Anxiety is classified as a mental health crisis among today’s college students. According to new research by Dr. Kristy Tucciarone, Program Chair and Professor of Advertising and Strategic Communications at Lindenwood University, factors associated with anxiety among students include: helicopter parents, social media, pressure to succeed, equating good grades to success, structure in high school, high cost of college, locus of control, and materialistic values. Tucciarone found that institutions that advertise anxiety resources have a positive effect on student enrollment and student mental health.
“If universities advertise anxiety resources,” Tucciarone wrote in the latest issue of College & University, “this communicates a pervasive message that: the school values and cares for me as an individual; I am not just a number, the school values my overall success as both a person and a student; and the school resources allow me to navigate in a relaxed, comfortable, secure, supported, and confident manner.”
Tucciarone found that students seek real stories about “students’ anxiety, causes, and the feeling of not being alone.” In addition, she found that students seek straightforward messages about resources such as activities to reduce stress, services and treatments offered at the counseling center, coping strategies, group meetings, location/hours of operation/phone, positive affirmation messages, student success workshops, and mental health screenings. Resources also include animal therapy, meditation rooms, and yoga.
“Universities that feature advertisements communicating both academic and emotional resources to prospective students are more likely to turn college seekers into enrolled students,” she wrote.
Other articles in this issue include:
Features
Higher Education Administrator Turnover: An Examination of Situational Leadership Styles by Rheanna Reed
An Interview with Mike Reilly by Jeff von Munkwitz-Smith
Op-eds and Their Potential Effect on Tenure, Promotion and Public Scholarship: An Interview with M. Yvonne Taylor and Dr. Joshua Childs by Zach Taylor
Responding to COVID-19 Series
A Second Swing for the Fences: Higher Education Investment in the Time of COVID-19 by Stephen J. Handel and Eileen Strempel
When COVID-19 Crashed Commencement by Sara C.W. Sullivan, Julie Fell and Becky Keogh
Commentary
Inclusive Pedagogy for AACRAO Members by Opal Leeman Bartzis
Research in Brief
Should Students with Criminal Convictions be Allowed to Participate in Higher Education? What Faculty Think by Terrence McTier and Molly Ott
Suicide Postvention: A Growing Challenge for Higher Education Administrators by Sarah Rompalo, Rodney Parks, & Alexander Taylor
Book Reviews
Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Team reviewed by Jerry Ross
The College Completion Glass: Half-Full or Half-Empty? reviewed by Susan Weisman
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