SAT’s, ACT’s, AP’s, PSAT’s, GPA’s these are the acronyms many parents and their children become all too familiar with from middle school forward. But as a recent study reported in the New York Times indicates, our kids may be paying a price for the pressure to succeed academically as stress and mental health problems increase among college freshman.
The study contains some alarming statistics about 2014 college freshman:
- 9.4% reported frequently feeling depressed, compared to 6.1% five years ago.
- 34.6% reported feeling overwhelmed by schoolwork and other commitments compared to 27.1% five years ago.
Factors cited as relating to this rise in mental health problems among college freshman include:
- constant pressure to excel due to the increased global economy
- decreases in socialization as students spend more time studying
- increased use of social media and efforts to project a successful image
- ongoing stress during high school to take AP classes (according to one current college sophomore it is not uncommon for students to take 5 AP classes a year)
- excessive numbers of extracurricular activities that eat up even more time as students struggle to keep up their grades
- pressure to continue excessively hard schedules during senior year
We all want our children to do well in their future lives, but we should pay attention to what their emotional lives are telling us. Their psychological health is at risk. Not only does this threaten their well being, it threatens their chances for succeeding during and after college.
For more on this topic see:
The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine, Ph.D.
Are we stressing out our kids? greatschools.org