Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen

Larissa Vasconcelos

Reading Reaction Journal #2

Reference

Lewin, T. (2011, January 26). Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen. New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/education/27colleges

Summary

This article discusses the influence from stress on emotional health of college freshmen. According with survey showed by the author, the emotional health reached the lowest level since the collecting data started, two decades ago. Information is given that this index represents a common situation that more students are entering the universities with problems. The economic factors are putting a lot of extra stress on these students who are worried about their own college debts and job prospects when they graduate. There is also a gender gap. The women have a less positive view of their emotional health than the men.

Reaction

I was very interested in reading about the theme discussed in the article considering that this is a current problem which we encounter in various universities regardless of their location. This article gave me some new informations. The fact that students are worried about their economic situation is harmful because each one of them already has a very large load of stress during their university life. The students should learn to cope with the pressures and worry about work, exams, and their future professional life.

Another interesting aspect for me was how women and men's reactions are different in how they spent their leisure time. The men tend to spend more time in activities that relieve stress, like sports, while women tend to take activities that include more responsibilities, that do not relieve stress.

Maybe universities should be more worried about the emotional health of their students. Investing more in recreation centers and creating psychological support centers could be a good start.