Book Description
Abstract: When students leave for college, they experience a significant change in their routine. These new life changes can give rise to factors that contribute to signs of anxiety and depression. A report of data from 2016 to 2017 revealed that the top five reported issues among over 150,000 surveyed college students were anxiety (62.2%), depression (49.7%), stress (45.5%), family (30.1%), and academic performance (26.8%) (Newhart et al., 2019). Of these issues, research has looked into identifying the causal factors of mental health strains on students. I took a different approach, and I aimed to correlate levels of depression and anxiety with specific class standing in college. The survey attempted to determine whether depression and anxiety increase or decrease throughout the four years of an undergraduate program, as well as analyzed potential differences between men, women, and transfer students. This survey also examined the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on depression and anxiety in college students. I conducted this survey with the expectation that depression and anxiety decrease when progressing through college, with the highest levels of these disorders occurring among first-year participants. In addition, females and transfer students will report higher levels of depression and anxiety. Lastly, I expected students to report a significant change in symptoms of depression and anxiety after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Based on the results, I identified potential causal factors and methods of treatment determined by previous research in an attempt to bring awareness to these two mental health disorders. Due to the transition to college that first year students experience compared to the stress that comes with preparing for a professional career at one’s fourth year, it is important to note the prevalence of these two disorders across class years.