A New Study Says That 3 Out Of 4 College Students Say They're Stressed And Many Report Suicidal Thoughts

Sep 13, 2018

While you might miss having your child at home, it is certainly a relief when they leave for college. Suddenly, you can stop worrying about your teenager and start traveling. While the added alone time might be a relief, your worries are not over with yet.

In the movies, college looks like a fun, carefree experience. Unfortunately, teenagers often discover that college life is not what they expected. There are new challenges, extra work and increased demands. Recent research shows that students are far more stressed out than anyone thinks.

The research was recently published in a journal called Depression and Anxiety. When you stop to think about the findings, you realize that the results are not actually that surprising. As a teenager starts college, they are suddenly in a new environment. Their high school friends are gone, so they have to meet new people.

Suddenly, they are left alone to navigate the world and discover who they are.

The research study basically confirmed what most college students already know. Leaving home can be a shock and extremely stressful. As students face new expectations, they are forced to change their self-identity. Unfortunately, these sudden changes can leave students vulnerable to mental health risks and suicide.

In recent years, the rate of depression and anxiety has been increasing among college students.

Three out of four college kids say that they had at least one stressful life event in the last 12 months.

This stressful event could be from a social relationship or a family problem. It could be caused by problems at school, an illness or something else. A shocking 20 percent of students said that they experienced at least five stressful life events in the last year.

While we are aware that college is stressful, many people dismiss the stress and assume that students will get over it. Parents need to be especially attentive to their child during college. In a study of 67,000 college students from more than 100 different colleges, researchers looked at stress, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

A surprising one out of five students had thought about suicide.

Researchers found the number of students who actually tried to commit suicide to be even more surprising. One out of 10 college students actually tried to commit suicide. This is double the national average for all American adults.

This problem does not just affect students who are having problems or failing their classes. A student can do extremely well in school, but struggle to handle internal problems. Often, top-performing students will hide mental health problems because they do not want to seem like a failure.

The study found that students who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals were more likely to think suicidal thoughts or act on them. They were two to three times more likely to try to kill themselves than heterosexual students. Transgender students had the highest rate of mental health disorders and suicidal thoughts.

The study found that Hispanic and African-American students were less likely to report self-harm or mental health disorders than Caucasian students. At the same time, these two groups were more likely to have suicidal thoughts or previous suicide attempts.

The research shows that the stress of college life can take its toll on a student's mental health. While it might seem like a carefree part of youth, college can be traumatic for some students. If you are a parent of a college-aged student, pay attention to your child. They may not reach out when they are having a problem, so it is important to listen and understand the changes they are going through. If you do notice sudden changes in their attitude or behavior, do not be afraid to ask about it.

Someone you know could be struggling with mental illness. Spread awareness about this problem so that everyone feels comfortable enough to seek the help they need.