Academic Frame

Anxiety- Anxiety is the #1 psychological complaint of students in college. I am searching to find why students are experiencing more anxiety than ever before. Is it because of college or because of life? Is it the students bringing it upon themselves or is it because of the life students are brought in to by college? The APA cites in The State of Mental Health on Campus: A Growing Crisis that from 2000 to now, mental illness prevalence has risen from 16% to 44%. Anxiety is the highest of all, frequently being cited as the biggest complaint for why students seek psychological help.

Millennials- This is a term that Alicia Flatt frames her whole article around. This is very important for my project because to explain the fact that young adults live different lives than they did ten years before, the term millennials is the way to differentiate them from other generations. With the term millennial, i can find much more research on people of my age group and also use millennial to explain why students today are living differently. Laying out what has happened in millennial history will give me a chance to explain to the reader just how different society is today. That is a big point of my paper, millennials live different lives and college campuses are not accommodating. This also gives me a name to put to the face of the age group i am targeting. In her article, A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education, Flatt cites that the sic factors leading to mental health uprise is academic pressure, financial burden, accessibility, Male-to-Female ratio, technology, and lifestyle. Her point, that the life of these students is drastically different is a back bone for me and I will begin my paper with her article.

Privatization- Privatization is a seasoned topic in our class. I will be using Newfield, Armstong & Hamilton, and Collinge to paint the picture that the government is giving less to schools, causing them to turn to private outlets for funding. This also means that the government and schools are giving less to students in terms of aid and students need to turn to private outlets. But this does not just go for money, the less schools are supporting their students academically, and mentally like I point out, the more students turn to overall private outlets for the support. Lucky students can pay for school out of pocket by family and have them tp support them. The common college student does not have that. They have loans and they are on their own, but this elitist preference that schools has created has caused students to feel divided when college was made to be 4 years of equal playing ground for everyone to figure out their path. It is not longer so easy for students. This is the beginning of the domino effect of financial burden and academic stress on mental health and the prevalence of anxiety.

Financial Burden- Financial burden is being looked at as a result of privatization. Because of the increase in college tuition and the lack of funding from the government, students are less capable to pay for schooling and need to pay off loans. It is also created a class divide in college when students should be on the same playing ground. This leaves students extremely stressed and further, they feel inferior to those who do not struggle with paying off school. I have found many study that associates financial burden with the increased stress of students in college. I will be using a study called Sick of our Loans: Student Borrowing and the Mental Health of Young Adults in the United States. This looks at what financial burden of any kind can do for the stress of young students and then emphasizes that loan borrowing only exacerbates this issue.

Academic pressure- Academic Pressure could stand on its own for a huge issue going on in American Higher Education. I am looking at it from an angle of not so much what schools expect from their students, but how academic pressure is a result of privatization. Students have much more to lose when they are under the pressure of debt and compensation for that. I will be using Armstrong and Hamilton's Paying for the Party to explain that academic pressure is caused by the divide in higher class and lower class, doubling the pressure of those who have loans to compensate for with a successful college career and job perspective afterwards. I also have found a study that I will be using for my counter argument and turn around called, Academic Stress and Health: Exploring the Moderating Role of Personality Hardiness. The study is looking to see if hardiness can play a role in academic stress, but while it does interfere with health, it doesn't protect students from stress.

Literature Review #4

Sick of our loans: Student borrowing and the mental health of young adults in the United States

1) This is a photo of the journal that published this article

2) Walsemann, Katrina M, et al. “Sick of Our Loans: Student Borrowing and the Mental Health of Young Adults in the United States.” : Www.elsevier.com/Locate/Socscimed, 13 Nov. 2014, ac.els-cdn.com/S0277953614007503/1-s2.0-S0277953614007503-main.pdf?_tid=0a60e126-0f36-11e7-985e-00000aab0f02&acdnat=1490211223_457b28023bceff37cf8c65df241d9085. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

3) This article is about the effects of student loans on the mental health of students, primarily the stress of paying them back. And exact quote that sums up the analysis is this, This study investigated two questions: 1) what is the association between the cumulative amount of student loans borrowed over the course of schooling and psychological functioning when individuals are 25-31 years old; and 2) what is the association between annual student loan borrowing and psychological functioning among currently enrolled college students? We also examined whether these relationships varied by parental wealth, college enrollment history."

