Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Research Blog #5

4 Scholarly Online Sources:



Andrews, B., Wilding, J. “The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students.” British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 95, 2004, pp. 509-521.

Beiter, R., Nash, R., McCrady, M., Rhoades, D., Linscomb, M., Clarahan, M., Sammut, S. "The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students." Journal of Affective Disorders, Vol. 173, 2015, pp. 90-96. 

Eisenberg, D., Gollust, S., Golberstein, E., Hefner, J. “Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality Among University Students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 77, No. 4, 2007, pp. 534-542.

Williams, A. “Social drinking, anxiety, and depression.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 3, No. 6, 1996, pp. 689-693.



1 Book Source:

Becker, Dana. One Nation under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea. New York: Oxford UP, 2013.                 Print.


Other Sources:

Dove, Rachael. “Anxiety: the epidemic sweeping through Generation Y.” The Telegraph.20 April                   2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/health/anxiety-the-epidemic-sweeping-through-                   generation-y/. 22 Feb. 2017

DSM Library. DSM, Fifth Edition, American Psychiatric Association.http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm05. Accessed 19 Mar 2017.

DSM Library. DSM, Fifth Edition, American Psychiatric Association. http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm04. Accessed 19 Mar 2017.

Novotney, Amy. "Students Under Pressure." American Psychological Association, vol. 45, No. 8,                  September 2014, pp. 36. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/09/cover-pressure.aspx. Accessed              26 February 2017.










Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Research Proposal

Research Blog #4


Shayla Carroll
Professor Goeller
Research Proposal
March 7, 2017

Working Title: An Increase of Mental Illness Amongst College Students
Topic:
I will explore the increase in depression and anxiety amongst college students in the United States, as well as in Britain. In the past ten years depression and anxiety high skyrocketed in the university population. This increase can be brought about by a variety of factors, which range from the mere increase of students who chose to attend college to the fact that more colleges across the nation are becoming privatized. It is important that colleges acknowledge this increase in order for them to provide the necessary help to their students.

Research Question
To what extent has depression and anxiety increased in college students and why has this increase occurred? How are colleges taking action in dealing with this epidemic?

Theoretical Frame
There is evidence to prove that the increase in depression and anxiety is likely due to outside stressors, not just a student’s predisposition for a mental illness. Higher education is bringing about overwhelming levels of stress to all aspects of a student’s life. In Dana Becker’s book she mentions that social problems are an inside job that cause stress to many people. Americans, however, take the social stressors causing their problems and try to face it on an individual level basis. It makes no sense to continue providing individual treatment options when the problems themselves are much larger scaled than that.  In an article “"Anxiety: the epidemic sweeping through Generation Y” Rachael Dove explains some of these social problems that Becker brings awareness to. Dove gives examples such as social media and the fear of missing out, FOMO, as aspects of someone’s life that can cause them to experience anxiety. Another issue that can be influencing such high depression and anxiety rates in college students is the privatization of colleges. Privatization of higher education is on the rise in the United States and Britain, and so are depression and anxiety rates. According to Doves’ article, the most prevalent mental illness in Britain is Anxiety. I am curious to find out if college is a common ground for increased depression and anxiety in both the United States and Britain.
Research and Plan:
            The study “Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicdality Among University Students” by Eisenberg et al., was a study that found an obvious increase in depression and anxiety amongst a college population. This study in particular found that students of a lower socioeconomic background were at a higher risk for mental health problems. With the adverse affects of privatization on students from a lower socioeconomic background, I believe there will be evidence that privatization of colleges can be increasing the prevalence of mental illness in this population. In the study “The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students” Andrews and Wilding discuss the affects of depression and anxiety on academic performance once a student enters college. A direct correlation to depression and anxiety in this study, much like the one previously discussed, was financial difficulties. Privatization may not be the only thing contributing to the rise of mental illness in college students; the social aspect of drinking may also be contributing to it. In one study by Allan F. Williams, “Social drinking, anxiety, and depression” he writes that students were more likely to feel anxious and depressed during an after drinking. I plan to use evidence from this study once I gain complete access to it. In Amy Novotney’s article she discusses potential resources that will help students cope with anxiety and depression while in school. There is a device that helps log anxiety problems, and gives coping mechanisms. This helps reduce the waitlist time many universities are having issues with at mental health facilities.
           







