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When the Pressure Builds

Mykha Bernavil

Vanier College

300-110-VA FUNDAMENTALS OF ACADEMIC WORK IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

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Constantina Kavadas

December 10th 2023

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Research Question

How does college have an impact on young adults’ mental health? For this question, I

chose to take a deductive approach as it's something I can easily form a hypothesis on. This topic

is important because many of my peers struggle with maintaining mental stability and balancing

the course work as well as the grades that come with it. It’s natural that one would come to

question if school truly has an impact on students’ overall happiness. College can be tiring,

demanding, and stressful, even for some of the most organized individuals. Moreover, the

pressure to maintain a good R score along with the dreaded university application can become

overwhelming for the majority of people. Ergo, it can be hypothesized that college does indeed

play a factor in the dwindling decline of students’ mental stability.

Literature Review

Many articles talk about how mental health affects people during their studies, but few

talk about how studies can make a dent in students’ academic performance. Can college be the

one to blame for the young adults’ declining mental health? Or is it just external factors? An

article suggests that students without any kind of mental health condition before college suffered

from more social and academic isolation than the ones who were already diagnosed with

depression, anxiety, etc. (Moghimi et al., 2023). This is most likely a result of post-secondary

students with no pre-existing mental health having little to no preparation or resources for

college in terms of what to do when a certain situation occurs. They have no tools. However,

students with existing mental adversities who enter college after high school, have the sets and

toolbox needed to deal with the situations that apply to them. This happens because, in high

school, the resources are either limited, or saved for students with “real problems”. Teachers

warn students of the obstacles in college but a warning doesn’t ever prepare anyone for the real
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thing. Young adults in college have a lot on their shoulders, they may be different but they all

have at least one thing in common: Academic pressure. Whether they’re first years or seniors,

everyone suffers from academic pressure. If they don’t get good grades, they won’t pass a course

or get into the job market they want to be in. Grades need to be high enough in order to apply for

certain universities. If they don’t get a high enough score, they can either disappoint their parents

and even themselves. Sometimes, there’s only one job they want to be in if they don’t get the

scores needed to get in, then that’s usually when depressive thoughts come in. The overwhelming

workload doesn’t help much, for it seems only to elevate the stress it created. College students

are busy, their schedules rival some of the businessmen and CEOs, starting at or before 6 am and

finishing well over 10 pm. With those things in mind, it’s no surprise that they are

sleep-deprived. Some are found sleeping on the way to school or even in class. Not to mention

that some of them also start living on their own when it comes to college, they barely have any

energy left for basic tasks like cooking and cleaning (MSN, 2023). 52 studies were done and 48

of those came back with results affirming that there is an association between the start of the

school year, the beginning of academic pressure resulting in at least one negative mental health

outcome. (Steare et al., 2023). They found that it is, in fact, a candidate for mental health

intervention. It all comes down to whether the institutions really want to look into it, or not.

There is a correlation between the numbers of anxiety and depression between young adults

rising and the increase of academic pressure in the past few years. That may be due to the act of

capitalism and its factors like inflation and artificial intelligence. Because of inflation, students

need to find great jobs with good pay if they want to survive. The concept of a dream job barely

exists if the job itself won’t pay the bills. It leads to the student picking a major they’re unhappy

with, which leads to the person themselves becoming unhappy and miserable. Dark thoughts
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may appear and include “If I'm not happy right now, when will I ever be happy doing a job I

hate?” In addition to the pressure of making enough money, artificial intelligence was created to

make things easier for the human race. It’s working, yes, but it’s taking people’s jobs, and of

course, the low-paying jobs are the first ones to go. It’s a circle, a loop, and it all comes down to

grades and the pressure to stay on top in every single class.

Colleges don’t help struggling students thanks to the major barrier of their absence

policies. When a student wants to return to college the process should be quick and easy. But

with all the rules, quick and easy is an antonym to what it’s actually like (House, 2023). When

students take a leave of absence, there are so many obstacles in the way that instead of taking a

break to let their mental health recover, they make the problem ten times worse; whether the

mental problem is pre-existing or not. This significantly slows down their studies and could

make the student feel like they are falling behind. Anyone would feel terrified to take a leave of

absence if there was a chance they could never come back since many institutions have different

rules regarding the matter. In one of the studies, 51% out of 1000 applicants said that their

mental health was denigrated during their time at college (College Student Mental Health

Statistics | BestColleges, n.d.). In spring of 2022, about 51% of students said they faced

challenges during academia and 89% of the people from the previous statement said that it has

caused moderately high levels of stress. This article pushes the narrative that post-secondary

schools need to start giving more resources to their students. Because of the rising depression

among college students, they are inevitably surrounded by more people of the kind. Hence, it

could create a domino effect, increasing the number of depressed students every year. (WebMD

Editorial Contributors, 2021). This article pushes the narrative that college can be one of the

most stressful times for a student due to a change of environment and new challenges.
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Even though research has been applied to the topic, there is no hard evidence that college

has a negative impact on students’ mental health. Results vary between each researcher and

every person has their own problem. There are too many external factors to determine the

outcome of college coursework on young adults. Although some researchers found a direct

correlation between college and mental health, there are too many other variants in different

articles from other studies. The results from this research remain inconclusive but institutions

should indeed invest in the fact that college could be a key contributor in the climbing mental

health concerns young adults in school have today.

