What to do About Being Overwhelmed

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What to Do About Being Overwhelmed: Graduate Students, Stress and University Services Sara B. Oswalt, Christina C. Riddock

*

Few studies have examined graduate students and stress. At a large, Southeastern university, 223 graduate students completed a survey about factors contributing their stress, current coping strategies and related university services. A majority felt stressed (48.9%) or very stressed (24.7%). There were significant differences in coping strategies of males and females. Many were interested in learning about and using new coping strategies such as massage, yoga and meditation. Additionally, affordable health insurance, improving the physical environment (i.e., parking), and increasing communication in the academic context could reduce stress levels. Discussion about how health centers, counseling centers and other Student Affairs departments can help the university address these issues to reduce overall graduate student stress is included.

Stress can be defined as, ?the inability to cope with a perceived (real or imaginary) threat to one‘s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being which results in a series of physiological responses and adaptations? (Seaward, 2002, p. 4). This threat can be either positive (eustress) such as graduation or starting a new relationship, or negative, also called distress, with examples including academic probation or not being able to pay for school. Similarly, there are two major types of stressors: life events (such as relocation and death) and chronic strains (such as multiple roles and inadequate finances). Students attending a university can experience both eustress and distress in the chronic or life event forms. Life events can include starting college, possibly in a new area without a social support network or graduating. Chronic stress for students can include, but is not limited to, their living environment, academic pressures, and financial concerns.

Within the college population, mental health issues have been well documented (Benton, Robertson, Wen-Chih, Newton, & Benton, 2003; Gallagher, 2004; Kisch, Leino, & Silverman, 2005; Young, 2003). According to a recent national health college survey, 1 in 10 college students have been diagnosed with

* Sara B. Oswalt is an assistant professor, Christina C. Riddock is a graduate student, both in

the department of health and kinesiology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to [email protected].

OSWALT, RIDDOCK

FALL 2007 ~ VOLUME 27, NUMBER 1

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depression (National Mental Health Association [NMHA], 2006). Another study of 13,000 university students found that the number of students with depression had increased significantly from 1989 to 2001, as did the percentage of students who were suicidal (Benton, et al., 2003). A recent national study showed that 10.7% of college students surveyed had seriously considered attempting suicide in the last 12 months and 2.0% had attempted suicide in the last 12 months (American College Health Association [ACHA], 2006b). There has also been an increase, from 10% to 25%, in the number of students who were taking psychiatric medications (Benton, et al.). This finding is consistent with the more than 400% increase in spending (from $4 billion to $18 billion) nationally on prescription drugs used to treat mental illnesses from 1991 to 2001 (Mark, Coffey, Vandivort-Warren, Harwood, & King, 2005). While acceptance of prescription medication use for mental health may have changed during this time frame, the extreme increase supports an overall increase in mental health issues as well.

Some college students experience more severe mental health issues; however, many others experience the signs and symptoms of stress. A recent national study of college students indicated that many students felt overwhelmed with all they have to do, with almost half of students (46.5%) having this feeling at least 7 times a year, and 28.2% having this feeling 11 or more times a year. Likewise, 32.8% felt exhausted (not from physical activity) 9 or more times in the last year. Stress also negatively affects students‘ academics; 22.9% of students reported receiving a lower grade on an exam, 6.6% receiving a lower course grade and 1.3% receiving an incomplete or withdrawing from a course because of their stress (ACHA, 2006b). Similar data from 2003 and 2004 identified stress as the number one health impediment to a students‘ academic performance with 32.0% and 32.4% of students being affected, respectively (ACHA, 2005; ACHA, 2006a).

Other studies have demonstrated an increase in the stress level among college students over time. For example, students in the 1950‘s experiencing such strong anxiety to be categorized in the highest 16th