Blog #10: Final Abstract and Works Cited

Abstract

This research paper will be exploring the topic of mental health among college students. Today, college students keep facing more and more stressors, such as academic stress, social stress, financial stress, and family stress. These increasing stressors have been leading to an increase in mental health problems and stress levels. These stress levels can also often turn and lead to mental illness. Under this umbrella, this paper will also be looking at how these stressors and mental health problems affect first-generation students. Additionally, it is important that different mental health resources (or lack of) for first-generation students on college campuses are explored because it is possible there is a gap that is not being met with these students. Many college students really do not understand a lot about this growing epidemic that is affecting their peers and do not know how to get help when it is needed. This problem has grown so large that the government has started to get involved and has been looking in ways they can help college students get the resources they need. Therefore, this paper will be discussing why mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, are rising, how they are affecting first-generation students, and what resources are being provided to help these students?

Works Cited

Armstrong, Elizabeth A., and Laura T. Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality. Harvard University Press, 2018.

Becerra, M. “ Mental Health and Academic Performance of First-Generation College Students and Continuing-Generation College Students.” UC Merced: Library, 2017.

Gonzalez, Bettina, director. Un)Privileged: The Cost of Being Poor at an Elite Institution. Youtube, 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZUsjhlRFnw.

House, Lisa A., et al. “Supporting the Mental Health Needs of First Generation College Students.” Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, vol. 34, no. 2, 2019, pp. 157–167., doi:10.1080/87568225.2019.1578940.

Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg. “Mental Health Problems and Help-Seeking Behavior Among College Students.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 46, no. 1, 2010, pp. 3–10., doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008.

Lattie, Emily G., et al. “Technology and College Student Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 10, 2019, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00246.

On Disability, National Council. Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs. United States Congress, 2017.

Parekh, Ranna. “What Is Mental Illness?” American Psychiatric Association, 2018, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness.

Stremming, Eileen. The First Generation: Bridging the Generational Gap of Mental Health. New Degree Press, 2019.

Sy, Susan R., et al. “Parent Support and Stress among First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Female Students during the Transition to College.” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, vol. 13, no. 3, 2011, pp. 383–398., doi:10.2190/cs.13.3.g.

Lit Review #3

Citation: 

Stremming, Eileen. The First Generation: Bridging the Generational Gap of Mental Health. New Degree Press, 2019.

Summary: 

In Eileen Stremmings book, The First Generation: Bridging the Generational Gap of Mental Health, Stremming writes about several mental health journeys that she and others have gone through. The main takeaway is that first-generation students have a hard time expressing what they are going through to their family members. These students are struggling to discuss what they are going through because of the high expectations their families set for them. Also, some of the parents that Stremming mentioned in the book even mentioned how they shouldn't be feeling what they are just because they are in America and have a good life. Additionally, Stremming mentions this concept of ‘bridging the gap’ which has been helpful in forming my theoretical frame. Stremming points out that there is a gap in the way first-generation students are expressing how they are feeling to their families. This gap is something that must be resolved in order for students to live happily. 

Author: 

The author of this book is Elieen Stremming. Stremming is knowledgeable on this topic because she is a mental health advocate who focuses specifically on immigrant communities. She also does work on improving the way different generations see mental health problems. Additionally, she has experienced mental health challenges as a first-generation student. Not only did she experience it, she also got to see the way it affected her sister. Stremming is the perfect author to take information from because she studies the topic and she also has first-hand experience. 

Key Terms: 
Stigma: For mental health, it is the negative connotation around the illness. Some people may think of a mental disorder and have a negative perception around it, which makes it a stigma. 
Mental gap: The gap where individuals feel uncomfortable and like they are unable to talk to their relatives about what they have been experiencing.

Quotes: 

“Our family has always been incredibly hardworking and we have never been unappreciative of the fact that we are in the United States today. But the idea of mental illness is not quite understood and can be disregarded easily because we have had ‘bigger things to worry about’” (Stremming 338). 

“The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) has noted, ‘While depression affects all ages and both genders, girls are more likely to develop depression during adolescence’” (Stremming 395). 

“Regarding the mental health stigma- especially in families with immigrant parents- talking about mental health problems is incredibly difficult. According to the American Psychological Association, Asian Americans often underutilize mental health services. This may be due to the rate of assimilation and adaptation to culture” (Stremming 427). 

