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Major Causes and Effects of Stress on College Students The goal of a college graduate is to successfully graduate with more knowledge, skills and preparation for the professional workforce; however aspects of college training may cause unintended negative effects on the college student’s mental and emotional health. The three common sources of stress among college students are financial stressors, academic stressors and interpersonal stressors. College students, especially freshman, are a group particularly prone to stress (D’Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991) due to the transitional nature of college life (Towbes & Cohen, 1996). The 2010 American Freshman National Norms reveals that concerns over finance may contribute to stress in college students. This can involve the struggle to find sufficient money to pay for tuition, as well as securing the funds needed to cover the costs of living while attending school. Even those students who are able to qualify for financial aid to cover college costs have to cope with the financial stress of knowing that they will have to pay back a large sum of money after graduation. One of the primary causes of stress, particularly for college students is competition and the academic stressors. Coursework can be very demanding, and the competition for earning top marks is steep. Students who want to do their best and are planning to attend graduate school put themselves under a great deal of pressure as they struggle to excel in school. The same is true for those students who are seeking scholarship funding or who must keep their grades up in order to keep existing scholarship awards. Interpersonal stressors can have both positive and negative effects on the student. The most difficult thing about dealing with stress is the affect it has on the people around you, and for some students, negative interpersonal interactions among family and peers can have an effect on a students performance in college. Interpersonal conflicts with
References: D’Zurilla, T.J., and Sheedy, C.F. (1991). Relation between social problem solving ability and subsequent level of psychological stress in College Students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(5)841-846. Towbes, L. C., & Cohen, L. H. (1996). Chronic Stress in the lives of College Students: Scale Development and prospective prediction of distress. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25, 199-217. The Higher Education Research Institute, CIRP – Cooperative Institutional Research Program 2010. The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010 University of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, London 2010. http://www.collegecounseling.org/wp-content/uploads/NSCCD_Survey_2012.pdf http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression-and-college-students/index.shtml http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-a-major-preventable-mental-health-problem-fact-sheet/index.shtml