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UH students
under pressureStudies show student stress
How to reduce stress
is up nationwide, but it's
more acute at UH-Manoa
A look at a UCLA student survey
A Web health center By Susan Kreifels
Star-BulletinSunlight breaks through the broad trees on the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus and a cooling breeze comes from deep in the valley. But, don't talk to Robyn Polinar about going to school in a laid-back tropical paradise.
Polinar, a freshman, has other things on her mind -- lots of them. There are her classes, of course. She wants to be a veterinarian, so pressure is keen and her grade point average isn't as high as she wants it to be.
There's the cost of her education. Like most of her friends, she works, putting in at least 15 hours a week after school. She's hoping for a scholarship.Then, there are the emotional and material needs of the young in a new environment. Five hundred of her hard-earned dollars were plunked down to buy a CD player.
"You don't know what to expect," she said at the start of a psychology lab. "No one told me to balance classes. You study less. You learn how to go out. You have to compete with everyone else. It's stressful."
Polinar is far from alone in discovering that life after high school carries extra weight. Stress for college freshmen has almost doubled in the past 15 years, according to a recent national study. And, as incongruous as it may seem in a state associated with carefree living, surveys indicate the problem is more severe among UH-Manoa students.
"They worry about money; they're not doing as well in school as they would like; their parents are stressed," said UH psychology professor David Watson. "It must be very frustrating."
For 10 semesters, Watson handed out a stress questionnaire to students in his introductory psychology class, mostly freshmen and sophomores. Each time, the results troubled him.The 50 questions ran the gamut of possible student concerns, from grades to cars breaking down to parents getting divorced.
Scoring above 300, by national norms, doubles the odds of a student becoming ill the following semester.
Watson consistently found his students averaged above 600 -- a result so startling that he "worried something was wrong with the national norms." Without formal research, though, he can only speculate about the reasons.
Working means lower grades
He believes a major factor is the large percentage of UH students who work.Studies show grades drop when students work more than 20 hours a week, as half his students do. He said economic worries -- combined with other problems, such as budget cuts that make classes harder to get and poor high school preparation -- may be combining to create the churning stomachs.
A 1999 survey of 1,000 incoming freshmen seems to support Watson's thinking. Half of those surveyed were concerned about their ability to finance their education, and 36 percent said they will have to work at least part time to stay in school.
Indeed, UH students for years have had a higher percentage of students working than at comparable mainland institutions. In an undergraduate survey taken in 1996, 59 percent of UH-Manoa students said they worked 15 hours a week or more, compared to 33 percent nationally.Still, the evidence is not consistent.
UH-Manoa institutional analyst Joan Harms noted that the percentage of working students here actually fell slightly in the 1990s, despite rising tuitions and the bursting of the '80s economic bubble. More research is needed, she emphasized.
Nonetheless, increased stress among college newcomers is clear.
A recent survey, conducted by UCLA at 462 two- and four-year institutions, showed a record 30 percent of freshmen "felt overwhelmed" by all they have to do, nearly double the 16 percent registered in 1985.
Females were twice as likely to feel stress as males.
Time management difficult
The situation means more students are suffering from stress-related depression and anxiety, and more are going to clinics like UH-Manoa's Counseling and Student Development Center, said Jeff Brooks-Harris, a psychologist at the center.Financial pressures could be a factor, Brooks-Harris acknowledged, although some may be self-imposed.
"They feel like they need to own a cell phone," he said. "Often, parents are paying for tuition, but students are paying for things like pagers."
He also believes computers could be a culprit as much as they can be an educational tool.
"For the last couple of years, I've worked with a lot of students having trouble managing time because they're spending a lot of time playing strategy games on the Web or in chat rooms, when they should be studying," he said.
And, he believes the many UH students who live at home feel the added pressure of daily family responsibilities that those living on their own don't have.
Some assistance is available.
Psychology labs, for instance, teach time-management and study skills to freshmen, who "often come unprepared," said Amy Kauahi, a senior majoring in psychology.
Half the freshmen said they would seek on-campus counseling, if they felt the need.
The definite causes of stress, however, are uncertain until more research is done, which some advocate.
In the meantime, students will have to continue to confront a host of problems which, according to Watson, can turn UH's lush Manoa campus into a "whole lot of sink-or-swim and self-destruction."
Not all stress is bad. People need low levels of stress -- known as eustress -- to keep alert, face challenges and solve problems. Take these steps
to reduce ‘bad’ stressDistress, on the other hand, is overreaction to events and can lead to problems, such as diarrhea, headaches, depression, insomnia, heart disease and unhealthy habits like drinking, overeating, smoking and drug use.
Here are some tips on stress management, compiled by Dr. Kent Yamauchi, and taken from "Innovations in Clinical Practice: A Source Book."
1. Learn to relax. Take "mini-breaks": Get comfortable, breathe deeply, drop your shoulder muscles, and say something positive. Get enough sleep.
2. Accept things you can't change.
3. Ask yourself what real impact a stressful situation will have on you in a day or a week, and let the negative thoughts go. Accept your errors and learn from them. Set realistic goals and avoid perfectionism and procrastination.
4. Get organized. Schedule your day with time for work, sleep, play and relationships. Make a daily "to-do" list. Clean your house, room or office..
5. Exercise regularly.
6. Allow time to get things done. Pace, don't race.
7. Don't compete in every situation. Raised voices aren't necessary in talks with friends.
8. Balance work, family and social demands with special private time: hobbies, soaking in a hot tub, watching a sunset, strolling, listening to music.
9. Watch habits. Eat and drink sensibly, and avoid nonprescription drugs, excess caffeine and sugar. Don't smoke.
10. Talk to friends. Daily conversations and occasional sharing of deep feelings are good medicine.
Susan Kreifels, Star-Bulletin
Survey: Students
Star-Bulletin staff
study, drink lessA UCLA survey of 261,217 freshmen at 462 colleges and universities found that 25 percent of respondents thought there was "some" or a "very good" likelihood they would get full-time jobs while attending college. That's a record high for the survey's 34 years.
The recently released survey was taken of freshmen entering college last fall. Other findings:
Women spent more time studying, volunteering, participating in student activities, and tending to housework and child-care. Men spent more time exercising, playing sports, watching TV, partying and playing video games.
Tired of waiting to see a doctor? Drop into a Web
health centerStudents can now get instant health information without visiting the campus health center or a doctor's office.
A new Internet company, headed by a former college health center director, aims to provide health information to students in an informal fashion.
The Web site, 98six.com, went online in January, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The site is named after the human body's normal temperature and includes information in a number of categories, with content changing daily.
A section called "Pressure Drop" is about coping with stress.
Richard P. Keeling, chief executive officer of Rethink Inc., the Web site's creator, said the site provides information that's hard for students to find elsewhere.
Keeling was director of the University of Wisconsin at Madison's health center for seven years. He currently is editor of the Journal of American College Health.
Susan Kreifels, Star-Bulletin
