funds, Bloomberg reported. Analysts expect that this will be the first case in a trend of rich universities getting rid of stakes in private-equity funds, which have under-performed this year and stand to decline further in value, according to Bloomberg. Over the next year, investors in private-equity funds could sell as much as $100 billion of their holdings in the funds. Harvard currently has an estimated $4.5 billion invested in buyout funds.
"GradeFund," a new web site launched two weeks ago, allows students to find sponsors to fund their college education and already has 900 users, nearly a quarter of whom are registered as sponsors, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Students can use the site to make a profile and invite other people or corporations to make pledges or donations based on students' final term grades, according to the Chronicle. The site's founders, brothers Michael and Matthew Kopko, recent graduates from Harvard and Princeton Universities, respectively, are planning to add a job search function that will enable employers to view applicants' transcripts and base their search on subject-specific grades. The site aims to help students turn their grades into useful results, Michael Kopko told the Chronicle. Students have raised as much as $400 for each A they earn, Michael Kopko said.
