College Students and Mental Health

The percentage of American adults considered overweight and/or obese is continuing to increase, with specific populations such as college students being at greater risk for becoming overweight or obese. Higher education institutions have the potential to reduce this risk by encouraging students to develop and maintain active lifestyles. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a university wellness program for students. Thirty-four participants completed a 12 week fitness program called the Biggest User, which included pre- and post-health and fitness assessments, training sessions with certified personal trainers, nutrition consultations, and various other events such as seminars on health-related topics and weekly challenges aimed at incorporating healthy habits into daily life. Participants significantly improved their seated diastolic pressure, 3-minute step test, and number of pushups, but all other variables were non-significant. Findings indicate that positive changes are possible in a structured intervention program for students, but further evaluation and modification of this program may be necessary to achieve improved benefits.

Using a narratological framework, we examined how gender roles and stereotypes affect experiences of transgender and gender-nonconforming college students. Six participants were interviewed about navigating their gender identity throughout college and adulthood. Four themes emerged: gendered attributes, within-group differences, identity development, and experiences in counseling. Themes are discussed in light of humanistic literature, and implications are discussed.

This article explores variations in mental health and service utilization across academic disciplines using a random sample of undergraduate and graduate students (N = 64,519) at 81 colleges and universities. We report prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidality, and self-injury, and rates of help-seeking across disciplines, including results from multivariate logistic regressions. We find significant variations: Students in humanities and art and design are significantly more likely to have mental health problems; and for students with apparent mental health problems, treatment rates are lowest among those in business and engineering. Noting these variations could enhance efforts to promote student mental health, particularly within academic departments.

{Nathan Chu, Kenyon College} I’d like to imagine that for a few, very brief moments in our lives, we can slip out of ourselves and view the world through someone else. It’s a ridiculous thought, being able to truly understand things from another person’s point of view, but from under the film that coats my eyes, I like to peak out and wonder.

In response to global concerns about university students’ mental health, various whole-of-institution strategies have been developed to enhance students’ resilience and wellbeing. These strategies are essential for students who have experienced national and international challenges to their wellbeing, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these approaches do not always consider the unique challenges that undergraduate students from specific study areas experience, nor the unique strengths they can adapt to mitigate these challenges. To contribute original knowledge to the growing evidence-based approaches that promote student mental health, this research explored the wellbeing of an undergraduate student group that has not yet been comprehensively researched for this purpose: visual art students in Australian universities. Additionally, this research sought to understand visual art students’ opinions on how to foster student resilience and wellbeing while they are enrolled in Australian art courses.

PURPOSE:
The current study tests associations between reporting sexual victimization to a healthcare provider, campus authority, police, or social contact, and emotional well-being among college women.

METHODS:
Data from 2,162 women who participated in the 2015 College Student Health Survey at 17 colleges in Minnesota was used. Analyses tested associations between reporting sexual assault to formal or informal resources and diagnosis with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as self-rated health.

RESULTS:
Significantly higher rates of all four diagnoses were observed among those who reported to formal resources (e.g., healthcare provider, police) compared with those who reported to informal resources (i.e., friends, family). However, no differences were seen in self-rated physical or mental health.

CONCLUSIONS:
Expansion of trauma-informed healthcare services and advocacy efforts is recommended to optimally support students who report sexual assault experiences.

The focus of the current study was to examine student-identified academic and mental health concerns, the prevalence of psychological distress in the student population, student utilization of counselling services, and perceived barriers to accessing counselling services. A convenience sample of students ( N = 400) from a large university in western Canada completed a four-page questionnaire that included The General Population – Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE-GP) and researcher-generated questions. Survey results indicated that 63.1% of students identified having academic concerns, 36.1% of students identified anxiety as a concern, and 31.9% endorsed depressive symptomology as a mental health concern. The criteria for clinical psychological distress were met by 42% of males and 43% of females, yet only a small portion of students identified accessing counselling services for these concerns. Students reported numerous barriers that impeded access to counselling servic...

