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If you ask a college grad what words come to mind when they think of their college experience, they’ll likely be mostly positive. “Fun,” “enlightening,” and “important” will all come up with great frequency. But another common aspect of the college experience, shared by virtually everyone who participates, isn’t positive at all: stress. Stress is as common a feature of contemporary college life as football games or beer, and though most of us accept it as part of the package, recent research suggests that we had better take a second look.
Last year, for example, an annual national survey found that our current class of college freshmen has the worst emotional health of any in the survey’s 25 years of existence. Only half of freshman believe their emotional health is ‘above average,’ a 20 percent drop from the rate in 1985. It also appears that the emotional turbulence caused by school stress takes a greater toll on women than on men, and that this disparity reveals itself as early as senior year of high school.
But why all the stress, and why now? The same factors are cited time and time again: the emotional burden of a drastically altered lifestyle when transitioning to college, and the academic and social pressure that perseveres all 4, or more, years. Even online-only students, who don’t make the physical commute to a campus, undergo this stressful life change. Though it’s unclear why students today are the most stressed in history, it is clear how this is affecting them: health and academic achievement both plunge under stressful conditions. Stress is the number one cause of academic disruption for students, and as much as 90% of doctor visits nationwide are related to stress-based symptoms.
Stress has always been a part of the college experience, but now is perhaps the first time that its severity has become newsworthy. This infographic puts all the cards on the table, and includes some very useful tips for students about how to manage. Hang in there, kids.