Value:

This book is very valuable to my research. It provides me with several cases that I can put into my paper. What makes it even more valuable is that it isn't generalized statistics; it is several different real experiences that individuals have faced. Personally, I think the best way to make a case is to provide personal examples. Also, this book provides me my theoretical frame of ‘bridging the gap.’ 

Extra Credit Documentary: College Students and Mental Health: Confronting an Emerging Crisis

For this assignment, I watched College Students and Mental Health: Confronting an Emerging Crisis. This was an event presented by The Harvard School of Public Health and Huffpost. They invited several mental health experts to discuss the mental health crisis going on in America. This Q&A session will be useful for my research because it focused on mental health on college campuses. One thing in particular that will be helpful is the Active Minds Organizations that this forum pointed me too. The Active Minds organization is a national organization that supports mental health awareness on college campuses. 

The most important quote from this forum is from Michelle Williams, Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She tells us that, “The increasing demands in some settings you know more than a third increase in demand for services. There are many of our campuses that are just unprepared to meet the demands for service and I applaud our students for reaching out for those services but we’ve not caught up and so we really have to do two things. One is to look through the public health lens and think about health promotion to find ways to engage those students who are experiencing stress but not the clinically severe forms of mental distress and mental health issues to avoid over medicalizing what some of the symptoms of stress are and allow for triaging the kinds of care like talk therapy, the other interventions that you’ve heard about available and make sure then that the higher level of support for students suffering at the higher end of the spectrum for health care needs are able to access other services in a timely way and not experience the long waiting periods that so many of us have been hearing about on some campuses” (Michelle Williams). This quote will be useful because she is telling us that universities are not meeting the demand for services, just like my other research has shown. She also noted that we need to make resources more available for students dealing with stress so then the students who are experiencing severe mental illness will be seen sooner. 

This Q&A can be watched at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H--H18dT8QQ

Extra Credit Documentary Review: (Un) Privileged:The Cost of Being Poor at an Elite Institution

For this assignment, I watched the documentary (Un) Privileged: The Cost of Being Poor at an Elite Institution. This documentary focused on low income and first-generation college students from several elite schools such as Trinity College, Vassar College, and Columbia University. These students all came together to discuss the challenges they were facing at their elite institutions. Each individual student thought they were the only ones who felt the way they were feeling until they actually talked it out with other students who were going through the same thing. Their institutions were not providing the proper resources for low income and first-generation students to succeed. Because of this, these students are feeling like they do not belong at their institutions. But, it helped them to talk to other students who were experiencing similar problems which made them know they weren’t alone. This documentary will be helpful in my research because it showed that these students not being able to fit in at their institutions is affecting their mental health and other aspects of their lives. 

There were two quotes in particular that stood out to me. First, one of the students said: “We can see the numbers of our friends and fellow classmates that are battling depression, battling anxiety, because they vocally say that ‘I don't fit in here’ or ‘ I don't feel comfortable at this school because they don't see people who look like them, they don't see programs that are geared towards them” (12:33-12:50). This quote will be beneficial for my research because it shows that students are struggling to fit in at their schools which affects their mental health. Not fitting in can severely impact someone's mental state leading them to become depressed. Additionally, another quote I found helpful was when a student stated, “I don't really know how to take care of myself mentally because there are nights here, long periods of time here, that I realize I'm not happy and I don’t really know how to integrate myself”(18:05-18:15). This quote will also be helpful in my research. Being able to take care of yourself mentally is very important, and if you are unable to do that, you will be unable to do other things in your life. Mental health is probably one of the most important things in an individual's life, and once it starts to deteriorate then other aspects of one’s life will slowly start to turn as well. 