4) There are three authors: Katrina M Walsemann, Gilbert C Gee, and Danielle Gentile. Walsemann is a PHD in public health, which I think is extremely ideal for this topic because her research is in promoting better health and welfare of communities of people. Gee is a PHD in Health Equity. I think together, this group is extremely educated on the health of large populations.

5) Psychological functioning is one phrase used all throughout the article. Meaning, the article looks to see the relation of loans and psychological functioning. Loan Borrowing is another term. Frequently, throughout the analysis the authors use "borrowed amount."

6) Found in the abstract on page one, the authors give a quick sum up on their findings, Student loans were associated with poorer psychological functioning, adjusting for covariates, "in both the multivariate linear regression and the within-person fixed effects models. This association varied by level of parental wealth in the multivariate linear regression models only, and did not vary by college enrollment history or educational attainment," (1). In the results section, when addressing parental wealth, the article stated,  "Among individuals whose parents had negative net worth, psychological functioning improved with increasing amounts of student loans b ¼ 0.39 (0.09 þ 0.48). In comparison, individuals from the wealthiest families experienced poorer psychological functioning with greater amounts of student loans (b ¼ 0.09, p < 0.05). Individuals from families with low and middle net worth did not differ significantly from those from the wealthiest families," (89). And finally, when addressing the borrowing of different kinds of students, the article stated"Cumulative student loans were lowest among those attending 2-year colleges ($1751), compared to transfer students ($7279) and those attending 4-year colleges only ($7002). Two-year college students were also the most socioeconomically disadvantaged; 30.4%, 23.8% and 20.6% of 2-year, transfer, and 4-year students, respectively, were in the bottom quartile of income in 2010," (89).

7) This article is of value because I can use it for a counter argument-argument. When you first read through the results you would think that they are against my argument, and in a way they are. They state that students with the most cumulative loans have better psychological functioning. But these students are students with parents that have very low net worth or none at all, meaning that they have nothing to pay out of pocket. When they get cumulative loans, these are loans that they do not have ot pay back right away and thus the stress is alleviated while in school. For students with very wealthy parents that have to take out loans, psychological functioning is lower. It is understandable for students who have never had to worry about money before. I think that there is a lot I can do with research like this.

Project Proposal

College Anxiety: How Changing College Environment has Morphed the Way College Students Experience Stress

2. The topic of my project will be the strong prevalence of anxiety in college students. I will talk about other mental illnesses, but mostly to support anxiety which is the most prevalent. I will talk about how society has changed for millennial aged students and how college environments have also changed as a result. I will evaluate how privatization is something that has effected general life, but mostly has heavily affected college campuses. From there, I will talk about how this has changed the way college kids experience stress and how their stressers are very different to today as compared to previous years as a result of lifestyle change and privatization change. Lastly, I will also evaluate the status of mental health resources in colleges, and how their poor state plays in a role in worsening the situation.

3. Why is anxiety so recently high among college students and how did it get this way? This is a question i cannot answer. I can only base off of my experience, but I do not actually know what plays into this occurring. This question can be challenged with many reasons why this is happening, some even not pertaining to college itself.

