Brigman 1

Delaney Brigman
UWRT 1103-015
Connie Rothwell
April 15, 2016
Preface
It has been a year or so since I have written a research paper so this was a little difficult
for me. One challenge for me was finding good and credible information to use in my paper.
Another challenge was narrowing down exactly what I was going to write my paper on. To meet
these challenges, I asked for help from you and from other students in the class and in my group.
Doing research for my topic also helped me to narrow down my topic. I think the best parts of
this project are the statistics and charts that I was able to find with information to use. It concerns
me, however, that I may not have enough information in my paper to support my topic.
I decided for the topic to make it a little more broad on the subject of stress and its many
causes and effects rather than just its effect on mental health in particular. My choice of audience
is aimed towards faculty and college students to make them a little more knowledgeable about
what stress is and how many people are affected by it. I chose the visuals that I did to provide
more information and to make my paper look more enticing to read.
I hope that you will enjoy my paper and that I have enough evidence and facts to support
my topic and my problem. I am worried, however, that I may not have given enough of a
solution to fix the problem.

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Causes and Effects of College Stress

(Farrell)
A students years in college are said to be the best times of your life. You are finally out
in the world, away from family in a possibly new city, making new friends, experiencing new
ideas and situations, and deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life. College can be a
very exciting time for young adults, however, with all of the new events and responsibilities
happening in your life, such as school, work, and relationships, college can also be one of the
most stressful times in a students life. I cannot think of one college student that would say they
are never stressed out throughout their time in school. Some stress can actually be healthy but
long-term stress can lead to many dangerous and serious problems for students, such as
depression and anxiety, physical health problems, and lowered self-esteem.
How do you define stress? Something that causes you to worry? A feeling where you are
constantly thinking about something unpleasant? Stress can be defined in many different ways,
but according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, stress is, a state of mental tension and worry
cause by problems in your life, work, etc. (Merriam-Webster) Something that causes strong
feelings of worry or anxiety. (Merriam-Webster) There are various events that can cause

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students to have stress, such as school work, working to pay the bills, and trying to maintain
relationships while juggling everything else happening in their lives. There are three different
types of stress according to the American Psychological Association: acute, episodic acute, and
chronic. (Cohen) Acute stress is said to be the most common type of stress. It is not only bad for
you but can also be good for you as well. The anticipation of something exciting is positive but
the adrenaline rush you get from having a car accident is negative. (Cohen) Episodic acute is the
same thing as acute stress that is happening often. (Cohen) This type of stress occurs when you
are constantly worrying about something and may be stress that continuously pops up. People
with Type A personalities are more prone to have this type of stress. (Cohen) Chronic acute
stress is when the stress is constantly there and never goes away. Chronic acute stress is the type
of stress that can cause health problems, such as heart problems, strokes, or cancer. (Cohen)
From personal experience, I always seem to get stressed out the most during the end of the
semester when I have a large load of school work that I am trying to wrap up for the end of the
semester while I am also working and trying to spend time with my family and friends. Stress
can affect people in a variety of ways. Some of the symptoms of stress can be physical,
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. (Cohen) Headaches, fatigue, indecisions, muddled
thinking, irritability, depression, restlessness, and over/under eating are all symptoms of stress.

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(Stress Less for the Holidays)

According to Cohen, twenty percent of college students say they feel stressed most of the
time and eighty percent say they sometimes or often feel stressed. (Cohen) Stress is a normal
every day part of life but only becomes a bigger problem when it becomes more prevalent and
starts to feel like it may be taking over your life.
One of the main side effects of long-term stress is depression or anxiety. Depression is a
serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often
is unable to live in a normal way. (Merriam-Webster) Anxiety is fear or nervousness about
what might happen. (Merriam-Webster) According to Cohen, thirty-four percent say they have
felt depressed within the last 90 days and thirteen percent have been diagnosed with depression
or anxiety. (Cohen) I, personally, have dealt with seasonal depression. During the winter time, I
become somewhat emotionless, upset more easily, and lose the desire to do anything. I also
overthink and worry a lot about certain events happening in my life which causes me anxiety.
Because of my anxiety and seasonal depression, that was a major factor in why I decided to
transfer colleges so that I would be able to stay closer to home. Serious depression can also lead

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students to having thoughts of suicide. Cohen finds that ten percent of students have at some
point had thoughts of suicide. (Cohen)

(Terrell)
Some students are well equipped to handle certain types of stress in their lives while other
students may have a harder time coping and dealing with stress. Everyone has their own way of
dealing with stress. A few of my ways of dealing with stress is listening or playing music or just
taking a break from everything to sit down and just enjoy doing something that I want to do.
Not only is mental health a concern with long-term stress but so are physical health
problems. One of these major physical health problems includes eating disorders, such as
anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder.