This documentary can be watched at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZUsjhlRFnw

Blog #9: Argument and Counter-Argument

For my research, I am looking into why mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, are at an all-time high and how they are affecting students, particularly first-generation students. I have found an ample amount of research showing that first-generation students tend to experience higher mental health problems. Recently, I found an article from the Journal of College Student Psychotherapy called “Supporting the Mental Health Needs of First-Generation College Students” by Lisa A House, Chelsea Neal, and Jason Kolb. In this article, they did research on first-generation students and looked if they really do experience more mental health problems as opposed to their first-generation peers. These researchers found that “The univariate testing found that there was no significant difference for depression, anxiety, social anxiety, eating concerns, hostility, alcohol use, and overall distress based on the first-generation status” (House, Neal, Kolb 5). I do not agree with this because all the research I have found clearly has found that first-generation students are in fact prone to higher mental health problems. I am still doing more research to see if any other others agree with this research.

Research Blog #8: Case

For my case, I am using information from the book The First Generation: Bridging the Gap of Mental Health by Eileen Renee Stremming. Stremming uses her own experience growing up as a first-generation student with mental health struggles to show her readers the difficulty she experienced. Along with her story, she also incorporates other stories from other first-generation students and the challenges they faced. Reading this book, it has proven to be a very good source that I will be incorporating into my research.

I found two examples that will be helpful in building my case. One would be when Stremming talks about her sister, Eliza. Stremming tells us that, "Eliza did not want to openly share with our family all that she had been feeling for fear of being judged or brushed off again" (Stremming 375). The second one would be when she talks about another first-generation student, Justin. She tells us that, "Our parents would talk about achievements for hours, but the mental health of their children is something that Asian parents would never boast about. In fact, it is something that you would rarely hear conversations about among immigrant parents. Justin has found it harder being both a man and the child of an immigrant because there is also a stigma attached to men discussing emotional problems” (Stremming 464). 

These cases are very helpful for my research because it shows that first-generation students struggle to get the support they need from their parents. Because of this, their mental health only gets worse because they are scared to reach out for help. 

Research Blog #7: Frame

The academic frame in my paper would be the concept of mental health and how it affects college students greatly, especially first-generation students. One of the really useful sources I have been using is the United States Congress’s research “Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs.” This research has given me good statistics and information to help further dive into my topic. For example, in this reading, I found that “The number of nontraditional students on campus, such as veterans; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ) students; first-generation students; international students; and foster youth, has grown significantly. Members of these groups are believed to be at greater risk for mental health challenges due to stressors such as racism, prejudice, low socioeconomic status, undereducation, and acculturation” (US Congress 21). It is evidently clear that mental health is a large problem on college campuses, especially among minority and first-generation students. 

Literature Review blog post #4

Citation

Lattie, Emily G., et al. “Technology and College Student Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities.” Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 10, 2019, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00246.

Summary

In this work, the authors discuss how technology can be both beneficial and negative to college students. For starters, researchers have seen a drastic increase in the number of mental health diagnoses in the past few years. Because of this increase, many colleges are unable to meet the demand which makes them unable to help their students. One reason they looked at that could explain this increase is the use of technology use. It has changed how people communicate which could lead some students to feel left out leading to an effect on their mental health. Additionally, although this may affect their mental health, the researchers also discussed how technology could be positive in helping mental health problems. It could replace the need to wait for an appointment at an on campus clinician. But, many clinicians are not using it because they fear there are many privacy issues to this method and would prefer meeting with their students in person. 

Author(s) 

There are three authors for this work. The first author, Emily Lattie, went to the University of Miami to study Clinical Health Psychology. She has also done an extensive amount of psychological research, her latest being at Northwestern University at the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies. Next, is Sara Ketchen Lipson, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Law Policy and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health. She has also done extensive research on addressing mental health in college students. Lastly, is Daniel Eisenberg who currently works at the University of Michigan and does research on how to improve the mental health of young students. 

Key terms 

• Technology-enabled mental health services: Online or phone apps that offer the possibility to expand treatment options and help reduce the barriers for students who are unable to make it into the counseling centers. 
• Privacy: a common concern for clinicians which leads them to not use the technology-based mental health services. They fear that their students won’t be protected and choose to not provide these resources because of it. 

Three Quotes

“In recent years, there has been an increase in reported symptoms of mental illnesses in college student populations. A large, epidemiological study recently demonstrated that mental health diagnoses have risen from 22% to 36% among college student respondents over the last 10 years (3). In a survey of college counseling center directors, more than 95% reported that the number of students with significant psychological problems was a growing concern on their campus (4). Across the country, more and more college students appear to be suffering” (Lattie EG, Lipson SK and Eisenberg D 1).

