Mental Health in Higher Education

  Beiter, R., et al. "The Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Sample of College Students."  Journal of Affective Disorders , vol. 173, 01 Mar. 2015, p. 90-96. EBSCO host , doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054. This reading is about a study conducted on a sample of college students to determine if there is a correlation between their concerns and the increase report of anxiety. The results indicated that the top three concerns were academic performance, pressure to succeed, and post-graduation plans. Demographically, the most stressed, anxious, and depressed students were transfers, upperclassmen, and those living off-campus. Beiter, R. a Nash, R. a McCrady, M. a Rhoades, D. a Linscomb, M. a Clarahan, M. a Sammut, S. a a Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work, Franciscan University of Steubenville Depression: “self-disparaging, dispirited, gloomy, blue, conv...

Booth, R., et al. "The Age of Anxiety? It Depends Where You Look: Changes in STAI Trait Anxiety, 1970-2010."  Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology , vol. 51, no. 2, Feb. 2016, pp. 193-202. EBSCO host , doi:10.1007/s00127-015-1096-0. This was a study done to see if anxiety has really been increasing worldwide or if it is only impacting certain populations. They used population-level surveys and the results showed a significant  anxiety  increase worldwide, but the pattern was less clear in many individual nations. The analyses also suggest that although  anxiety  may have increased worldwide, it might not be increasing as dramatically as previously thought, except in specific populations, such as North American students. Booth, R. a Sharma, D. b Leader, T c Booth, R W d Leader, T I e a Department of Psychology, MEF University, Ayazağa Cad. No 4, Maslak-Sarıyer 34396 İstanbul ...

Walsemann, Katrina M., Gilbert C. Gee, and Danielle Gentile. "Sick of our loans: Student borrowing and the mental health of young adults in the United States."  Social Science & Medicine 124 (2015): 85-93. This study looks at how student loans have become increasingly commonplace among college students and that although these loans facilitate the acquisition of human capital in the form of education, they also lead to stress and worries related to repayment. The results of this study found that student loans are associated with poorer psychological functioning while enrolled in school as well as in early adulthood. That is that not only does it increase anxiety during college but this anxiety follows you after graduation as well as the debt. Katrina M. Walsemann a Gilbert C. Gee b Danielle Gentile a a Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health...

My argument is that there are many factors contributing to the steadily increasing reports of anxiety among college students but that all of them can be linked to the privatization of higher education. The first reason I will be looking at is the increased financial burden students are now facing and how it is linked to privatization because it has caused tuitions to increase over the years leading students to have to work multiple jobs and even take out loans. The second reason I will be looking at is the heightened academic pressure students are now feeling and this is linked to privatization because students feel an added pressure to do well to in order to be competitive in the job market and pay off their student debt. And finally the third factor I will be looking at is dependence on social media and it is linked to privatization because many students no longer have free time to interact with peers   due to this academic pressure and financial burden. Therefore...

The case I will be exploring in order to illustrate by argument is the study "Sick of our loans" (Walsemann et al, 2015) which examines the relationship between loans and early adult mental health. Basically this study looks at how student loans have become increasingly commonplace among college students and that although these loans facilitate the acquisition of human capital in the form of education, they also lead to stress and worries related to repayment. The results of this study found that student loans are associated with poorer psychological functioning while enrolled in school as well as in early adulthood. That is that not only does it increase anxiety during college but this anxiety follows you after graduation as well as the debt. This case speaks to the debate that I have identified in my proposal because it can be used to provide a link between anxiety and privatization. Students are taking out these loans and dealing with large financial burdens b...

The following concepts and theories are what I will be using to make sense of my project and structure my paper: Anxiety: the overarching theme of my project is the impact of anxiety on students, I want to know why anxiety has become the number 1 complaint among college students and has held this spot for over 6 years. I want to know whether the privatization of higher education is the main contributor to this mental health crisis and whether or not universities are doing enough to combat this issue. Privatization: This is another important concept for my project because, as we have been discussing in class this semester, the shift of public to private has caused a spike in tuition. I will be looking at whether this spike is correlated to the spike in anxiety. Student Debt: This is one of the possible reasons for this spike in anxiety among college students that I will be looking at. It is one of the main reasons I will be focusing on because it takes privatization into ...

This visual graphic perfectly illustrates my project because it demonstrates how s ince 2009, when anxiety surpassed depression as the number one mental health concern among college students, the number of students experiencing anxiety has only continued to increase.