4. I will begin my project by stating that the state of mental health prevalence is extremely high as of current. I will use the statistics I have obtained from the APA to back up my point. This is a reliable source that is extremely academic. I will point out that this is a very recent change, happening within the last ten years. The way that we think has changed within the past ten years and something did it. I will begin the journey from there stating that the way we approach stress has transformed. Dana Becker’s One Nation Under Stress will be very valuable here. I think that this is an important note, we are currently predisposed to stress about our stress and struggle with handling a lot of things at once. Anxiety is almost inevitable with the way we are taught to think. BUT this issue is a college issue, so why is it happening? Further,  I was referred a great article by Alicia Flatt that breaks down what has changed in the worlds of young adults today and how these things can play into mental issues (technology, lifestyle, academic changes, etc). The article lends to my point that the environment of college is in no way what it used to be. it is extremely competitive and lends a lot more pressure to students. Further competition and divisions can be supported with the argument of privatization. I will use Collinge and Newfield to explain what privatization is and then explain that it has left behind a majority of young adults- those less affluent. Those we are affluent enough for college get all of the opportunities while the others have to watch and struggle financially and opportunity wise. Armstrong and Hamilton drive home the point of separation and explain the cream of the crop/chosen on scenarios. Because of this, anxiety is extremely common among students because they are set up for failure. To conclude my point about this epidemic, I have found many sources about the current state of mental health resources in colleges and how poor they are. Many schools are not full prepared for the high numbers of students looking for help. Once again, those who can afford their own healthcare can seek outside help, but those without the means will have to use the resources that are sparse and currently not extremely effective. Finkel and the Chronicle capture this overwhelm very well. This plays into the overall picture because the solution here is to get more resources which means more funding is needed, which dives deeper into privatization. I will conclude that this is a vicious cycle.

5. Cases: For mental health prevalence: The APA article I have found. This is pulled from a large survey that covers many universities across the country. While it is not a specific case, it does accurately cover and speak for a the issue. Flatt's piece on changes in student's life is a great, specific article with many specific statistics on how life has changed for millennials. This also explains with much research that this has transformed the way students experience stress. On the topic of Privatization: Taylor and Emma. Emma is severely sad and anxious about her situation and had issues throughout college. Taylor was privileged and did not experience those mental issues. Also, Armstrong and Hamilton break down the different kind of tracks students can take while in college, who normally follows these tracks, and ow privatization has an effect on them and the students within. For resource flaws: Finkel’s article on the state of community college is great example of case(s). It analyzes surveys from community colleges across the US. The isolation to just community colleges can help me create a case that is has something to do with all kinds of college life. Many times stress can be thought to come from the fact that some students have more money to be involved in extra circulars (i.e. Greek life), but this article shows that it is not isolated to situations like that. The article from the Chronicle is a great supplement to this topic, it is not academic but it can help me hit home with my final point.

       Additional questions that emerge from my essay are is it the actual students who are causing the rise in anxiety, or is it just the environment? What other factors are changing the college environment besides privatization? How can we fix this issue?

     My research plan is to break it down like I did with my academic sources blog post. I will take it chunk by chunk and find articles for each section, and at the end, find how they all connect. I will start with numbers and statistics to point out the change, and more works on how this change has only taken place in the last ten years. From there, I will jump into how the minds of students have changed. Becker’s book is a great point to back that up from a historical, overall psychological perspective but from there I will obtain current evidence that the way we think has been changed through society and other norms. I was referred to Alicia Kruiddrlbrink Flatt’s piece that jumps in to modern ideas that back up how young people’s mind’s today have changed a lot. That is good grounds for exploring modern minds. From there I will begin my dive into the change of environment on college campus in the last ten years, relating back to topics that apply to minds of my age. I will then start to speak of privatization has lent a huge hand to the change in environment. I will use the readings given to us in class to explain how privatization has made college about high class or lower class. I will talk about what this does to student emotionally, what happens if they can’t afford, and what happens if they can and how that once again effects the lower class. Armstrong and Hamilton will be huge defenders of this topic, I plan to use every exceprt from them we were given to back my argument up. Once I have laid out the change, possibilities of catalyst, i will use that platform to explain that mental health outlets on campus are not equipped to handle the increase of anxiety on campus. I have found countless articles on this topic, it is my strongest point I have right now mostly because there is the most academic work on it right now. Campuses do not have the resources to handle all of the students coming in for mental counseling. To bring it all together I will point out that fixing the problem meaning hiring more people, which means more funding, which means further privatization.

6. Bibliography:

The State of Mental Health on Growing Campuses: A Growing Crisis." Www.apa.org. Education Government Relations Office, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2011/college-campuses.aspx>.

