A Comparative Study on The Stress Levels of Black White Asian and Latino Undergraduate Students
Research found that undergraduates who had poor academic performance and experienced depression and anxiety were reported to have encountered higher levels of stress than those students who persisted (Andrews Wilding, 2004; Bennett, 2003) It also was found that minority students had a higher tendency to experience stress than their counterparts. Although, universities allocate resources to recruit minority undergraduates and provide various types of support, many universities tend to be limited in the resources for handling and detecting stressors among college students. The purpose of this research was to investigate the different levels of stress faced by minority college students and also to take a systematic look at levels of stress as reported by Black, White, Asian, and Latino students at a major urban university on the East Coast of the United States. The findings indicated no significant differences in the stress levels in regards to students' ethnicity. It is imperative that college recruiters understand that although students may be diverse in their ethnicity, they also arrive on campus from diverse family backgrounds, meaning that a large percentage come from low income homes and many are first generation college students. Therefore, academic leaders should consider creating programs and interventions that would provide support for students who are members of these underrepresented groups. Introduction Over the last, few decades there has been an imbalance of successful academic outcomes based on racial, ethnic, and low socio economic status among college students. This imbalance or gap is measured by grade point average, dropout rate, college enrollment, and college completion rate, reported among minority groups of students. The academic performance among Black, Latino, and economically disadvantaged students are lower when compared to their White, Asian and more economically privileged counterparts. The disparity in the level of academic performance has been at the heart of social commentary, research, and controversy for decades (Harper, 2006; Harper, Carini, Bridges, Miller, 2007) The collegiate achievement gap is a pressing issue not only in education but also in our society, as a whole. Currently there are more Black undergraduates enrolled in college than ever before, however, the graduation and retention rates of Black students when compared to White students, continues to be at an overwhelming low. Recent figures show that the national college graduation rate for Black college students is 43 percent, which is 20 percent lower than the 63 percent rate for White students (Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2007) Several factors influence the graduation rates of Black students on college campuses. Racism or racial tendency was reported as one of the major factors, according to minority students, that caused stress while attending college. Students who perceived a certain level of STRESS LEVELS OF UNDERGRADUATES Journal of Research Initiatives 2 racism on campus expressed feelings of depression, isolation, angry, anxiety, and disengagement from their college communities. These feelings led some students to underachieve or dropout of college. Ouimette, White, Colder, and Farrow (2011) found that stress occurred more often among freshmen, due to the newfound freedom and responsibilities during the beginning of their college careers. The authors discovered that 66% of incoming college students surveyed had experienced some form of life traumas prior to attending college. Previous exposure to stress can elevate stress in the college setting if a similar situation is recalled. Students who have experienced traumatic incidents may suffer from elevated stress levels. When a student has experienced prior stress, the effects of additional stressors can be magnified. Ragsdale, Beehr, Grebner, and Han (2011) found that stressors are common in academic settings and are mostly associated with psychological strain. When individuals endure a stressful situation, time is needed to recover or heal from the event to prevent another episode. The researchers found that it was imperative for students to allot time for themselves. This is necessary in order to diminish stress that occurs during the rigors of college life. This finding suggested that weekends were great times to reduce stress. College students need to cope with psychological and social changes that are associated with attending college and their new independence. The years that young people attend college can be a very sensitive time of life, and this phase of young adults' life is a time where concerned parties should develop and implement support systems and interventions to lessen mental problems (Gjerde, 1993) College or university departments such as counseling centers, student life departments, student support programs, multicultural affairs, and student housing, should be those sources of intervention. Research suggesting that college students are susceptible to mental health problems has spawned increased public concern in the western hemisphere (Stanley Manthorpe, 2001) Prior scholarly investigations have found high rates of psychological morbidity, particularly in the levels of depression and anxiety, among college students globally (Stewart Brown, Evans, Patterson, Petersen, Doll, Balding, Regis 2000; Voelker, 2003) Psychological morbidity (distress) among college students is an overlooked public health problem, which can have a major impact on students, campus health services, and mental health policy making (StewartBrown et al. 2000) There is a need for a higher level of understanding of the effect of psychological morbidity on the educational attainment of college. Undergraduate students have to cope with stress from several different areas of their lives (Mangold, Veraza, Kinkier, Kinney, 2007) College students have to adapt to college life, while carrying out developmental tasks, and handling unexpected societal events, which all play a significant role in increasing students' stress levels and adding to the development of physiological issues (Serlachius, Hamer, Wardle, 2007) and psychological difficulties (Bell and D'Zurilla, 2009) Academic stress is the preeminent stressor of undergraduates (Deroma, Leach, Leverett, 2009; Ross, Niebling, Heckert, 1999) The transition from high school to college and from adolescent to independent adulthood (Serlachius, Hamer, Wardle, 2007) along with perceived life stressors produces overall stress with different levels of intensities and magnitudes (Lunney, 2006; Sowa, 1992) Researchers in the fields of education and psychology for decades have studied the psychological and educational phenomena among college students; recently there is mounting research data that suggest that the college student population is very distinctive in regards to their stage of human development and culture (Arnett, 2000; Sher Gotham, 1999) Young people between the ages of 18 24 years old account for one third of the college population in the United States (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2012) which suggests a necessity for the examination of the psychological phenomena among undergraduates. The process of leaving high school and in many cases leaving their family's home to live on campus or closer to campus, placing them in unfamiliar surroundings, roles, relationships, and facing the unknown of becoming a member of STRESS LEVELS OF UNDERGRADUATES Journal of Research Initiatives 3 their college's community is very stressful. Undergraduates are faced with creating new friendships, new relationship with adults in authority, while successfully handling the academic rigors of college coursework and in some case still having responsibilities at home i.e. caring for family members or other family responsibilities. Males and females experience stress differently (Baker, 2003; Lee, Keough, Sexton 2002) and frequently vary in how they experience, perceive and handle stressful life events (Burke Weir, 1978) Currently, there is little research as to whether or not gender is a moderator of student stress; however, there is research on how male and female students handle academic stress (Baker, 2003; Lee et al. 2002) Variations in the perception of stress have been correlated with gender differences and social connectedness (Baker, 2003; Lee et al. 2002) Male students who report having a lower level of social connectedness described having a more negative appraisal of campus life than female students (Lee et al. 2002) The researchers provided the explanation for the gender difference between stress and social connectedness stating that males typically are more independent, while females have a tendency to be interdependent. Yet, social connectedness was increasingly correlated with perceived level of stress for both male and female students (Lee et al. 2002) In 1993, Holmbeck and Wandrei investigated the social supports given by parents and personality variables and found that the lack of family cohesiveness, attachment, instrumentality, self esteem, and parental social support were all predictors of anxiety and depression. Female students who reported greater levels of family support had lower levels of anxiety and depression. Male students who reported lower family support reported higher levels of depression and anxiety. The attachment to their parents and the support given by parents were key predictors of positive adjustment to university life. Male students who lived at home during their transition to college reported the least amount of stress (Lafreniere, Ledgerwood, Docherty, 1997) Male and female undergraduates who perceived a high level of support from their families were more inclined to report high levels of adjustment to university life, regardless of whether or not they moved away from home for the first time to attend college. Students who reported low levels of fa