educate
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College Life Skills
SPRING 2018
maskmatters.org
73
T
o help students and parents deal
with the stress that accompanies
college life, we asked Nicole
Taylor, Arizona State University
Deputy Vice President and
Dean of Students, and Dr. Aaron Kasnow,
Associate Vice President of Counseling &
Health Services, to provide some insight
and advice. Here’s what they shared.
While college is an exciting time
in a young person’s life, it can also
be a time of increased stress due to
major life changes and transitions.
What are the most common
stressors in a college student’s life?
The most common stressors in a
college student’s life are adjusting to
more personal responsibility, increased
autonomy living away from family,
changes in routine, increased academic
responsibilities, and meeting new people.
One important thing to keep in
mind is that college is designed to
change people. A student’s knowledge,
experiences and perspectives are all
changing. Major changes and transitions
often bring stress, but not all of this
stress is bad. A certain amount of stress is
beneficial and helps keep people focused.
For example, knowing a
deadline for a project is looming
can help students focus
on completing the project
on time, even though it
may feel somewhat stressful as the
deadline nears. However, when the
stress overwhelms our ability to cope
and starts to interfere with our lives, or is
so intense that it is painful, then that is a
time to seek help.
What can students do before
arriving on campus to prepare
themselves for the stresses of
college life?
We recommend three things students
can do before they arrive on campus to
prepare:
e
Think of times when you were
particularly stressed out.
What was
happening? Use that history as a guide
to think about how you want to handle a
similar situation in college.
r
Think about your strengths and
ways you effectively cope.
What has a
history of working? What new habit or
strategy do you want to try in college?
t
Practice being accepting of
yourself and your feelings.
There will
be great days and hard days. Both are
expected and both are OK. When you
accept yourself and your feelings, you
can see most hard days as “just a hard
day” as opposed to some statement
about you or your future. It’s difficult, but
this last tip is perhaps the most crucial to
stress management.
What are the potential dangers or
pitfalls a student can experience if
they don’t deal with their stress and
anxiety?
Feeling overwhelmed by stress, a common
student experience, can have a significant
impact on all aspects of a person’s
life. It can interfere with sleep patterns,
relationships, academic success, and mood.
There’s an old saying, “If you ask the
question, ‘Will too much stress make my
____ worse?’ No matter what you put in
the blank, the answer is always yes.”
What resources do colleges and
universities offer to help students
cope with stress and anxiety?
Great universities, like Arizona State
University, take a holistic approach to
student well-being.This means that every
faculty and staff member has an interest in
STRESS:
THE
COLLEGE
YEARS