Interview Results

The interview results were as I expected. Most of the people I interviewed all gave

similar answers as to where they stand with college and its impact on their mental health. The

students I interviewed. I was expecting all answers to be the same but surprisingly, people

covered a variety of angles.

One of the interviewees quoted “College actually made me feel smarter, I felt it was

going to be harder than that with all the warnings high school teachers gave us” this is from

someone in a Pure and Applied Sciences program.

Another said “With you asking all these questions, it’s making me realize just how much

college messed me up”

These are just a few examples of the different responses college can initiate in every

student. I got a pretty mixed response from different students, unlike the literary review, who

suggests that college only has negative outcomes on the young adults’ minds.

Questionnaire
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My survey gave me different insights on the numerous perspectives regarding college’s

impact on mental health. It gave me a deeper understanding on the matter. While many answers

aligned with my expectations, such as students acknowledging that the workload directly

contributed to their academic stress, I was surprised to find that at least a quarter of the students

expressed satisfaction with their current academic performance. I distributed the questionnaire to

a little over 70 people, more than half participated in the survey.

Here are the google forms replies as well as the minitab output of my research:
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10 responses

It’s just overwhelming plus most teachers are tired and don’t really have the energy so when you ask
for help it’s not much or they get irritated because they’re overwhelmed too

Work

Anxiety related to DPDR, panic attacks, taking the bus, PTSD

It would be the course workload but I have a learning disability which doesn’t help at all

it didn’t change

course workload, mainly french which I had to drop and just the adaptation to adult life since I no
longer live with my parents and moved from Alberta to Montreal in July

All of the above

Worsened physical/mental health + no time to focus on that

There was so much things to learn in such a short period of time, a lot of work, less help and overall
harder.

I didn’t affect me I liked my classes

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What do you wish could change to make your college experience less stressful?41

responses

I want the teachers to stop putting all due homeworks and exams on the same week

nothing

More organization offered by the teachers, and also more support from them.

less classes/better schedules

Less academic pressure more mental help overall

Organisation

Less homework

Idk

No clue

Less course load as well as less academic pressure on my own part.

The workload definitely, the number of assignments are significant and teachers don’t take into
consideration your other classes!

I would prefer to have the exams spread out throughout the semester rather than having them all
clustered at the same time.

less overlap

Less pressure for averages

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Classes that are not too early (8am-10am) and not too late either (4pm-6pm), less assignments

Less courses

Less workload

Take less classes and stick to a schedule

The cramming periods.

No classes ending at 6pm

More help with time management.

Due dates more distanced, placing the study breaks before midterms (I had mine after my exams
finished so it wasn’t really helpful)

not get bombarded with essays and exams one shot

some classes need to reduce the workload

The exams be more spread out.

better teachers

More help

continue building my time management skills

teacher putting less work on the last week

Flexible due dates

I wish my assignments would be more spread out, allowing me to finish them one by one without
having to rush either

Have all the teachers post assignments and exams on omnivox because some of them dont

Bad student habits

More friends, more warnings, and a real sense of progression

REDUCE THE GENERAL SUBJECTS

Less classes

That the teachers all give equals exam because it's not fair when another class with another teacher
has an average of 80+ while your class has one of 50% and that first year students also get to pick
their stem teachers (like main courses you need), because some of them really suck.

Maybe reduce the transport time like it takes me an hour to arrive

Take less classes

My time management

less classes
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Final Write up

The outcomes from the research did align with my initial expectations, but they were different

from what I found in my questionnaire. During my interviews and surveys, some participants did

not express a greater need for more help regarding their mental stability during the semesters,

whereas the referenced research articles gave opposite results. However, a surprising finding

emerged from the questionnaire: Somehow, students don’t wish to reduce the amount of classes

they have, even with all the pressure they face. Generally speaking, it's recognized that academic

pressure takes a toll on individuals' energy, mental well-being, as well as their academic

achievements. While some participants may engage in studying for personal enjoyment, they

have experienced situations where it negatively affects their mental health.

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References

Moghimi, E., Stephenson, C., Gutiérrez, G., Jagayat, J., Layzell, G., Patel, C., McCart, A.,

Gibney, C., Langstaff, C., Ayonrinde, O., Khalid‐Khan, S., Milev, R., Snelgrove−Clarke,

E., Soares, C. N., Omrani, M., & Alavi, N. (2023). Mental health challenges, treatment

experiences, and care needs of post-secondary students: a cross-sectional mixed-methods

study. BMC Public Health, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15452-x

MSN, K. B. a. C. (2023b, August 22). College students and depression: A guide for parents.

Mayo Clinic Health System.

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/college-st

udents-and-depression
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Steare, T., Muñoz, C. G., Sullivan, A., & Lewis, G. (2023b). The association between academic

pressure and adolescent mental health problems: A systematic review. Journal of Affective

Disorders, 339, 302–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.07.028

House, F. (2023b, February 1). Addressing college mental health with compassion and common

sense. Forbes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeseq/2023/02/01/addressing-college-mental-health-with

-compassion-and-common-sense/?sh=2d6e0f294c0f

College Student Mental Health Statistics | BestColleges. (n.d.-b). BestColleges.com.

https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/college-student-mental-health-statistics/

WebMD Editorial Contributors. (2021b, March 26). What to know about Depression in College

Students. WebMD.

https://www.webmd.com/depression/what-to-know-about-depression-in-college-students