“There are a number of challenges and opportunities for college student mental health afforded by personal computing technologies such as smartphones. We are living in a time of unprecedented social connection and access to educational resources. Some may argue that we are simultaneously living in a time of unprecedented awareness of social exclusion and information overload. This has been made apparent by the emergence of ‘fear of missing out’ or FoMO, which was first discussed by a marketing strategist (16), and since has become the subject of several empirical investigations on mental health and social media use (17–19)”(Lattie EG, Lipson SK and Eisenberg D 2). 

“While students could theoretically access these types of programs without involvement from their campus community, counseling centers are unlikely to see reductions in their everincreasing workload without coordinated efforts to educate students on, and direct them to, technology-enabled programs. Because college counseling centers across the United States are frequently understaffed, have limited budgets, and operate on waitlists for much of the year (8), it may be in their best interest to support the incorporation of technology-enabled mental health programs into routine practice, as a supplement to their core services” (Lattie EG, Lipson SK and Eisenberg D 3).

Value

This material helps me explore my research because it gives a potential reason for why mental health has drastically increased. Also, it also gives a possible solution on how to improve mental health services. Although many clinicians do not like using technology for treatment, it may be the best next option to help decrease the rise in numbers.

Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

Working Title: Mental Health: A Growing Epidemic Among College Students

Topic

For my paper, I will be researching several topics involving mental health. The main topic I will be focusing on is mental health and stress problems in college. I will also be including the issues that first generation students face when it comes to mental health. I will also be looking into the different resources (or lack of resources) for mental health, and the growing epidemic of mental health challenges on college campuses. As a college student, it is a very important issue to look at because we are all experiencing these issues whether it be personally or we have a friend that is going through it. The government has also started to get involved in this growing problem, which makes it even more important to explore. 

Research Question

How is college affecting students’ mental health, in particular the mental health of first-generation students? What resources do schools have to help these students that are experiencing mental health challenges? Why are mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, at an all time high? 

Theoretical Frame

In the literature review, Mental Health and Academic Performance of First-Generation College Students and Continuing Generation College Students, Melissa Becerra looks at a variety of studies that focus on the problem of mental health issues facing first-generation students. Beccerra tells us that although there is still a lot of research to be done on this topic, the research that has been done shows that first-generation students are more likely to experience symptoms of depression, more stress, and lower levels of life satisfaction. These students do not know how to go about getting the support they need and often times, can not afford it. Even continuing generation students struggle to find the mental health support they need. Mental health has become such a growing topic in America, that colleges are unable to keep up with providing support to their students. 

Case(s) or Examples

The same literature review can be used when looking at examples and different statistics. For example, Becerra tells us “Empirical work that addresses symptoms of depression includes the survey method by Stebleton, Soria, & Huesman (2014), which claimed that “first-generation students at large public research universities reported higher levels of depression/stress on average compared with continuing generation students’ (p.13)” (Becerra 7). This finding is very beneficial in my research. Not only does it tell us that first-generation students report higher depression and stress levels, but it also shows us that we need to start making a step forward in order to solve this growing issue. 

Another great source I found with examples is from the National Council on Disability. They wrote a whole study and addressed it to the president stating that something must be done. This organization's focus was on mental health in general and found that there is a college campus mental health crisis going on in the United States. They noted that, “students with mental health disabilities who do not receive assistance are not as academically successful as their peers, with lower GPAs and higher dropout rates; however, when students get support, they are successful”(US Congress 15). This finding makes it clear that mental health is an issue which is greatly affecting students' lives. Students are going to college to follow a path they want and to become successful. But, often times when students enter college, they are unable to handle the stress and it impacts their performance. The main way students can succeed when struggling with a mental illness is by seeking help. Lately, it has been found that “colleges are struggling to provide adequate mental health services and support for students with mental health disabilities due largely to increased number of students with mental health challenges attending college and a lack of financial resources” (US Congress, 16). This is clearly an issue that America is facing because if students are unable to get the support they need, there is no way they will be able to succeed. 

