Causal Argument- belladonna98

The Neglect of College Students’ Emotional Well Being

At college, people experience change. According to Brian Harke of the Huffington post, students come to college “overly optimistic and confident in their ability to manage the challenges they will encounter at college.” This can cause an amount of stress that student have never dealt with before, and therefore do not know how to manage in a healthy way. Many students may look to partying or relationships to cope with their stress. These relationships and parties are not inherently problematic, but when they are forced or done with the wrong people, they can create dysregulation.

First off, of course, there is the academic side of college, the main cause of stress. Students think that they can handle college academics, and often get a reality check in the form of a failed test or paper. College academics can get so stressful that people write entire books on how to deal with said stress, such as “College Success” created by the Extended Learning Institute and Lumens Learning. But stress is not limited only to academics in college.

Many students know only what other people have told them in terms of college. For many students, information and stories come from their parents, who have most likely been out of college for many years and are focusing only on the good. They talk about the “College Experience” as if there is a standard for activities in college, like partying or falling in love. This puts pressure on students to not only achieve academically in the ways they have been encouraged to, but also to achieve socially. The wild and sometimes-exaggerated stories set even more expectations for students to fulfill, so forced relationships and parties with acquaintances occur. These non-organic interactions can cause dysregulation, as they did not happen naturally, they are forced, and they are unhealthy. This is not to say that to say that all relationships and parties are inherently unhealthy or cause dysregulation, but it is important to consider the related statistics.

82% of college students have admitted to using verbal violence against a romantic partner, often brought on by the use of drugs or alcohol. In that vein, 44% of college students have been classified as binge drinkers. In those relationships and parties seen as part of the college experience, a good amount of dysregulation exists.

The immense change that college students are undergoing, and the pressure felt by many of them causes the dysregulation described by the earlier statistics. Not only academic pressure, but that to somehow “succeed” socially, if that is even possible. If a student is under almost constant stress and/or feels pressure to succeed and they are not receiving any type of help, dysregulation is bound to happen. This brings me to my original point; college students need DBT. Once we stop looking at dysregulation as a part of being at college and see it as a real problem that has a clear solution, we are on the path to fixing it.

Works Cited

Ed.D., Brian Harke. “High School to College Transition, Part 1: The Freshman Myth.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 June 2010. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

Shook, Nancy J., Debora A. Gerrity, Joan Jurich, and Allen E. Segrist. “Courtship Violence Among College Students: A Comparison of Verbally and Physically Abusive Couples.” SpringerLink. N.p., Mar. 2000. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

ELI (Extended Learning Institute at NOVA), Lumen Learning. “College Success.” Candela Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.