Working Bibliography

Andrews, B., Wilding, J. “The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students.” British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 95, 2004, pp. 509-521.

Becker, Dana. “Does ‘Stress’ Hide Deeper Social Problems?” Time Ideas. 13 Mar. 2013. http://ideas.time.com/2013/03/13/does-stress-hide-deeper-social-problems/. Accessed 22 Feb 2017.

Dove, Rachael. “Anxiety: the epidemic sweeping through Generation Y.” The Telegraph. 20 April 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/health/anxiety-the-epidemic-sweeping-through-generation-y/. 22 Feb. 2017

Eisenberg, D., Gollust, S., Golberstein, E., Hefner, J. “Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality Among University Students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 77, No. 4, 2007, pp. 534-542.

Novotney, Amy. "Students Under Pressure." American Psychological Association, vol. 45, No. 8, September 2014, pp. 36. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/09/cover-pressure.aspx. Accessed 26 February 2017.


Williams, A. “Social drinking, anxiety, and depression.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 3, No. 6, 1996, pp. 689-693.

Literature Review #2

1. Literature Review
Shayla Carroll

-One of the Authors: Daniel Eisenberg
 
2. Eisenberg D., Gollust, S.E., Golberstein E., Hefner, J.L. "Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, and Suicidality Among University Students." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol. 77, No.4, 2007, pp. 534-542.
3.  This Article did a survey, via the web, to assess the prevalence and correlates depression, anxiety, and suicidality in university students. That is, how many cases there are and what life factors are associated with each mental illness. The findings of this article showed that 15.6% of undergraduates and 13.0% of graduate students have some type of depressive or anxiety disorder. Suicidal ideation was considered by 2% of this University's students. The conclusion of this study were that students who had financial struggles were at higher risk for mental illness. The study does address some potential concerns because of non response bias, but ultimately the findings can still be concluded. Implications of this conclusion indicate the universities should address mental health issues in students who come from a lower socioeconomic background being that they are the one's most at risk. In order to keep college success rates high and diverse, this is a must.

4. This research study was conducted by a team from the University of Michigan. Daniel Eisenberg is a Stanford Graduate who is currently a professor, and also the director of the doctoral program of Health Services Organization and Policy at UM. His goal in research is to "improve understanding of how to invest effectively and efficiently in the mental health of young people."
Sarah Gollust is currently a professor at the University of Minnesota. She teachers healthy policy, and focuses on public health in politics. At the University of Minnesota is also Ezra Golberstein who is interested in health economics, mental health services and policy, health care financing and costs, and many other related fields. He received his Ph.D from University of Michigan and has done research at Harvard Medical School.  Jennifer Hefner received her Ph.D in the Health Services Organization and Policy from University of Michigan. She is interested in "primary/hospital care transformation to improve patient care and work satisfaction for providers

5. Suicidality is a word that comes up a lot that many people are not familiar with. Suicidality is the likelihood of an individual committing suicide. Depression is the feelings of persisting sadness and loss of interest. Anxiety is a constant feeling of worry/nervousness typically about the future (whereas fear is present based- anxiety is future oriented).

6. " College and university communities reach over half of each cohort of youths and thus represent opportunities to help prevent mental health problems before they occur or before they become more serious. These efforts can help counter the unfortunate reality that the average delay in seeking care for a mental illness is 8-10 years" (Eisenberg, et al., 540)

"As enrollment of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds rises, understanding and addressing their mental health needs is essential for assuring the conditions for successful educational experiences" (Eisenberg, et al., 540)

"some of the strongest associations were between generalized anxiety disorder and major depression" (Eisenberg, et al., 537)
*this quote is amazing for my paper being that I chose to do anxiety AND depression because of their high comorbidity rate.

7. This research article is a great way to start my argument. My last literature review was based off of the idea that these facts were already set and stone. Though they are, this article provides the statistical evidence necessary. I can use this article as a starting point, and use my other sources to elaborate on more specific causes, and what can be done to help. This article helps me answer the first part of my research question, which is "to what extent has anxiety and depression increased amongst college students?" I hope to find a more recent article being that this one is from 2007, but this is a great place to start. Hopefully I can find a more recent related study that shows these numbers are still on the rise.