Wellbeing While in College

Abstract

There are numerous stressors that college students face throughout their undergraduate years, each contributing to the growing prevalence of mental health concerns. Stress-related and environmental factors among college students often arise from pressures such as academic demands, social isolation, and financial uncertainty. Research shows that loneliness and depression predict each other over time and are both highly correlated with anxiety, forming a continuous pattern of declining mental health. Similar literature primarily addresses environmental factors without considering whether students’ disciplines affect their understanding or experience of mental health challenges. This study seeks to bridge the gap between how academic majors, external factors, and addictive behaviors intersect with psychological well-being. This study will also assess the mental health of college students and the impacts of external factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and major of study, as well as participation in addictive behaviors over time, based on their levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Multiple hypothesis are examined in this study (1) students with higher levels of self-reported loneliness will also report higher engagement in addictive behaviors; (2) psychology majors will experience less anxiety symptoms when compared to college students with other majors; (3) depression levels in college students will significantly increase during each year of college due to stress, employment, and substance usage; (4) depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and engagement in addictive behaviors will increase with each academic year in college. Depression and anxiety will be assessed using portions of the DASS-21, Loneliness will be evaluated using the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the YRBS will be utilized to assess addictive behaviors in college students throughout their undergraduate years. This study has been approved by the Murray State IRB, using SONA to collect data from participants, which is ongoing at this current time and will be presented at Scholars Week. Keywords: Depression, anxiety, loneliness, addictive behaviors, mental health in college, alcohol use