Carter Gale
College Student Development
INTRODUCTION
During college, emerging adults can face many new experiences-- some good, some bad. However, for many students, these experiences prove to be quite stressful. Today, with the increased pressure to perform being placed on students, anxiety is an ever-growing problem for today’s emerging adults that has effects lasting into later life. Anxiety during college can cause lower performance in academics, social isolation, risk to health, and a general degradation in one’s well-being that can last well into adulthood. It is important to understand the effects anxiety have on college students because, as stated by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America: anxiety affects around 18.1% of
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However, in individuals with social anxiety, this can be difficult to handle. In their study, Brook and Willoughby (2015) wanted to find out how social anxiety affects academic success in college students across multiple years. In order to achieve this, 942 Canadian students with a mean age of 19 were studied across three years. What Brook and Willoughby (2015) found is that individuals with above-normal amounts of social anxiety were negatively associated with academic achievement. Brook and Willoughby (2015) deduced that the factors of social anxiety that caused academic troubles were because of an anxious individual’s tendency to not interact with peers or professors in fear that their opinions would not be valued. The inability to ask for clarification on directions, get help on a homework problem, or work efficiently in a group can quickly cause a university student’s grades to drop significantly. With the anxiety of social situations causing a drop in academic performance, and academic performance causing anxiety, it becomes a vicious cycle that over time can even manifest …show more content…
It has been proven through many studies, as indicated in the research described above, that college students are at a higher risk of developing anxiety. More specifically, due to the nature of college life, coupled with the pressures to succeed, students have difficulty avoiding the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional effects of anxiety. The interactions between these four domains of development is a complex cycle of small problems being amplified into seemingly larger ones that reduce a person’s ability to easily manage day-to-day life. This In this complex cycle, understanding what triggers anxiety, ways to control anxiety, and ways to treat anxiety are very important in a student’s ability to be more successful and to be healthier in the years after college. As someone currently struggling with anxiety, this essay gave me knowledge about specifically how anxiety is impacting me and allowed me to take a step back and analyze my own feelings. In conclusion, anxiety in college students is a serious and prevalent disease that can have lasting, negative effects on one’s well-being for many
Glenn Altschuler addresses the difficulties and conundrums associated with entering college in his article “Adapting to College Life in an Era of Heightened Stress” He presents the experience of Kate Wilkinson and her feeling of unpreparedness for college. Glenn brings together statistical evidence to show how students are more stressed today than any time in the past. Glenn presents many solutions to decrease stress and uses Henry David Thoreau’s short story “Walden” as a basis of how stressed students should come back to a state of relaxation by meditating on what really matters in life.
Students entering college for the first time become concerned with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These students are now responsible for how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands of college?
Each year, thousands upon thousands of new high school graduates enter college to begin one of the most exciting chapters of their lives. This is a time where young people get to move away from home, learn valuable life skills, meet interesting new people, and pursue the career of their dreams. While all of this may sound like nothing but positivity, there’s a dismal side to all of this that many individuals are not aware of. Out of all of the problems that college students face, social anxiety is an issue that has persisted throughout the years, and has not begun to improve. According to research out of The University of Plymouth and The University of the West of England, 10% of all university students surveyed said they experienced significant anxiety (Weaver,
Many students face at least one important test in their life. And if that particular student is one of the many that experience test anxiety, this can affect the students test scores. Test anxiety can be caused by the lack of preparation by the student, but it could be caused by the fear of failure as well. Students have so much resting on college and their ability to do well, such as a good paying job to be able to support themselves. Test anxiety causes nausea, light-headedness, and it could even cause the student to have a panic attack. Students that have severe test anxiety do not have a fair advantage (ADAA,
According to an article by Josephine Marcotty in Minneapolis’ Star Tribune from April 10, college students lead “hyper-enriched lives,” said Greg Kneser, dean of students at St. Olaf College. That’s what makes this generation of students distinct from its predecessors, he said. That is why more students who cannot cope with these feelings end up at college counseling centers with “increasingly serious mental-health problems.” 15 to 20 percent of college students nationally were diagnosed with depression. The second most common diagnosis was severe anxiety. According to the article, it is not unusual for mental-health issues to become apparent during a student’s college years.
4 Giancola, J.K., Grawitch, M.J., and Borchert, D. (2009). Dealing with the stress of college: A
Many first year college students face problems as they enter a new educational environment that is very different than that of high school. However, the common problem is that many first year students become stressed. For many students, college is supposed to be the most fun time of their life; however, their fun can be restricted if it is limited by stress and other mental illnesses. According to the National Health Ministries (2006), stress is caused by “greater academic demands,” the feeling of being independent from family, “financial responsibility,” homesickness, being exposed to meeting new people, peer pressure, “awareness of one’s own sexual identity,” and the abuse of drugs and alcohol (p. 2). However, the causes to first year students’ stress mainly include academic demand, parents, finance, and peer pressure.
