As a resident assistant, I feel like I am better able to identify
health trends on campus. I am surrounded
by the same 60 people all the time. This
makes it easy to notice when health is poor and stress is high. One of the trends I see most frequently is the
occurrence of the common cold. My
question is, “Why are Purdue students continuously getting sick?” It is easy to assume that the illness is due
to college students being focused on other things and not overly concerned
about their health. I think a greater
influence on health is the stress associated with college. This stress is academic, social, and
psychology. I wanted to analysis this
idea by looking up any research done on the topic. I found an excellent article proving that
there is a correlation between stress and college student health. This Misra and McKean article stated that
once stress becomes negatively associated or excessive, both physical and
psychological health will decline.
Unfortunately for this International Health class, women college students
are shown to be more affected than men.
This is true even after the researchers found women to have better time
management skills than men. Not
surprisingly, older college students are also shown to have more proficiency in
time management. Purdue students are lucky
in that we have CAPS or the Counseling and Psychological Services center. There are people at this center that are
experts on dealing with stress. The services
are free to Purdue students. If I notice
one of my residents getting too stressed out, I explain the services at CAPS
and recommend them to go. Keeping up
with assignments and the other aspects of college life is hard. Only you know the amount of stress you can
handle. Don’t be afraid to say no in
favor of something you need to do to thrive.
You have to take care of yourself, to have the best college experience.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
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Great insights Erin. I research on mental health and stress is a big part that we measure. to put in place interventions that help students handle stress is very vital and specially when CAPS is so busy. I think RAs are a vital piece in this. I should talk to you more...:)
ReplyDeleteErin, thank you for posting this! I personally have been dealing with this recently as the semester has started as well as the environment change and lifestyle change; going from a working lifestyle, living in another country, and culturally as well in a change in social networks. In reading your post I was reminded how, as in all diseases and illnesses, that their occurrences stem from various contributing factors in our environment. It gave me the chance to reflect and 'not be too hard on myself' in the stresses that occupy our thoughts especially as a student and a female.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article and findings as well! I am curious to examine why females would be more impacted than men and further research what is the contributing factor to this. Confidence, I have an inclination can be the most dominant reason why this difference is so large. Females are known to have less confidence than males and I think this would hold especially true in young adults. In my previous time at the University of Guelph, I continuously had the same conversations with my female students in their beliefs that they wouldn't be suited for a particular job or in their presentation skills within the course. It was often quite challenging to inspire this within them when they felt so little about themselves. Measuring confidence can be tricky but I think this is where the difference may lie. My male students on the other hand would tell me how much they "fake it till they make it" or have the "I can do it better attitude"- which are all very fine. I think young women need to relish in our abilities and hold firmly the belief that they are well deserving of their goals and aspirations! I wonder how 'confidence' also contributes to various other health related ideas? Lifestyle choices that lead to illness? Perhaps a heavier contributer than we think!
Erin, thank you for posting this! I personally have been dealing with this recently as the semester has started as well as the environment change and lifestyle change; going from a working lifestyle, living in another country, and culturally as well in a change in social networks. In reading your post I was reminded how, as in all diseases and illnesses, that their occurrences stem from various contributing factors in our environment. It gave me the chance to reflect and 'not be too hard on myself' in the stresses that occupy our thoughts especially as a student and a female.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article and findings as well! I am curious to examine why females would be more impacted than men and further research what is the contributing factor to this. Confidence, I have an inclination can be the most dominant reason why this difference is so large. Females are known to have less confidence than males and I think this would hold especially true in young adults. In my previous time at the University of Guelph, I continuously had the same conversations with my female students in their beliefs that they wouldn't be suited for a particular job or in their presentation skills within the course. It was often quite challenging to inspire this within them when they felt so little about themselves. Measuring confidence can be tricky but I think this is where the difference may lie. My male students on the other hand would tell me how much they "fake it till they make it" or have the "I can do it better attitude"- which are all very fine. I think young women need to relish in our abilities and hold firmly the belief that they are well deserving of their goals and aspirations! I wonder how 'confidence' also contributes to various other health related ideas? Lifestyle choices that lead to illness? Perhaps a heavier contributer than we think!
Thank you for sharing, Erin! With the semester starting to pick up, this is a very poignant topic. I definitely agree with Amy that lack of confidence is a big contributor to stress and associated health issues, particularly for women. Even when we are completely capable, it is all too easy to second-guess ourselves and our preparedness for the task at hand, leading to a spiral of stress and lack of confidence that only leads to more stress and more lack of confidence. I would be interested to look at a similar research question in a group other than college students, particularly in a non-Western or a developing country. I would predict that confidence issues are contributing to health problems for women in many different walks of life, and this is why women's empowerment is such an important public health topic. Because of their role in a family, the impact of poor women's health extends throughout the family and community. Improving women's confidence worldwide is very important for mental and physical health of all.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Erin!
ReplyDeleteActually I want to comment on it from a different perspective. Being from a country that is considered to be a developing one, I saw and personally experienced, high levels of sterss among females. I believe that underestimation of women and women ignorance are crucial factors for stess in such countries. Women are considered to be persons with half efficiency in their communities. It is a culture there that men will lead and women will follow. Those women who wanted to break through that, actually, would face many hardships in thier colleges and their whole lives. No doubt that such psychological harsh conditions would result in higher stress levels which will cosequently lead to poorer health. Loss of confidence here predominates with some personalities but, with others, it generates challenging sprits to excel. However, in both situations stress levels are high. In such countries, there is minimal opportunities for phsychological counselling for female students and even if they are present, there is phsychological stigma of making this choice.
In developing countries, the issue is more complicated and, in fact, it requires urgent interventions on individual, cultural and community levels.
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