College Students and Anxiety

Anxiety and Learning Anxiety impacts roughly 18% of the population in one form or another. It is particularly troubling for students in higher academics. This study aims to investigate the question: What factors outside of the classroom increase anxiety in academic performance? This paper will provide an overview of anxiety, discuss how college students are affected by it, examine the factors that cause it, and look at how parents and educators can help those who suffer from it.

What is Anxiety? There are many different types of anxiety, but generally put anxiety refers to nervousness and a feeling of being overwhelmed by stress about something related to one’s life. There is social anxiety, panic disorder, fears and phobias, separation anxiety, and general anxiety disorder, which refers to a chronic case of anxiety that simply will not go away. The characteristics of anxiety include a feeling of apprehension, tension, restlessness, jumpiness, and negative thoughts—i.e., expectations of the worst outcome.

Those who suffer from anxiety may feel cut off from others, may experience difficulty communicating what they are going through, may be unable to focus on the tasks at hand, and may have difficulty catching their breath or getting themselves under control during an anxiety attack. They can have headaches, upset stomach, quickened pulse, tremors, insomnia and fatigue. Anxiety can be caused by one’s environment or it may be biological (NAMI).

How Working Causes Anxiety in College Students College students already have a lot on their plate because they are studying to get good grades. If one throws working a job into that mix, the student can quickly become overwhelmed because there is less time to do what needs to be done for school. As Mounsey et al. indicate in their study, “working students displayed more anxiety than non-working counterparts and reported more stress and fewer buffers” (379).

The cause for this anxiety is that the students are trying to balance various concerns and responsibilities, and sometimes they overlap and put pressure on the student who finds himself troubled about how to manage time. Many students cannot avoid working because they have to pay their way through school and support themselves while students. This means that on top of going to school and setting aside time for studies, they also have to go to a job and set aside time for work.

Without an effective support or period of down time, students can buckle under the anxiety that ensues. The Percentage of College Students with Anxiety Mistler et al. at the American Psychological Association surveyed 400 US college counseling center directors about anxiety and depression and reported the following statistics in 2013: · Anxiety is the top presenting issue among college students, with 41.6% of students suffering from it · On average, 24.5% of clients were taking psychotropic medications. However, 19% of directors report the availability of psychiatric services on their campus is inadequate.

· Directors report that 21% of counseling center students present with severe mental health concerns, while another 40% present with mild mental health concerns. Clearly from these figures, anxiety is a major issue among college students and this report shows that something needs to be done to address it.

What Causes Anxiety? It is unknown what specific factors lead to anxiety among college students—i.e., whether anxiety is caused by the work load in college, stress or whether the weight of the work load and the effect of stress are outcomes of anxiety. There is clearly a lot of gray area for the cause and the effects.

Misra and McKean show that one explanation is that anxiety is caused generally speaking by a combination of academic stress, an inability to manage time effectively, and inadequate leisure time or leisure satisfaction (i.e., rest and relaxation).

Students need direction and guidance particularly in learning how to manage time effectively, how to deal with academic stress in positive ways rather than allow it to build up and do damage to the mind and body, and how to recreate in effective ways so as to be recharged when it is time to get back to work.

Are College Students Sleeping Enough? Sleep is one of the best ways to recharge one’s batteries, but many students are at risk of sleep disorder, according to the study by Gaultney. Gaultney showed that 27% of students surveyed in his study suffered from a sleep disorder. In other words, nearly a third of all students were not getting enough sleep. This is a major problem because sleep acts as a restorative. It allows students to rest for their minds and bodies.

So much pressure and stress can weigh down a student—without an adequate amount of sleep, students can be even worse off. How Relationships Impact School Work and Coping with Anxiety Can your relationship have an effect on school work and coping with your anxiety? Of course they can—relationships also require time and energy, and anything that requires time and energy for the student will cut into time that is needed for study and even just for coping with anxiety.

However, relationships can also be very helpful in coping with anxiety, particularly if one’s relationships are positive and provide support for the student. As Strayhorn shows, students need supportive relationships throughout their college career because these are what help the student to keep going, persevere, overcome obstacles and deal with stress. Relationships that are supportive give the student a way to deal with negative emotions and stress in positive ways.

Does College Cause Anxiety? As Reilly shows, a record number of college students are suffering from anxiety and college may be one of the causes: “As midterms begin in March, students’ workload intensifies, the wait time for treatment at counseling centers grows longer, and students who are still struggling to adjust to college consider not returning after the spring or summer breaks.” Students struggle from the high-pressure demands of the academic life, and they can easily become overwhelmed and burned out.

This is why schools need measures and programs in place to help students prevent anxiety—but few schools actually know what to do or how to prevent it. Some offer free online screenings that can let students know if they are suffering from anxiety or depression—but this puts the onus onto the student to find treatment. The Solution There are many solutions to preventing anxiety.

One of the most popular ones, however, is cognitive behavioral therapy (Seligman et al.), which helps students to identify negative thoughts and beliefs and any potential triggers that might bring them about. Once these are identified, the student can begin to adjust and make the necessary changes to his or her lifestyle so as to either avoid the triggers or implement methods for controlling for them. For example, a student may realize that a great deal of his negativity occurs during finals week because he never has time to study.

This would be the trigger, so avoiding or controlling for it would be something like planning ahead and beginning studies two weeks in advance. This would help the student to feel like he is not forced to cram and would help the student to avoid the problem of procrastination, since this is what leads to the anxiety in the first place. Social Media Social media may have a role in anxiety.

For example, Gritters shows that people using social media are constantly comparing themselves to others and as a result their self-esteem can seriously decline and they can suffer from high anxiety. This can be the case especially for students who are trying to earn a living by being YouTubers or Influencers on social media. The point that Gritters makes is that when it comes to social media the platforms serve to create a culture of constant comparison between users.

One person will post something on social media and obsess over whether it gets as many likes or followers as something else that another user posted. It becomes an unhealthy obsession that leads to mental health problems like the onset of anxiety and the loss of self-esteem, according to Gritters. Gritters states, “Many of the 12 influencers I spoke with while researching this story said they felt tied to a static, inauthentic identity.

They often lamented their inability to put down their phones and laptops and said they were constantly online. If you want to be an influencer, you need to interact with your audience at all hours; taking a break is considered a big no-no.” Gritters suggests that social media users are trying to be this perfect presentation of themselves that can be tiring and stressful because no one is perfect—and this can negatively impact their academic careers.

How Parents and Educators Can Help Parents and educators can help first and foremost by being aware of the pressures that college students face and providing emotional and social support for them so that they can prevent the onset of anxiety. Students are still developing into adults so they need buffers and a support network that can allow them a moment to unwind, unpack, and clear the head.

Educators can overcome the parent-teacher barrier by socializing with students and indicating that if the students need anything they can always turn to their teacher for assistance. Parents can help by always keeping in contact with their children who are in college and making sure that.