Using social capital theory as a framework, the authors examined data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002) to examine how student contact with high school counselors about college information and other college-related variables influence students’ college application rates. In addition to some college related variables, the number of school counselors, and student contact were significant predictors of college application rates.  Implications for school counselors and counselor training are included.

The aim of this study was to investigate how individuals;who had been victims of school bullying;perceived their bullying experiences and how these had affected them;and to generate a grounded theory of being a victim of bullying at school. Twenty-one individuals;who all had prior experiences of being bullied in school for more than one year;were interviewed. Qualitative analysis of data was performed by methods from grounded theory. The research identified a basic process of victimising in school bullying;which consisted of four phases: (a) initial attacks;(b) double victimising;(c) bullying exit and (d) after-effects of bullying. Double victimising refers to a process in which there was an interplay between external victimising and internal victimising. Acts of harassment were repeatedly directed at the victims from their social environment at school – a social process that constructed and repeatedly confirmed their victim role in the class or the group. This external victimising affected the victims and initiated an internal victimising;which meant that they internalised the socially constructed victim-image and acted upon this image;which in turn often supported the bullies’ agenda and confirmed the socially constructed victim-image. The findings also indicate the possible positive effect of changing the social environment.

In societies, all over the world citizens has suffered from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, and several organizations has alarmed about the potential mental health impacts.

My goal was to describe curves of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms after we have lived with COVID-19 and the new way of social distance has become the new normal.

What is the student’s opinion about the universities hard work to adopt to the new national orders and at the same time run a high-level of education, and to determine if curves were modified by the new loneliness, poor sleep quality and mental health problems that the world around us are talking about?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether differing stress reduction interventions could alter stress levels experienced by male and female college students from the beginning to the end of a semester. Components of stress examined included overall perceived stress, test anxiety, and personal burnout. Participants (N = 531) were part of courses that during the course of a 16-week semester focused specifically on cognitive–behavioral stress management, cardiovascular fitness, generalized physical activity, or a control with no intervention. In addition to gender differences, both the stress management and physical activity groups had significantly lower levels of perceived stress, test anxiety, and personal burnout at the end of the semester. The fitness group scored significantly lower on perceived stress and personal burnout, but there was no difference in scores for test anxiety. The important ramifications of reducing stress in college students are discussed, including t...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether differing stress reduction interventions could alter stress levels experienced by male and female college students from the beginning to the end of a semester. Components of stress examined included overall perceived stress, test anxiety, and personal burnout. Participants (N = 531) were part of courses that during the course of a 16-week semester focused specifically on cognitive–behavioral stress management, cardiovascular fitness, generalized physical activity, or a control with no intervention. In addition to gender differences, both the stress management and physical activity groups had significantly lower levels of perceived stress, test anxiety, and personal burnout at the end of the semester. The fitness group scored significantly lower on perceived stress and personal burnout, but there was no difference in scores for test anxiety. The important ramifications of reducing stress in college students are discussed, including the pros and cons of implementing differing physical and psychological intervention modalities.

Mental health is an important aspect of a human person; however, they remain lacking in attention resulting to people not being open to medical and emotional help. This study aimed to test the effectiveness of the two coping styles (Peer-Support group and Self-Help coping) in improving the mental health conditions of the students, specifically in the aspect of social anxiety with personality as a mediating variable. Another was to investigate whether social anxiety is significantly related to stress. The researchers made use of the experimental and correlational design with the total of 25 Grade 11 students in Colegio de Sta. Monica de Angat purposively chosen as the samples of the study and gathered data with the use of survey questionnaires and intervention within the samples. The data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, t-test assuming two equal variances and, binomial logistic regression analysis and improvements were assessed through conducting pre- and post-tests.Results showed that there’s a weak positive correlation (r=0.29) between social anxiety and stress but not significant (p>0.05). For the improvement of the anxiety level, a significant difference between the mental health conditions of peer-support group samples in improving social anxiety during pre- and post-test (p-value (0.0027) <α (0.05)) was seen. On the other hand, there’s no significant difference between the mental health conditions of self-help coping samples in improving social anxiety during pre- and post-test (p-value (0.3714) >α (0.05)). Moreover, results showed that the personality styles of the respondents have no significant effect on the preference of the samples between peer-support group and self-help coping based from the p-value (alpha > 0.05). It can be concluded that social anxiety only serves as a minimal factor contributing to stress. However, engaging in peer-support groups was proven to be preferable than self-help coping since it has shown a greater difference regarding the improvement of the mental health of the samples. Lastly, the personality of a human person is not a factor related to coping styles for a reason that it does not affect the way he would cope with different situations. Thus, this study offered giving aid to the emotional gap occurring within the people of the society in line with social anxiety and stress.

