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Will it Ever Stop?

Throughout recent years the stress in college students has risen significantly. When this

stress grows to be too much, one can only imagine what will happen. In this paper, I will argue

that college students are met with immense pressure from themselves as well as many outside

factors they cannot control, the consequences of not doing well in college, how much harm this

stress can cause to an unsuspecting college student, and some of the unhealthy coping strategies

college students may resort to. A fear of disappointing people, especially parents, sometimes gets

the better of us. The pressure exerted from this fear leads to elevated levels of stress on students

to do well in college.

College students feel immense pressure to succeed, and this pressure is followed with an

almost unimaginable amount of stress. There are many different factors experienced by college

students that add elevated levels of stress to their everyday lives. In the article, "Advertising

Anxiety Resources to Increase Enrollment and Support Student Mental Health”, Tucciarone,

Kristy, claims that "Anxiety is classified as a mental health crisis on today's college campuses

and is the leading concern for college students. There are eight major factors associated with

anxiety among college students, which are: helicopter parents, social media, pressure to succeed,

good grades equal success, structure in high school, high cost of college, locus of control, and

materialistic values” (Tucciarone 16). All these factors combined create an immense level of

stress. Stress not to disappoint, to succeed, to get good grades, to be able to pay for college and

so much more. If one does not succeed in college, if they fail, one hopes to only be able to guess

what could go wrong.

One must acknowledge that the claim rests on the assumption that there are consequences

of not doing well in college. If one does not do well in college, they may not succeed in life. In
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the article, “Why go to College?” Paul E. Barton suggests that “FEW BUT THE FOOLHARDY

WOULD dispute the value of a college education. In addition to enjoying the intrinsic benefits of

four years of education beyond high school, college graduates simply make more money-a lot

more.” (Barton 74). Those who have a better education tend to get better, higher paying jobs.

That being said, scholars have a better chance of living a comfortable life. They have more

options of where they are going to go, what they are going to do. Since they are not held down

by a lack of education their opportunities are much greater. Though the stress associated with

college and reaching that level of success can be harmful to an unsuspecting college student.

One must acknowledge that the assumption is reasonable because there are dangers

associated with the elevated stress levels in college students to succeed. One can only question,

what happens when this stress grows to be too much? Stress can lead students to feel bad about

themselves and to believe that there is nothing they can do to stop these thoughts. In the article,

“The Associations between Academic Stress and Depression among College Students: A Moderated

Chain Mediation Model of Negative Affect, Sleep Quality, and Social Support”, Liu, Yongli, states

that “From the perspective of stress response mechanism, people stimulated by stress would

perceive stress in the cerebral cortex and make negative evaluations, and consequently awaken

negative emotions”(Yongli 2). Stress can cause a college student to make negative evaluations

about themselves as well as the world around them leading to negative emotions and maybe even

causing mental health disorders. These mental health conditions can be detrimental to college

students and can cause feelings of burn out that may even lead to suicidal thoughts. As these

thoughts and stress continue college students find new ways to cope.

As stress grows to be too much college students look for any way to escape, even

if just for a little while. These alternative methods are most of the time more detrimental to the

students than the original stress and can cause lifelong consequences. Addiction is not pretty and
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never will be, yet when exposed to a new option to handle their never-ending stress with ease,

college students may do just about anything. In the article, “ADHD, depression, and substance

abuse risk among beginning college students” Kirk Mochrie, claims that “Substance abuse is a

significant problem among college students, with alcohol/drug use associated with increased

prevalence of negative outcomes, including diminished academic performance, social

interpersonal difficulties, and engagement in risky behaviors.” The effects of substance abuse

cause more harm than the problems the students were originally facing. Not only does substance

abuse negatively impact your academic performance, but it can also cause lifelong addiction.

When overcome with almost unimaginable amounts of stress college students, most of the time

make decisions based on what will help them in the moment. Rather than on how it will affect

them in the future.

The stress surrounding college students continues to grow by the day. Most students have

just finished high school and are met immediately with mountains of pressure from themselves,

from their parents, from what seems to be the world. The reason one would put oneself through

this stress is in fear. Fear of not being enough, of disappointing people, of not being able to reach

one’s life goals. Having an education gives one an advantage when finding a job that they will

enjoy and that also pays well. It is almost essential to have an education in today’s world. Yet,

the stress that is produced by getting that education is detrimental to the students. Levels of burn

out are at an all-time high and as this stress and pressure grow so do mental health disorders in

students, as well as problems with substance abuse which could harm them in the long run.

Leaving college students to question “Will it Ever Stop?”

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Works Cited

Liu, Yongli, et al. “The Associations between Academic Stress and Depression among College

Students: A Moderated Chain Mediation Model of Negative Affect, Sleep Quality, and

Social Support.” Acta Psychologica, vol. 239, 2023, pp. 104014–104014,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104014.

Mochrie, K. D., Whited, M. C., Cellucci, T., Freeman, T., & Corson, A. T. (2020). ADHD,

depression, and substance abuse risk among beginning college students. Journal of

American College Health, 68(1), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1515754

Tucciarone, Kristy. “Advertising Anxiety Resources to Increase Enrollment and Support Student

Mental Health.” College and University, vol. 96, no. 1, 2021, pp. 16–29.

“Why Go to College?” The Wilson Quarterly (Washington), vol. 32, no. 2, 2008, pp. 74-74.