A majority of college students are feeling stressed, and a substantial number are at risk of depression.
According to a new Associated Press-mtvU poll, 85 percent of students surveyed reported feeling stress in their daily lives, and cited grades, money and relationships among their major worries.
The survey also found 42 percent said they had felt down, depressed or hopeless several days during the past two weeks.
The AP-mtvU poll surveyed 2,240 undergraduate students ages 18-24, and included interviews conducted at 40 U.S. universities.
Jessica Hawkins, director of prevention at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said college students often turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms when dealing with stress.
“The 18-24 year-old age range is the most concerning for us,” Hawkins said. “Underage drinking and tobacco use is higher than for anyone else in Oklahoma, and I think there’s no doubt that there is a relationship between the enormous amount of stress on college-age people and that often is their go-to thing. There is a direct link between substance abuse and depression. Binge drinking is a direct contributor to a lot of the problems in the study.”
Brendan Brock, finance sophomore, said most of his friends binge drink on the weekends.
“For us, it’s kind of like we study and go to school all week and then want to let loose on the weekend,” Brock said. “I guess it might be that we are coping with our stress through drinking, but I hadn’t really thought of it like that before. I just feel like everyone drinks, but this survey makes it sound like everyone is stressed, so I guess it makes sense.”
Brock said he thinks there is more pressure on college students to make higher grades.
“I always made A’s in high school, so I didn’t want to let my parents down in college,” he said. “I took Adderall freshman year, but I didn’t really like how it made me feel, so I stopped. I just felt like if I didn’t get the grades I made in high school, my parents wouldn’t be happy.”
Dr. Kathryn Reilly, OU Physicians family medical specialist, said everyone has stress in his or her lives, but depression should be more of the cause for concern.
“Adolescence is a period in life when depression is more common than other times,” Reilly said. “I think the problem with the AP report is that, unless their criteria for stress and depression were very well defined, the numbers may not mean too much. I would be surprised if most people in the U.S., regardless of age, didn’t express feeling stress in their daily lives. Feeling down can be a temporary reaction to minor ups and downs in life, and is probably different than feeling hopeless or even ‘depressed.’”
Both Reilly and Hawkins stressed the importance of seeking help when students begin to feel overwhelmed.
“It’s important for college students to understand how many resources are available to them,” Hawkins said. “When you’re on your own for the first time and away from home, a lot of the young people don’t realize the resources that are available, especially on their university.”
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Dsharp 3 years ago
this article is not as good as the opinion section