Bibliography

Becerra, M. (2017). Mental Health and Academic Performance of First-Generation College Students and Continuing-Generation College Students. UC Merced: Library. Retrieved From https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4691k02z

Castillo, Linda G., and Seth J. Schwartz. “Introduction to the Special Issue on College Student Mental Health.” Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 69, no. 4, Apr. 2013, pp. 291–97, doi:10.1002/jclp.21972.

Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg. “Mental Health Problems and Help-Seeking Behavior Among College Students.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 46, no. 1, 2010, pp. 3–10., doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008.

Iarovici, Doris. Mental Health Issues and the University Student. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.

United States, Congress, “Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs.” Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs, National Council on Disability, 2017.

Research Blog #6: Visual

This visual is from the Mental Health Guide on Collegestats.org. I think this would be a good visual to start my oral presentation. It gives quick statistics on the lives of college students and how their mental health is affecting their academics. Additionally, the website also goes into detail on different mental health topics which can be useful. 

Source: https://collegestats.org/resources/mental-health-guide/

Research Blog #5: Bibliography

My research questions still stay the same as they previously were. These questions were how is college affecting students' mental health, in particular, the mental health of first-generation students? Why are depression and anxiety at an all-time high? What resources do students have to cope with their mental health challenges? 

Becerra, M. (2017). Mental Health and Academic Performance of First-Generation College Students and Continuing-Generation College Students. UC Merced: Library. Retrieved From https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4691k02z

Castillo, Linda G., and Seth J. Schwartz. “Introduction to the Special Issue on College Student Mental Health.” Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 69, no. 4, Apr. 2013, pp. 291–97, doi:10.1002/jclp.21972.

Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg. “Mental Health Problems and Help-Seeking Behavior Among College Students.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 46, no. 1, 2010, pp. 3–10., doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008.

Iarovici, Doris. Mental Health Issues and the University Student. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014.

Levine, Heidi. College Student Mental Health: New Directions for Student Services, Number 156. Jossey-Bass, 2017.

United States, Congress, “Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs.” Mental Health on College Campuses: Investments, Accommodations Needed to Address Student Needs, National Council on Disability, 2017.

Literature Review 2

Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg. “Mental Health Problems and Help-Seeking Behavior Among College Students.” Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. 46, no. 1, 2010, pp. 3–10., doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008.

Summary:

In this journal, the authors discuss mental health problems among different college campuses. They reviewed different research that showed them the prevalence of mental health and how students reach out for help. Although this study is a few years old, they discussed how many college students are depressed and do not seek out help. When students do not reach out and get the support they need, their grades start to slip which then leads many other aspects of their lives to start slipping too. Later on in the journal, it also talks about how there are different barriers that stop students from seeking support. It has also been shown that schools are unable to keep up with the demand for mental health services. Students who seek out support will have to wait months on end to see someone because schools are unable to keep up with the demand. 

Authors: 

The authors of this journal are Justin Hunt, M.d., M.S., and Daniel Eisenberg, Ph.D. Both these authors are very knowledgeable on the topic because they are both psychiatrists. They strive to promote the mental health of young people. 

Key Terms:

• Mental disorders: Conditions that affect moods, thinking, and behaviors. These disorders are very prevalent among college students. Most mental disorders have an onset at about age twenty-four. 
• Barriers: In this case, they are obstacles stopping students from seeking help when they need it. Some of these barriers could include lack of time, privacy concerns, and financial constraints. 

Quotes:

“Mental disorders account for nearly one-half of the disease burden for young adults in the United States [5], and most lifetime mental disorders have first onset by age 24 years [6]” (Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg,3). 

“Within the college population, certain subgroups have a significantly higher prevalence of mental health problems, which is consistent with the studies of the general population [19]. Male undergraduates are at a higher risk for suicide [20], but female students are more likely to screen positive for major depression and anxiety disorders [21]. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are at a higher risk for depressive and anxiety symptoms [10,21,22]” (Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg, 4). 

“Other studies also find that, among secondary school students, depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are negatively associated with academic measures such as grade point average [61] and verbal test scores [59,61] (Hunt, Justin, and Daniel Eisenberg,6).

Value:

This journal has been very helpful in exploring my topic. Although it is old, it gives a lot of helpful statistics on students and their mental health. Along with this, it also discussed how resources are slim which is something very important to lookout. Additionally, it was written by two prestigious physiatrists which is helpful since they are very knowledgeable on the topic.