New nationwide survey data uncovers college students' current mental health challenges and needs.
From: Boston University
February 19. 2021 -- A survey by a
Boston University researcher of nearly 33,000 college students across the
country reveals the prevalence of depression and anxiety in young people
continues to increase, now reaching its highest levels, a sign of the mounting
stress factors due to the coronavirus pandemic, political unrest, and systemic
racism and inequality.
"Half of students in fall 2020
screened positive for depression and/or anxiety," says Sarah Ketchen
Lipson, a Boston University mental health researcher and a co-principal
investigator of the nationwide survey published on Februray 11, 2021, which was
administered online during the fall 2020 semester through the Healthy Minds
Network. The survey further reveals that 83 percent of students said their
mental health had negatively impacted their academic performance within the past
month, and that two-thirds of college students are struggling with loneliness
and feeling isolated -- an all-time high prevalence that reflects the toll of
the pandemic and the social distancing necessary to control it.
Lipson, a BU School of Public Health
assistant professor of health law, policy, and management, says the survey's
findings underscore the need for university teaching staff and faculty to put
mechanisms in place that can accommodate students' mental health needs.
"Faculty need to be flexible with
deadlines and remind students that their talent is not solely demonstrated by
their ability to get a top grade during one challenging semester," Lipson
says.
She adds that instructors can protect
students' mental health by having class assignments due at 5 pm, rather than
midnight or 9 am, times that Lipson says can encourage students to go to bed
later and lose valuable sleep to meet those deadlines.
Especially in smaller classroom
settings, where a student's absence may be more noticeable than in larger
lectures, instructors who notice someone missing classes should reach out to
that student directly to ask how they are doing.
"Even in larger classes, where 1:1
outreach is more difficult, instructors can send classwide emails reinforcing
the idea that they care about their students not just as learners but as
people, and circulating information about campus resources for mental health
and wellness," Lipson says.
And, crucially, she says, instructors
must bear in mind that the burden of mental health is not the same across all
student demographics. "Students of color and low-income students are more
likely to be grieving the loss of a loved one due to COVID," Lipson says.
They are also "more likely to be facing financial stress." All of
these factors can negatively impact mental health and academic performance in
"profound ways," she says.
At a higher level within colleges and
universities, Lipson says, administrators should focus on providing students
with mental health services that emphasize prevention, coping, and resilience.
The fall 2020 survey data revealed a significant "treatment gap,"
meaning that many students who screen positive for depression or anxiety are
not receiving mental health services.
"Often students will only seek help
when they find themselves in a mental health crisis, requiring more urgent
resources," Lipson says. "But how can we create systems to foster
wellness before they reach that point?" She has a suggestion: "All
students should receive mental health education, ideally as part of the
required curriculum."
It's also important to note, she says,
that rising mental health challenges are not unique to the college setting --
instead, the survey findings are consistent with a broader trend of declining
mental health in adolescents and young adults. "I think mental health is
getting worse [across the US population], and on top of that we are now
gathering more data on these trends than ever before," Lipson says.
"We know mental health stigma is going down, and that's one of the biggest
reasons we are able to collect better data. People are being more open, having
more dialogue about it, and we're able to better identify that people are
struggling."
The worsening mental health of
Americans, more broadly, Lipson says, could be due to a confluence of factors:
the pandemic, the impact of social media, and shifting societal values that are
becoming more extrinsically motivated (a successful career, making more money,
getting more followers and likes), rather than intrinsically motivated (being a
good member of the community).
The crushing weight of historic
financial pressures is an added burden. "Student debt is so
stressful," Lipson says. "You're more predisposed to experiencing
anxiety the more debt you have. And research indicates that suicidality is
directly connected to financial well-being."
With more than 22 million young people
enrolled in US colleges and universities, "and with the traditional
college years of life coinciding with the age of onset for lifetime mental
illnesses," Lipson stresses that higher education is a crucial setting
where prevention and treatment can make a difference.
One potential bright spot from the
survey was that the stigma around mental health continues to fade. The results
reveal that 94 percent of students say that they wouldn't judge someone for
seeking out help for mental health, which Lipson says is an indicator that also
correlates with those students being likely to seek out help themselves during
a personal crisis (although, paradoxically, almost half of students say they
perceive that others may think more poorly of them if they did seek help).
"We're harsher on ourselves and
more critical of ourselves than we are with other people -- we call that
perceived versus personal stigma," Lipson says. "Students need to
realize, your peers are not judging you."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Boston
University. Original written by Kat J. McAlpine. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210219190939.htm
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