Freshmen stress levels reach new high

College freshmen are more stressed than ever before.

According to a UCLA study, first-year college students’ emotional health dropped to the lowest it has been in 25 years. 

The survey, conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, studied more than 200,000 incoming full-time freshmen at four-year colleges.

Only 51.9 percent of freshmen reported that their emotional health was “above average,” a drop of 3.4 percent from 2009 and an 11.7 percentage drop from the first study in 1985.

“We’ve certainly noticed a trend that more students are stressed out,” said Nancy Stockton, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the IU Health Center.

According to the study, female students were far more likely to report low levels of emotional health than male students. Only 45.9 percent of females reported high levels of emotional health verses 59.1 percent in males.

Stockton said family financial issues and the economic downturn are a big reason why CAPS has been seeing so many stressed freshmen.

“They’ve got family financial problems and pressures,” Stockton said. “Several of them that have come in, one or both parents are out of work.”

IU is trying to combat these statistics by making students more aware of the resources that are available to them, starting at freshman orientation.

“Certainly there are resources through CAPS, through some of the sessions that are done in RPS,” Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith said. “We’re trying to, if not warn students, kind of say ‘Here are the things that might happen, and here are the resources that we have available.’”

Beyond that, Goldsmith said he deals with individual students who call with stress-related concerns.

“They let us know that they are having some issues, and then we bring those resources to bear to try to solve their problems,” Goldsmith said. “If it’s financial worries, we’ll find out if the financial aid or bursar’s office can help that student.” 

While the economy is a huge stressor for most students, Stockton said relationship stress is still the main reason students come to CAPS.

“These are confounded by other things, but problems in a relationship is a big stressor,” Stockton said.

For students that are stressed, Stockton said it is important to build stress management into their daily routines.

“Getting enough sleep, eating as healthfully as possible and avoid people who are stress enhancers,” Stockton said.

Because more students than ever before are reporting lower than average emotional health, Goldsmith said students need to understand their health and seek help when they are feeling overwhelmed.

“I think it’s an issue that we can’t take for granted and we have to work on all the time,” Goldsmith said.