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(Types of
Eating Disorders)
When students move away from their parents and have a less structured environment, when it
comes to eating habits students are less careful about what they eat or do not eat. Eating
disorders can be triggered by various causes of stress, such as social anxiety and trying to fit into
a new crowd or just trying to eat away your problems. Although women are thought to have
more of a problem with eating disorders, men are affected by them as well, especially in college.
If you are depressed you may also not have the motivation to go out and be active. I know when
I was depressed I never wanted to get up and go out to do anything physical. All I wanted to do
was stay in my room by myself and lay around. This becomes a problem with many students.
Some students eat their problems and, therefore, gain more weight when they are stressed out
or depressed. Although over eating and lack of exercise are a major physical health problem that
can come from stress, not eating or binge eating can also be a major problem. Many students feel

Brigman 7
as if they need to lose weight fast to gain more friends or to get into a sorority or a fraternity.
Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are very serious illnesses and can lead to death if not
treated. Sports players are also very affected by these illnesses because they have that extra
pressure to maintain a certain weight in order to stay on their team and/or to keep a sports
scholarship.
When coming to college, or any new school or environment, students, and people in
general, are worried about their appearance. College is a major time in students lives, especially
socially. Appearance and body image are key in having a healthy outlook on life and yourself.
Not everyone, however, feels great about who they are and what they look like all of the time.
Even people who have positive self-esteem most of the time may be effected by stress in a way
that causes them to lose that positive self-image. Self-esteem, according to the Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, is defined as, A feeling of having respect for yourself and your abilities. (MerriamWebster) Even if stress doesnt lead students straight to having low self-esteem it can be a
snowball effect. Stress can lead students to some of the other effects I have mentioned, such as
depression and then that may lead to an eating disorder, like binge eating, and then that can lead
students to viewing themselves as unhealthy and to having a negative body image and low selfesteem.
Stress affects millions of college students and other individuals every day. It is not always
a bad thing but when it is constant it can be destructive to the person having the stress and others
around that person. If your stress becomes more and more prominent in your life you should seek
help before it turns into a bigger problem like depression. There are many different ways to help
reduce college stress like going to the student health centers to talk to a therapist or a doctor and
just getting out and being active can also help reduce levels of stress. Being active in clubs

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around campus or joining a sport or art group or having a spokesperson come talk to students
around campus about stress and ways to help control it would also be a great solution. Just
remember that not all stress is bad for you, a little stress can do you some good.

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Works Cited
Cohen, Melissa. "Student Stress & Anxiety Guide | LearnPsychology.org." Psychology. N.p.,
2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016. <http://www.learnpsychology.org/student-stress-anxietyguide/>.
Farrell, Courtney. "Stress." Emaze Presentations. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.emaze.com/@ALRZCROL/Stress>.
Farrar, Tabitha. "Eating Disorders in College." RSS 20. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.mirror-mirror.org/college.htm>.
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016. <http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/self%20esteem>.
"Merriam-Webster." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anxiety>.
"Merriam-Webster." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/depression>.
Pictures-base.com - Types Of Eating Disorders." Pictures-base.com - Types Of Eating Disorders.
N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2016. <http://pictures-base.com/types-of-eating-disorders.html>.
"Stress Less for the Holidays." Touch of Earth LLC. N.p., 25 Nov. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.touchofearth.com/uncategorized/stress-less-for-the-holidays/>.
Terrell, Arnesia. "Depression: Escaping The Demons Within." Odyssey. N.p., 15 Mar. 2016.
Web. 16 Apr. 2016. <http://theodysseyonline.com/webster/depression-escaping-thedemons-within/350589>.

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