U.S. College freshmen rate emotional health at all-time low

By Caitlin Yilek, Staff Writer -- yilek12@up.edu

The emotional health of college freshmen has dropped to an all-time low, according to the University of California Los Angeles' annual survey of freshmen at four-year colleges and universities.

In the survey, "The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010," the number of students who rated their emotional health as "below average" increased.

Only 52 percent of students rated their emotional health as "above average," a decline of 12 percentage points since 1985, when self-ratings of emotional health were first measured.

The results of the survey are based on the responses of 200,000 incoming full-time students at four-year colleges.

According to the survey, female students are more likely to have a negative view of their emotional health than male students. Women were also more likely to feel overwhelmed.

"This has a lot to do with the pressures women feel to be all and do all," Paul Myers, director of the University Health Center, said.

Myers also sees other societal expectations as factors.

"More women are honest and ready to pursue health care and get help than men who are socialized to take care of themselves," he said, adding that males tend to abuse alcohol at higher rates, get into trouble and engage in riskier behavior when they do not pursue health care.

A UP junior called "Emma" for purposes of this article says she has a positive outlook on her emotional health, but it has been a long journey to feel that way.

"I've had anxiety and depression since I was 13, so it's been a battle for a large part of my education," Emma said. "While stress can help motivate you to be a good student, it can also become consuming and unhealthy."

At the start of her freshman year, Emma was afraid of not fitting in, the difficulty of her classes and the cost of tuition.

Emma's stress due to the cost of tuition is a common one.

According to the study, the economy is putting added pressure on students. The proportion of students taking out loans to pay for college remains high. In the past five years, the number of UP undergraduate students taking out student loans has varied between 80 percent and 87 percent.

"Students might feel pressure to succeed because so much is being sacrificed (financially) by their families," Myers said.

According to Emma, her grades have suffered because she has made work a priority above school in order to pay for her education.

"The economy plays a pretty large role in my academic life," Emma said. "Balancing class and work can be real challenging. It definitely causes me a lot of stress and anxiety, which has cost me academically (in the past)."

Though students' emotional health declined in 2010, their drive to achieve and their academic abilities are trending upward. Seventy-one percent of students rated their academic abilities as "above average," and nearly 76 percent rated their drive to achieve in the same terms.

"I would call myself a driven person," Emma said. "I have always worked hard to get where I want to go in life and stress has helped me push myself."

However, there have also been times when her stress was distracting to the point of being debilitating, Emma said.

Myers recommends healthy lifestyle choices and planning to avoid that kind of anguish.

"Proactive time management is the most powerful stress intervention," Myers said.

Adequate sleep, nutrition, exercise, avoiding substance abuse, developing a faith life and building supporting relationships offer the best protection from depression and stress, Myers adds.

Because freshman year is stressful for many students, many introduction classes at UP are required to give midterm grades, allowing them to take stock and plan accordingly.

"First year students generally come in one of two extremes – either they are way too stressed out, or they aren't taking things seriously enough," Jeremy Tanzer, an adjunct instructor of sociology, said.

He recommends following class syllabi to help students pace themselves.

"If you have a good syllabus, you don't need to wonder what is happening; you can plan ahead," Tanzer said.

The Shepard Freshman Resource Center works closely with freshmen having difficulty adjusting to college life, oversees counseling and academic advising and helps students explore their academic interests.

Last year, the Shepard Freshman Resource Center expanded its staff.

"The size of the freshman class has increased by 200 students since 2001," Brenda Greiner, the director of the Shepard Freshman Resource Center, said. "Last semester we met with 400 students, whereas in previous years we could only see 200."

According to Greiner, the Shepard Freshman Resource Center can connect students with the resources necessary to help them succeed academically and otherwise.

"I want freshmen to know that struggling might feel like the most foreign thing they've ever felt," Greiner said. "(We have) all these resources on campus because we know students struggle. We are here to help them."

Zach Steinkamp, a resident assistant, deals with stressed-out students as part of his RA responsibilities. He believes illnesses, death and personal and family issues are the biggest stressors besides school in his residents' lives.

According to Steinkamp, RAs are trained to communicate with their residents on a regular basis. The RAs receive training on active listening.

"We try not to dig into the residents' personal lives, but we try to communicate with them enough so that if something is wrong it would come up organically," Steinkamp said.

Peer health educators offer programs about stress relief.

"In December, we taught students how to de-stress using yoga," Tera Jannusch, a senior and peer health educator, said. "Students found it useful during finals week and it definitely made an impact on stress."

During the event, students listened to calming music, drank tea and practiced stretching and deep breathing.

"We are interested in hosting a "de-stress with pets" event in coming semesters," junior Beth Krautscheid, a peer health educator, said.

The peer health educators are currently planning a fitness event that will also encourage de-stressing.

Every semester right before finals, the Office of Student Activities organizes activities for Stress Reduction Day. Last semester's activities included crafts, snacks, movies, therapy dogs and a llama.