The ability of students to succeed in higher education and beyond is dependent on their physical and mental wellbeing, and the nation’s institutions of higher education are seeing increasing levels of mental illness, substance use, and other forms of emotional distress among their students. Some of the problematic trends have been ongoing for decades. Some have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic consequences. Some are the result of long-festering systemic racism in almost every sphere of American life that are becoming more widely acknowledged throughout society and must, at last, be addressed.  Although the causal factors for each have their own idiosyncratic solutions, the increase in mental health and related problems has put tremendous pressure on the capacity of existing traditional college counseling and other support systems to handle the need for their services, leading to what some have called a “mental health crisis” on college campuses. Whether this constitutes a genuine crisis or not may be debated, but there is no question that new approaches and strategies are needed to deal with the increasing demand for help.

This report lays out a variety of possible strategies and approaches, based on the available evidence on the nature of the issues and what works in various situations. Although the report includes an array of recommendations, no real progress will be made unless individual institutions decide to promote a climate that clearly values the wellbeing of every student. The overall tone for that campuswide atmosphere must, of course, be articulated by the leadership—the president, the board of trustees, faculty leaders—but must also involve all sectors of the institution—faculty, staff and students. Each has a role to play.  A part of that culture change will require devoting more resources to promoting mental wellbeing, and that need is coming at a terrible time. Financial resources at almost every institution are severely constrained. However, this issue is of sufficient importance that, if necessary, priorities should be reevaluated and rearranged. The impacts of this problem are critical and broad enough that ensuring the wellbeing of all students must be near the top of the priority list. Hopefully, this report will help articulate the need for additional resources and provide a basis for moving forward on this issue.

I am extremely grateful to my superb colleagues on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s committee that authored this report. Leading such an expert and committed group of scholars has been an extremely rewarding experience. I also want to express, on behalf of the whole committee, our gratitude to the exceptionally competent and dedicated staff of the National Academies and the many others cited in the acknowledgments that follow.

Alan I. Leshner (NAM), Chair Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use, and Wellbeing in STEMM Undergraduate and Graduate Education

At Wellesley College's Ruhlman Conference in April 2015, I presented the culmination of mental health research I conducted under the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. My presentation discussed students' perception of mental health and mental illness at a small, single-sex, liberal arts college in New England and how religious and racial affiliations (if any) may have influenced such perceptions.

Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar si el perfeccionismo y el estrés académico predicen la ansiedad social. La metodología fue no experimental, con diseño transversal de tipo correlacional-causal. La muestra incluyó 1034 estudiantes universitarios venezolanos, de distintas áreas del conocimiento, con edades entre 18 y 50 años (M = 22.7, DE = 5.5). Los participantes contestaron el Inventario de perfeccionismo académico de Aguilar et al. (2012), la Escala para medir estrés académico de Bayed (2004) y la Escala de ansiedad social de Altuve et al. (2016). Los análisis de regresión múltiple indicaron que el estrés académico producto de la planificación y el perfeccionismo académico socialmente prescrito son los mejores predictores de la ansiedad social, puesto que contribuyen a explicar significativamente este constructo y todas sus dimensiones. Es probable que enfocarse en atenuar las variables predictoras pueda ayudar a prevenir y tratar la ansiedad social que causa malestar o deterioro significativo en la vida del individuo.

