Treat Severe College Stress Year Students. Introduction

¶ … treat severe college stress year students. introduction background paragraph 3 body paragraphs conclusion academic references

Stress has recently emerged as one of the most dangerous disorders that people can contract as a result of coming across a series of more or less serious problems. Entering a new community is probable to provide an individual with significant issues, as the respective person would have to perform great efforts in order to be able to successfully integrate. This is the case with first-year students, as they encounter several problems trying to adapt to a more demanding environment. These people experience academic, social, and personal impediments as they struggle to be accepted by a world that they are largely unfamiliar with.

Leaving an environment that they have been accustomed to staying in for most of their lives can be particularly stressful for first-year students, as they practically need to abandon their previous lives in order to take on new challenges. Most individuals believe that it is easy to anticipate how life in a higher education institute can be like, but eventually discover that conditions are very different from how they expected them to be. More and more students have started to report high levels of stress as a consequence of the fact that they pursued higher education.

Finances are one of the most important factors when considering first-year students, considering that these individuals need to focus on organizing their money accurately in order to be able to address all issues that they are probable to come across. This is even more problematic when considering that in spite of the fact that economies experienced significant drops during the recent years, higher education has kept its prices and has made it increasingly difficult for parents to be able to provide their children with everything that they need. Having lesser money in an environment where one is expected to enjoy the freedoms of being a student is probable to have significant negative effects on an individual. He or she is likely to be marginalized and he or she can experience problems trying to integrate in particular groups.

Depression in college students can lead to poorer performances and is even probable to prevent an individual from being able to learn effectively. Higher education institutes need to get actively involved in combating stress in students and need to focus on providing these individuals with the assistance they need as they are about to suffer as a consequence of stress. By introducing individuals who will be there for students as they experience stressful situations educational institutes are probable to effectively deal with problems associated with stress. One of the most important concepts in this process regards using channels that students typically appreciate with the purpose of boosting their self-esteem.

The authorities have devised a series of strategies meant to assist stressed students and have concentrated on trying to understand the exact factors that cause stress. By focusing on the difference between students' expectations and the actual experiences they undergo as they attend higher education the authorities are enabled to discover the tools that they can use with the purpose of combating problems causing stress. A positive environment that influences students to become more determined and more certain regarding what they want from college is essential in helping students who experience stress (LaSere Erickson, Peters & Weltner Strommer 244).

One of the main reasons for which students experience stress as they try to discover their personal identity in an environment that they initially perceive as being hostile is the fact that many are unable to realize what their goals are. "Some students come with no idea about what they want to gain from college or what they want to do afterward" (LaSere Erickson, Peters & Weltner Strommer 244). Similarly, other come with expectations that are too high and come across an environment where it is more difficult for them to progress rapidly. As a result, they end up being stressed and they start to realize that the domain that they chose is not exactly in accordance with their dreams. Parents are also accountable in this situation because they influence children in adopting particular attitudes regarding education. Instead of providing their children with the liberty to choose what they want to do with their future these individuals impose a particular lifestyle on them and eventually realize that they were wrong in preventing students from selecting fields that they actually enjoyed. By putting pressure on their children these individuals only manage to make matters even worse, as students are probable to experience even more stress as a result of feeling that they have dissapointed their parents.

Academic advisors need to step in and provide students with assistance in discovering what classes would be best for them to attends and why it would be wrong for them to direct their resources at particular activities. Similarly, these individuals would need to speak to parents concerning their involvement in their children's lives and instruct them to encourage students to pursue activities that are constructive for them and for society as a whole. It is particularly intriguing that "helping students identify and clarify their educational goals is likely to be an ongoing process in which students change their minds (and their majors) as they learn more about tentatively chosen (and not chosen) fields and reflect on their experiences and interests" (LaSere Erickson, Peters & Weltner Strommer 245). Students and parents thus need to address their problems directly in order to experience as little stress as possible during the moments when they struggle to understand more about their goals in life.

Students need to be educated with regard to how they can experience success in discovering the exact majors that they need to opt for. This means that they first need to focus on their interest in order to be able to understand why it would be best for them to refrain from addressing particular domains.

It is especially problematic that college counseling has not progressed much in the recent years. This has happened in spite of the fact that a great deal of students reported that stress has had significant negative effects on their development. With first-year students being eager to integrate, conditions are even more critical as they are inclined to ignore stress and as they consider that it is perfectly normal for them to experience problems in the beginning. "Students seek out resources where they feel "known" and avoid campus resources because they don't believe their problems are acute enough to seek help" (Alipuria xi).

Conditions for first-year students today are critical because many institutions are hesitant about investing resources in trying to come up with strategies that can combat stress in students. These institutions should "invest in intentional and holistic student development including training in stress management and decision-making" (Alipuria xi). A larger number of institutions that provide students with assistance as they struggle to avoid being affected by the stress associated with transition from high-school to college would be essential for society as a whole, considering that many individuals fail to integrate society and actually disrupt the harmony in their lives as a result of being dissapointed by the experiences that they come across while they are in college.