Becker, Dana. "Chapter Two: Getting and Spending: The Wear and Tear of Modern Life."One Nation under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. 19-48. Print

            Newfield, Christopher.  “The Price of Privatization.”  The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2016. 18-34.  Print.

            Collinge, Alan Michael. “The Rise of Sallie Mae and the Fall of Consumer Protections.” The Student Loan Scam.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2009. 1-19. Print.

Finkel, E. (2016). TANGLED UP in blue. Community College Journal, 86(5), 38-42. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1788738123?accountid=13626

Field, Kelly. "Stretched to Capacity: What Campus Counseling Centers Are Doing to Meet Rising Demand." The Chronicle of Higher Education. N.p., 6 Nov. 2016. Web. <http://www.chronicle.com/>.

Alicia Kruiddrlbrink Flatt, the author of, A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education

Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Laura Hamilton.  Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

Literature Review #3

- A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education

-- The Photo: This is from the front page of the College Quarterly Journal of which published the article

- Alicia Kruiddrlbrink Flatt, the author of, A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education

- Alicia Flatt's article was posted to the college quarterly. It was academic peer reviewed and when I searched her name, I found many articles speaking on a similar topics to Flatt's and they all cited her. From going through the first two pages of her google search, I found over 10 different publications and citing of her article. 

- One key term that the article spends a lot of time on is Academic Pressure. I know it is not a one worded term, but I think it is important to what I want to talk about. Academic Pressure comes from many things in this article, parent pressure, economic competitiveness, or high school grade inflation. The most important part of this is that the article states that academic pressure was NOT the most commonly reported worries 20 years ago. AIDS and nuclear war were among some of the most common. Technology is another key term in here. For me, this is very important because it is a topic that is extremely modern and mainly applied to millennials. The article suggests that student's extremely common use of technology makes them lack at social pressures, which causes mental issues. This is something that can certainly be a huge factor, because social pressures in college are very high. 

- Some quotes I have I  have taken straight from the highlighted notes in the piece because they encompass everything I say for them. The boxed quote for technology is a perfect quote for what my topic: "I think generally students that are arriving on campus are different today than ten years ago. They’ve grown up with cell phones, instant messenger, internet, the instant gratification and resolving things very quickly has been a growing issue for 20 or 30 years but there is a way in which students are not accustomed to, not everybody, but many students are not accustomed to have to tolerate and work through stress. (Watkins et. al., 2001, p. 228)." When speaking of academic pressure, I found a great quote that encompasses the change in overall scores and how inflation has changed within recent years, "Despite students earning higher grades than ever before, in 2009 the U.S. Department of Education’s Program for International Student Assessment found the average science scores of U.S. students were comparatively lower than the students in 12 other industrial countries. U.S. students were ranked seventh in the world for reading literacy, and scored lower than 17 developed countries in the area of mathematics (Etter, 2010)." Finally, when speaking about lifestyle, another great topic for me, I found a quote saying, "Weight gain as a result of a poor diet and lack of healthy activity is common among undergraduate students, and is often compounded by increased stress from the academic workload (Jackson et al, 2009). Though women have better eating habits than men, both exercise less than the recommended amount of time per week (Driskell et al, 2006). Studies have shown that there is an inverse association between physical activity and depression and anxiety. Students who exercise more often are less likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, or panic disorders (Craft & Landers, 1998)." Overall, these quotes are great, modern pieces of evidence for my proposal. 

- This is a great article. It is Academic Peer reviewed and has a lot of information that I need. It is valuable because it taps in to what has changed on college campuses that makes stress and mental illness so different prevalent for millennial aged students. It is extremely recent and relevant. I am building an argument on to how the environment of college has changed. Privatization is one link to this issue I will be discussing, but it is not the only one. This article is gold for the fact that it gives me further evidence and a platform to find more research similar like this. 

Bibliography

Bibliography (Academic Peer Edited)
1) The State of Mental Health on Growing Campuses: A Growing Crisis." Www.apa.org. Education Government Relations Office, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2011/college-campuses.aspx>.