Perfectionism entails a burdensome preoccupation with one's self-evaluation in the context of performance outcomes. Although perfectionism has been subject to extensive research, scant literature on its effect on cognitive functioning is available, let alone in nonclinical populations. The aim of the present study is to utilize a comprehensive neuropsychological battery to assess cogni-tive functions among college students with high and low levels of perfectionism. Participants were 98 college students who were screened for clinical status, completed a neuropsychological battery, and assessed for perfection-ism and related symptomatology. Results revealed that the high negative perfectionism group had significantly higher levels of depression and stress compared to the low negative perfectionism group. However, no group differences were found across neuropsychological outcomes. Gradient differences on clinical outcome measures were found when three groups characterized by high adaptive, high mala-daptive, and mixed perfectionism were compared. However , no differences were found on neuropsychological tests. These findings suggest that higher levels of negative perfectionism are associated with significant psychopatho-logical burden, but with intact neuropsychological test performance. These results are important, particularly in the context of the need to identify and treat students struggling with high levels of perfectionism and related psychopathological burden, which can be overlooked given that they present with intact cognitive and academic performance.

Abstract
Undergraduate students lack the opportunity and environment to contemplate and develop ecoliteracy skills that serve to integrate subject matter into their everyday experiences. Ecoliteracy is grounded in Capra's web of life theoretical framework and represents students' capacities to read world systems objectively with their head, heart, hands, and spirit. Contemplative pedagogy provides educators with exercises that give students time to reflect on the integration of learning. Ecoliteracy and contemplative pedagogy research has shown little quantitative data pertaining to how contemplative pedagogy affects undergraduate student ecoliteracy. To address that gap, this causal-comparative study measured the use of contemplative pedagogy exercises relative to undergraduate student ecoliteracy. A convenience sample of 150 undergraduate students who did and did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises completed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale and Self-Compassion Scale Short Form. Independent-samples t tests measured the differences between the 2 groups. Findings indicated that students who did not experience contemplative pedagogy exercises in the classroom were more likely to self-report higher ecoliteracy. A possible interpretation of these findings is that current contemplative pedagogy exercises may focus students' attention internally and not adequately promote the world-centered view that would more readily advance student ecoliteracy skills. Results of this study provide further insight that may inform professional development and contemplative pedagogy exercises that empowers students' ecoliteracy skills by encouraging critical thinking, action, and compassion towards positive social change.

Munculnya berbagai media sosial turut menandai kemajuan berkomunikasi tanpa batasan ruang dan waktu seperti misalnya media sosial Path. Umumnya, mahasiswa menggunakan media sosial Path untuk mengungkapkan diri atau menunjukkan keterbukaan diri. Keterbukaan diri merupakan pengungkapan diri kepada orang lain sehingga individu dapat saling memahami satu sama lainnya. Keterbukaan diri yang dilakukan oleh pengguna media sosial Path juga dilatar belakangi oleh berbagai macam, salah satunya adalah tipe kepribadian. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara tipe kepribadian dan keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial Path dan peran jenis kelamin dalam memoderasi tipe kepribadian dan keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial Path pada mahasiswa. Sampel berjumlah 98 mahasiswa tersebar di beberapa Perguruan Tinggi di Jakarta, Depok, dan Bekasi. Analisis data menggunakan analisis korelasi Product Moment Pearson dan Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat hubungan negatif yang signifikan antara tipe kepribadian introvert dan keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial Path. Sedangkan, tipe kepribadian ekstrovert tidak memiliki hubungan yang signifikan pada keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial Path. Ini berarti, individu yang semakin cenderung introvert maka keterbukaan dirinya di media sosial Path akan semakin sering. Jenis kelamin terbukti secara negatif dan signifikan memoderasi dan memperlemah hubungan tipe kepribadiaan ekstrovert dan keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial Path. Laki-laki cenderung ekstrovert dan perempuan cenderung introvert.
Kata kunci : tipe kepribadian, keterbukaan diri pengguna media sosial path, jenis kelamin, mahasiswa

