Source 1:

Millett-Thompson, A. (2017). Dealing with college students' stress, anxiety, and depression. The

Journal for Quality and Participation, 39(4), 24-27. Retrieved from

https://login.ezp.pasadena.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/18659927

36?accountid=28371

This article concisely outlines several factors related to the issue of stress and anxiety

experienced by many college students. The main reason I chose this article as a source to use

in my case study is because it presents a realistic approach on how to handle stress and

anxiety in young adults. For instance, we all know that financial responsibilities are a major

stressors in life. The stress of maintaining financial stability commonly gets exacerbated in

college due to time limitations resulting in fewer hours to work, lower wage jobs, the costs

associated with attending college, and etc. This article does not simply state that the way to

minimize financial stress in college students is to relieve financial burdens as if someone could

just wave a magic wand and make debt disappear. Instead, the authors of this article are honest

and recognize that the stress of financial constraints cannot be eliminated since that wouldn’t be

realistic, but students can be educated on how to better manage the stress relating to finances.

The authors go on in this article to present several other common stressors for college

students and address how difficult it is to minimize or eliminate these stressors. The common

theme in this article is that it doesn’t help to say to a stressed out and/or anxious college

student, “Okay, so you have a big test this week. Just buckle down and study hard for it and

you’ll do fine.” The authors recognize that there is no simple approach to dealing with the stress

and anxiety experienced by young adults attending college. Many, if not most, of these students

have other obligations outside of school relating to social activities, family responsibilities,

employment, volunteering, and etc. The article clearly presents the idea that there is no silver

bullet for remedying the problem. Instead, the authors conclude that the most efficient and

effective way to help college students minimize and handle stress and anxiety appropriately is to
coach them on how to cope with it, since it is largely unavoidable. One proposed solution

presented in this article is to require all newly enrolled college students to take a mandatory

orientation course (which most colleges already have) to present students with resources,

information, and guidance on how to handle stress and anxiety, manage time effectively, and

educate them on when they should get help.

When I first started taking college courses years ago it became evident early on just how

overwhelming college life could be. For many students, myself included, college is a person’s

first taste of true independence as an adult, which can be really intense at times. College is a

learning experience both in and out of the classroom and what I really like about the ideas

presented in this article is that the authors take all of this into account then present a realistic

and manageable method of improving a college student’s stress and anxiety management skills.

Thought Question: In this article, the suggested method for helping college students with

managing stress and anxiety is to require all new students to complete a mandatory orientation

course which will coach each student on how to find a healthy work-college-life balance, but

would this be enough in your opinion? If you believe that this approach would be inadequate,

then what other methods could complement it to make it a more comprehensive solution for

managing stress and anxiety in college students?

Source 2:

Coutinho, S. (2008). Self-Efficacy, metacognition, and performance. North American Journal of

Psychology, 10(1), 165-172. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-

com.ezp.pasadena.edu/docview/1829006376?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/sid:wcdiscovery&a

ccountid=28371

This article outlines a research study conducted to test for links between self-efficacy,

metacognition, and academic performance in college students. As defined in this article, “Self-

efficacy refers to a person's perceived ability to attain a desired outcome by taking necessary
steps,” while metacognition relates to “thinking about your thinking.” The research which formed the

basis for this article used a scientific, quantifiable approach to determine how greatly self-efficacy

and metacognition impacted a student’s performance in college. Upon completion of their research,

the authors of this study made the conclusion that self-efficacy has a bigger impact on a student’s

success than metacognition does, however, metacognition still plays a role.

I believe this information to be highly important when analyzing the root causes for stress,

anxiety, depression, and success for college students, which is why I decided to use this article for

my case study. In my opinion, self-efficacy is one of the most important contributing factors to a

student’s stress/anxiety levels and overall performance in a college setting, at least it is in my own

experience. Lacking confidence in one’s abilities in school can have a trickle-down effect and seep

into other areas of a person’s life. For instance, when I am unconfident about an upcoming exam my

stress and anxiety levels increase. With increased stress and anxiety levels I become more irritable,

my performance decreases at work, and my ability to study effectively diminishes. All of these

byproducts combined do nothing but make the problem worse -- resulting in somewhat of a vicious

circle. I have noticed that even if I haven’t studied as much as I would have like to for an exam, if I

believe that I will do well then I end up performing better on said exam than if I had studied more, but

believed that I wasn’t prepared for it. It’s one of those “mind over matter” scenarios that actually

rings true for me.

Thought Question: What are three techniques, practices, or lifestyle changes that anyone

could implement to help improve their self-efficacy related to college work?

Source 3:

McGinn, D., & Depasquale, R. (2004, Aug 23). Taking depression on. Newsweek, 144, 59-60.

Retrieved from
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