Anyone can suffer from social anxiety, however, adolescents are more prone to suffer from social anxiety because it's a transitional period. It’s a time of judgment, and it’s an awkward time where they would want to be socially accepted by their peers. The fear of not being accepted can trigger a state of anxiety. I’m inquiring about whether involvement in social activities could reduce the high incidence of social anxiety among adolescents. Those that suffer from social anxiety can be subjected to other disorder such as “depressive, substance use and other anxiety disorders” (Mehtalia, Vankar, 2004). Social anxiety can be caused by an experience that has tainted their view of social events. It can also be caused by lack of experience at social events. Many adolescents have struggled and are struggling with social anxiety. This state of unease has many consequences as stated by Mehtalia & Vankar “Adolescents with SAD had more associated difficulties in coping with studies.”
Studies have shown that many college students are not able to handle the stress while in school, which hinders the ability for the brain to act in a normal way (Shahrokh and Hales, 2003). If a person is unable to deal with the stress that one is being faced with, it will have negative consequences in terms of causing several psychological disorders (Canby et al., 2014). Entering post-secondary education is a completely new environment for students, as it can be tough for many to adjust to the new surroundings. There are many factors that cause stress when students enter college, as it can include having the ability to deal with lower marks (Struthers et al., 2000) and having to create a new social life. Once and if a social life is established, it can cause more stress among students because it can lead into peer pressure that results in risky behavior. In particular, peer pressure can cause alcoholism or drug abuse (Seiffge-Krenke, 1990) or it can also cause unprotected sex. Not only does stress revolve around peer-pressure, but it can also be caused by headaches and lack of energy. If a student is constantly staying up late to finish assignments or to study, it can cause headaches from the lack of sleep; thus causing stress. With all the given factors, it can be hard to overcome these external factors which can ultimately lead to stress among
If one were to ask an adult about their college experience it is likely than the majority will say it was the best time of their life. They had fun, enjoyed the full college experience, etc. If you ask students currently in college to describe their experience, it may still be the best time of their life but it will likely also be described as stressful and filled with a variety of pressures. The average college student will likely change his/her major at least once, seek for clubs or fraternities/sororities to fit in with, work to have some spending money or to pay their way through school, deal with being away from home for extended periods of time for the first time, and other things that will increase anxiety levels. So what is a major cause initially?
Students with academic anxiety are self-engrossed and lead to their own academic demise. Test anxiety does not only affect a student's performance on a test, but Huberty (2009) asserts that test anxiety over time tends to contribute to more common underachievement. He describes the consequences of constant test anxiety including lowered self-esteem, reduced effort, and loss of desire to complete school tasks. Students who have academic anxiety also have a higher risk of developing depression, and often feel deprived of confidence (Cunningham, 2008). Thus, academic anxiety can become extreme, and have negative effects on students’ well-being.
College students face strenuous workloads daily, causing them to feel more pressure about their schoolwork and academics and resulting in anxiousness. About 50% of college students today are suffering from depression, a larger number than most believe, but not all reveal that they have a depressive issue (Deroma, Leach, Leverett 325). Researchers suggest that academic stress plays a big role in a college student’s depression. Most people know that college is a lot harder than high school ...
Going to college can be an exciting new experience that can challenge a person more than he or she thought was possible. Attending college, especially for the first time, can be a very stressful time in a person’s life. Some of the stress that is associated with attending college are living in a new place, having to meet new people, having new responsibilities, and of course the homework that goes along with taking classes. If a person does not learn to cope with these stressors in a healthy way, that person may become very overwhelmed and possibly depressed (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010) .To keep one’s body and mind safe from the overexposure of stress, they can practice the following techniques.
I can relate to Melanie’s first impression of college being unfamiliar, scary and life changing in college fear factor. When I started my first semester it was a lot different than what I was used to going from a one on one studying experience back to a class room full of students. Melanie states, “Individuals well outside the ‘traditional’ college age range also spoke of the stress of assuming the responsibilities of college” (24). Melanie’s point is that students of all ages experience some anxiety when first attending
Academic stress can take complete control over the student enduring it. Researchers say that the most common form of anxiety causing academic stress is achievement anxiety. This type of anxiety is likely to occur when a student has a fear of failure in an academic related situation. However a report conducted in 2000, Research in Higher Education” showed that academic stress and achievement anxiety can have a positive effect on a students grades. This is because students are aware of the fa...