The emergence of social media also marks the progress of communication without the limitation of space and time, such as social media Path. Generally, the students use the Path to disclosure or show the openness of themselves. Self-disclosure is self-expression to others so that people can understand each other. Self-disclosure made by users on social media Path is also motivated by a wide range, one of which is the personality type. This study aims to determine the relationship between personality types and self-disclosure on social media Path users and the role of gender in moderating the personality types and self-disclosure on social media Path users on college students. Samples amount 98 college students in several colleges in Jakarta, Depok, and Bekasi. Analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). The results showed that there was a negative significance of relationship introvert personality type and self-disclosure on social media Path users. Meanwhile, the extrovert personality type did not have a significant on self-disclosure on social media Path users. This means, people increasingly tend to be introverted then her openness in the social media Path will be more frequent. Gender also had an interaction on the extrovert personality type and self-disclosure on social media Path users. Gender as a moderator proved to be negative significantly moderate and weaken relations extrovert personality type and self-disclosure on social media Path users. Males tend to be more extroverted and females tend to be more introverted.
Keywords : personality types, self-disclosure on social media path users, gender, college students

Consuming media has become a daily habit, if not a necessity. Daily morning our eyes open to updates from our friends and family… even those whom we otherwise don't know. We spent a significant amount of our waking time using one or the other form of media, whatever the purpose may be. What we surf on net has a high impact on the person we become, we are influenced by our peers, by celebrities, by viral trends, and what not. It is like the air we breathe in, its presence can neither be denied nor ignored. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage the emotions of self and others, social media gives us better chances to present ourselves and to understand others. The present study is an attempt to explore the impact of social media usage on the emotional intelligence of an individual. A sample of 1200 students was collected from various colleges of the metropolitan city of Delhi. Emotional intelligence of the subjects was assessed by Dr. S.K. Mangal and Mrs. Shubhra Mangal's Mangal Emotional intelligence inventory (MEII) and time spent on social media was taken to be independent variable along with gender. The results showed that there was no significant difference in internet usage of males and females, also no significant difference was found between emotional intelligence of males and females. The impact of social media usage was seen to be significant only on intrapersonal awareness among all other dimensions and overall emotional intelligence.

Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are conventionally recommended in mental health
care literature as an important way to offer holistic treatment provision to patients. This
study aims to explore multidisciplinary teamwork in contemporary mental health
settings, particularly what aids and hinders the process of multidisciplinary teamworking,
and the social work contribution in such teams. In order to attain an in-depth
exploration of these phenomena, a single case study design was employed. Within this
design, data were generated through semi-structured interviews and structured
observation of a mental health MDT in Ireland. These data were analysed using
interpretative phenomenological analysis. The research highlights how the concept of
mental illness is contested within this MDT, with the medical model dominant within
an environment of fluid working arrangements. Professional role blurring and
stereotyping were found to impact the division of labour on this team, with role
negotiation found to be an integral part of retaining a professional’s practice identity.
This research raises concerns for social work’s capacity to function within mental
health MDTs in Ireland, and highlights ways in which social work educators might
respond in order to empower Irish social workers to meet the challenges of mental
health multidisciplinary teamworking.

This is an article about the mental health crisis which affects our youth around the world, not just the United States. Instead of serving as bastions of knowledge and institutions of self-exploration and learning, universities around this country have become mental war zones. Students who are experiencing mental distress and illness do not feel safe visiting their college's mental health because of the existing stigma around mental health. In addition, many of these students stop taking their medications because of the side effects that many of these drugs have on them. As a result, these students fall into a deeper cycle of despair. In this article, you'll find several examples of students who I have taught over the years who have had such experiences and even more distressing ones. As heart-wrenching as many of these stories are, they have a good resolution. Even though that is true of the stories in this article, I have encountered many students who have NOT had a "happy ending" and this article is just a start to what I believe is the path to opening a discussion and investigation into the mental health climate that is currently present on campuses across the world.