2) Becker, Dana. "Chapter Two: Getting and Spending: The Wear and Tear of Modern Life."One Nation under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. 19-48. Print

            3) Newfield, Christopher.  “The Price of Privatization.”  The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2016. 18-34.  Print.

            4) Collinge, Alan Michael. “The Rise of Sallie Mae and the Fall of Consumer Protections.” The Student Loan Scam.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2009. 1-19. Print.

5) Finkel, E. (2016). TANGLED UP in blue. Community College Journal, 86(5), 38-42. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1788738123?accountid=13626

6) Alicia Kruiddrlbrink Flatt, the author of, A Suffering Generation: Six Factors Contributing to the Mental Health Crisis in North American Higher Education

7) Armstrong, Elizabeth, and Laura Hamilton.  Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

Not Academic
8) Field, Kelly. "Stretched to Capacity: What Campus Counseling Centers Are Doing to Meet Rising Demand." The Chronicle of Higher Education. N.p., 6 Nov. 2016. Web. <http://www.chronicle.com/>.

Literatrure Review # 2

- The State of Mental Health on College Campuses: A Growing Crisis. It is a website, so a photo of the article is unavailable. Attached is a photo of the American Psychological Association logo, of which the article was taken from. 

- The State of Mental Health on Growing Campuses: A Growing Crisis." Www.apa.org. Education Government Relations Office, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2017. <http://www.apa.org/about/gr/education/news/2011/college-campuses.aspx>.

- I chose this article because I feel these are the most reliable statistics I could find to open up my argument. The article touches on the fact that the demand within mental health, on campus counseling has risen drastically. Not only has depression and anxiety gone up severely, but other issues like eating disorders, NSSI, and alcohol abuse. While APA and congress have implemented prevention programs, it is only tackling some of the problems. Overall, there needs to be stronger on campus mental support for students because the demand is only growing stronger.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

- There is no individual author, it was published by the APA based off of an article written by the NY times. The APA was founded in 1892, and is currently 115, 700 members deep with 54 subdivisions of psychology fields. Their goal is expanding psychology's role in advancing health and increasing recognition of psychology as a science.                                                                                                     

- terms: depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and self injury; programs and support. These terms all embody the goal of the article to address the sharp concerns, and how important it truly is to have mental support on campus to ensure that students live a healthy, educational life.                                                                                                                                           

- My first quote highlights my argument that this upward trend has been within the last 10 years. "The article brought to attention an alarming and growing trend that began in the early to mid 1990s. At that time, university and college counseling centers noticed a shift in the needs of students seeking counseling services from more developmental and informational needs, to more severe psychological problems." My second quote, I think is one that I will use in my project to support my point. It explains just how valuable mental support is to everyone, not just the individual. "Research clearly shows just how much strong mental and behavioral support helps can improve student life. Without the proper psychological services, students with emotional and behavioral problems have the potential to effect many other people on campus, including roommates, classmates, faculty and staff with disruptive or even dangerous behavior." 3. In the last paragraph, the APA explains how funding will change to help expand programs to reach all students.  "The re authorization of includes changes to the Campus Suicide Prevention Program that will allow for more flexibility in the uses of funds to enable grantees to best meet the needs of students that live on their campuses."     

- I value this article a lot for the statistics. I saved them for this part so I can emphasize how important they are for the article. A direct quote from the article states: "In the past decade this shift has not only solidified, it has reached increasingly higher levels. In the 2010 National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, respondents reported that 44 percent of their clients had severe psychological problems, a sharp increase from 16 percent in 2000. The most common of these disorders are depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and self-injury. In a 2010 survey of students by the American College Health Association, 45.6 percent of students surveyed reported feeling that things were hopeless and 30.7 percent reported feeling so depressed that it was difficult to function during the past 12 months.." These statistics are very important for my descriptions of the sudden rise and can bring me in to an investigation of why this is happening. These stats give me reason to investigate. 

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