Title: College Stress | Harvard Medical School
Headings: College Stress
College Stress
Study finds 1 in 5 students surveyed reported thoughts of suicide in last year
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Content: Our study highlights an urgent need to help students reduce their experience of overwhelming levels of stress during college,” Liu said. Liu and her colleagues analyzed results from a survey conducted in the spring of 2015 by the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment. The survey asked students a variety of questions related to depression and anxiety, including whether they had been diagnosed or treated for a mental health issue; if they had engaged in self harm, considered suicide or attempted suicide; and how many stressful events they had experienced in the last year. Stressful life events, defined as exposures that the student felt were traumatic or difficult to handle, included academics, career-related issues, death of a family member or friend, family problems, intimate relationships, other social relationships, finances, health problem of family member or partner, personal appearance, personal health issues and sleep difficulties. The team reports the following: Rates of stressful life events were high and associated with mental health issues. Three out of four students reported having experienced at least one stressful life event in the last year. More than 20 percent of students reported experiencing six or more stressful life events in the last year.