When students enter into the college and university setting, they become part of a community. As they continue throughout their academic careers, students develop relationships with various stakeholders and undergo personal situations, which can either facilitate or hinder their level of engagement and involvement with the academic communities they are a part of. The university setting provides a platform where there are multiple stakeholders in a large, complex system, which inevitably, may also come with many conflicts. The literature shows that student engagement and involvement on campus has been linked to perceived positive experiences and feeling of connectedness to their alma mater, as well as the increased likelihood that alumni will be active with their campuses. This quantitative methods dissertation consolidates the fields of conflict analysis and resolution with the study of student affairs to prove that there are certain variables that significantly prevent and significantly facilitate student engagement and involvement levels on campus. The study was built on a theoretical platform developed, titled the Hypothetical Algebraic Formula for Student Engagement (HAFSE) and used multiple regression, stepwise regression and observance of bivariate scatterplots and trend lines to discover that feeling of connectedness to student service’s staff, the student body and academic advisors; number of hours dedicated to studies, number of children, and number of hours worked, of all variables observed, have the most influence on student engagement and involvement. These 6 variables held true, across all academic levels, in a national sample of 309 students enrolled in institutions across 46 states in the US. The findings of this study can help both theorists and practitioners of conflict analysis and resolution and in the field of student affairs to identify the complex needs and wants of students of the 21st century, for the purposes of enhancing students’ experiences in the campus setting.

This short piece aims to shed light on the epidemic of depression among Irish college students. Its perspective is not medical, but philosophical and theological. It begins by placing Durkheim’s discussion of anomie in “Suicide” within the broader context of different ways in which the experience of radical finitude has been conceptualized since antiquity: namely, as melancholy, acedia, alienation, angst, and—most recently—depression. In its discussion of the notion of anomie, the essay highlights the manner in which, according to Durkheim, the deregulation of desire that occurs in modern society results in an infinite quest for material satisfaction. This quest risks becoming increasingly frenzied and desperate, leading (in the worst scenario) to suicide. The essay closes with an appreciation and critique of Durkheim’s analysis from a Christian perspective.

Across the U.S., college campuses are witnessing escalating numbers of undergraduates experiencing emotional challenges. Students face an increasingly unstable and uncertain world due to rising political discord, terrorism, tensions between world powers, and more. Additional factors are further impacting college students’ emotional health. Research shows excessive engagement with digital technology—such as the high frequency of electronic messaging—negatively affects users’ sense of well-being. The extreme volumes of texts and tweets sent and received prevent people from feeling “unplugged” and present during any given situation; multitasking has become the normative behavior for professionals and students alike. Over time, these stresses weaken students’ cognitive, emotional, and physical health, and contribute to the record numbers of undergraduates seeking services for mental health issues. 

In response, many U.S. colleges are adopting pedagogical techniques that target students’ mental health. Dubbed “Contemplative Pedagogy,” these simple yet highly effective methods aim to decrease stress levels, improve a sense of well-being, and increase “mindfulness” so that students feel more present in the classroom and beyond. By adopting these pedagogical methods, students’ emotional and cognitive development is strengthened. This paper aims to provide educators with an awareness of the rising emotional challenges experienced by college students today. This paper also provides educators with practical methods for incorporating contemplative pedagogy techniques into their classrooms for students’ academic and personal success.

According to data from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health
[1], 61.8% of college students seeking counseling reported anxiety,
49.8% reported depression, and 43.9% reported stress [1]. High
levels of stress have been linked to serious health risks such as
suppressed immune functioning, cardiovascular disease, and
gastrointestinal complications [2]. College students are exposed
to many stressors such as academic, social, and financial demands.
Due to these stressful demands, many students resort to selfmedicating with heavy episodic alcohol consumption [3]. However,
research indicates healthy behaviors, such as physical activity and
yoga practice, may be used to reduce stress and anxiety levels.
Thus, the purpose of this mini-review is to evaluate three studies
investigating the impact of yoga on stress in college students.