Friday, February 20, 2015

College students' mental health struggles at highest rate in decades. From MLive.

Life isn't quite as rosy for college freshmen these days.

They worry about paying tuition, achieving good grades and finding employment. Their attention is divided by technology advances and social media.

And it's all taking a toll on their psyche.

2 comments:

  1. Three SigmaFebruary 21, 2015 at 10:01 AM

    "Just over half of the 153,000 college freshmen surveyed said their emotional health was in the "highest 10 percent" or "above average" when compared with others their age.

    That's the worst response since researchers began asking the question in 1985."

    So. Students are now being slightly less insane with their over-estimates of their own emotional stability.. and that means they are less stable?

    Maybe they're just more self aware or statistically numerate... Ok, ok, I can't say that line with a straight face.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Contingent CassandraFebruary 21, 2015 at 1:00 PM

    I, too, am wondering how the question affected the results. Why ask about percentiles, rather than a less comparative ranking such as "excellent," "good," "fair," "poor."

    I'm not sure being a college freshman (or a college student, period) has ever been easy; it's a time of great change in most people's lives, and the "best years of your life" line from apparently amnesiac older adults doesn't help.

    That said, it hasn't been easy to be any sort of adult or proto-adult, with any sort of adult or proto-adult responsibilities, in the economy of the last decade or two (okay, maybe it hasn't been so bad to be an adult member of the 1%). And it hasn't been easy to be a child (or an elder) dependent on said adults.

    Oh, and in addition to the economic stuff, our current students were just coming to some sort of consciousness of the larger world as planes started falling out of the sky, buildings crumbled, and we went to war. And people have been periodically shooting up schools and other public places throughout their lives (and before, but they may be less aware of that). And the media have been hyping all sorts of other dangers, especially those that supposedly threaten children, throughout their lives, and many of their parents have responded by helicoptering like mad.

    So I'd file this one in the "duh" basket.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)