Risk Factors
In this campaign, risk factors present different challenging circumstances that increase the mental stress of people within the college application process. These challenges can lead to significantly negative effects on one’s mental stress, and ultimately negative outcomes during the college application process. Our risk factors focus on environmental and self pressures that students experiences. These include:
High Academic Expectations High school students are burdened with expectations to work extremely hard in high school and go to a prestigious university to succeed in life with others and even themselves. Along with this, students are constantly competing and being compared with others. Together, these put so much pressure on students to do well to the point that it negatively affects their mental health.
Social Media and Technology Social media promotes unrealistic academic expectations, leading people to question themselves while comparing their academic prowess with those seen online. As a result, this increases stress for people who want a post-secondary education. They are led to believe that their application won’t be as appealing compared to those seen online, thus they won’t get into the college they desired.
Anxiety When thinking about their postsecondary education and how it may affect their futures, students may feel afraid, confused, and/or uneasy. The fact is, with speculating about college comes lots of uncertainty. Students wonder how they can get into prestigious universities like others they know on the internet. This causes unnecessary stress that negatively affects students’ well-being, performance, and self-esteem in the long run.
Depression (Reactive) Reactive depression, or situational depression, is a common experience for people during college application season. Stress can come from your family, as their expectations for your future can result in un essay added pressure, which may cause college applications to deteriorate. In addition, situational depression can stem from the reality of one’s life-shifting, as friends people were so accustomed to will be different in college. Overall, reactive depression can result in reduced well-being for people who want to pursue a post-secondary education such as college.
Protective Factors
Protective factors can help to reduce mental stress and its negative aspects, and ultimately contribute to a person's well being. These factors in other words act as defense to the challenges that come with college applications, while also being used to improve the overall academic experience.
To battle our risk factors, we chose these:
Community Engaging with your supportive community is essential for balancing your social and academic life. By communicating with family and friends, students will be able to have a calming presence throughout their college application process that they would otherwise not have. It’s important for a student to primarily rely on their family, as they possess the lifelong experience a youthful student may need.
Connections Creating long-lasting, meaningful connections throughout your high school career will pay dividends during the college application process. Cultivating social relationships will allow for an outlet to relieve stress during your post-secondary academic journey.
Care College application seasons can be very stressful for many, so taking care of their physical and mental health should be priority number one. Making time to care for one’s well-being can be done in the form of activities they enjoy, as they can take a break from any stress they experience. In this new age of a more inclusive society, people are able to choose from a wide array of self-care activities in which they can participate. Activities such as yoga and basketball are shown to provide benefits for students both mentally and physically.