Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

A Poor Diet in College Can Lead to a Lifetime of Bad Health

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

University students often get a reputation of living on a diet of microwavable meals and energy drinks. While these questionable decisions are usually chalked up to the college lifestyle, a new study is stressing the importance of ditching these habits after graduation. Researchers from the University of British Columbia Okanagan suggest poor dietary habits established during college can contribute to future health issues years and even decades later — including obesity, respiratory illnesses, and depression.

Dr. Joan Bottorff, a professor with UBCO’s School of Nursing, is one of several international researchers involved with this multi-site study that assessed the eating habits of university students. Nearly 12,000 medical students from 31 universities in China took part in this project, which aimed to determine the association between eating behaviors, obesity, and various diseases.

We know many students consume high-calorie meals along with sugary foods and drinks and there is lots of evidence to show those kinds of eating behaviors can lead to obesity,” Dr. Bottorff says in a university release. “These are not the only habits that lead to obesity, but they are important and can’t be ruled out.”

A typical student diet consisting of high-sugar or high-calorie foods can be a long-term issue; these habits often lead to obesity. Dr. Bottorff adds there is evidence suggesting stress and anxiety can cause overeating, and overeating is also known to lead to stress and depression.

The study was published in the journal Preventive Medicine Reports.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/poor-diet-college-bad-health/

One in Six High Schoolers Don’t Believe Their College Dreams Will Come True

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by Study Finds.

Going to college and graduating is a dream many teens have, but a growing portion of modern high school students say attending college just isn’t realistic for them. Researchers from the University of Georgia report that the vast majority of high school juniors (85%) want to attend college after graduating — but one in six don’t think that will actually happen.

More specifically, study authors found that students with lower grades generally still want to go to college but were less likely to believe they could successfully attain a bachelor’s degree. The same held true among students attending public high schools. Those from low-income families were also less likely to believe they could eventually attend college, although this group still generally desired higher education. Both young men and Hispanic students were especially likely to want to go to college but did not expect to actually attend.

Researchers analyzed data provided by the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study [HSLS:09], originally conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. That project was a nationally representative sample of high schoolers from 944 public and private schools who agreed to let researchers track them from 9th through 11th grade. For this latest project, study authors focused on responses from more than 9,650 students in their junior year.

While most students said they want to earn at least a bachelor’s degree, if not a master’s or doctorate, just 74 percent actually believe they would follow through on their plans. Consequently, those same students were less likely to search for, apply to, and enroll in college. Among those with low expectations for attending college, roughly half decided to go enroll in a two-year institution. The other half did not pursue higher education at all.

The study was published in the journal Educational Policy.

Source: Study Finds
https://studyfinds.org/high-school-college-dreams/

Evidence of 'Pandemic Brain' in College Students

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Decision-making capabilities of college students—including some graduating this spring—were likely negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, new research suggests.

Students in the small study conducted by researchers at The Ohio State University were less consistent in their decision-making during the 2020 fall semester compared to students who had participated in similar research over several previous years.

The researchers compared responses to a hypothetical situation made by students during the pandemic to responses made by students in earlier studies. They found evidence that students in 2020 were more likely to cycle between going with their gut and more thoroughly mulling over their answers depending on how the scenario was described.

"Our theory is that feeling stressed by everything going on was limiting students' resources to really evaluate the information that was presented to them," said lead author Melissa Buelow, professor of psychology at Ohio State's Newark campus.

The research also suggests that the prolonged and wide-ranging uncertainties that came with the global lockdown—far different from an acute stressor imposed in a lab—affected the brain region responsible for problem-solving and decision-making.

Buelow conducted the study with Ohio State Newark psychology faculty members James Wirth and Jennifer Kowalsky. The research was published recently in the Journal of American College Health.

Buelow and her colleagues were inspired to do the study after they referred to their own foggy thinking as "pandemic brain" in casual conversation.

A clinical neuropsychologist, Buelow has used the Adult Decision Making Competence (ADMC) scale in her research for a decade. For this study, researchers compared data from a pre-pandemic sample of 722 undergraduates who had been assessed with the ADMC scale to data from 161 students who participated in one of two assessments during the 2020 fall semester.

The main finding: Instead of recognizing that ethics-based scenarios resulted in the same outcome, whether presented as a gain or loss, students in 2020 were more likely to answer differently based on how the information was framed.

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-evidence-pandemic-brain-college-students.html

Early College Class Times Can Hurt Students' Grades

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Early morning college classes can be a prescription for poor attendance and lower grades, a new study suggests.

But starting classes later boosted both, as students got more sleep, were more likely to attend, and were less likely to be groggy, which leads to better grades, researchers reported.

"Early morning classes likely impair learning due to effects on presenteeism -- being in class, but not able to perform at one's best due to sleepiness -- and absenteeism," said lead researcher Joshua Gooley. He's an associate professor in the neuroscience and behavioral disorders department of Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.

"This is alarming, given that the purpose of formal education is to prepare our students with the knowledge and skills to be successful learners and workers," Gooley said. "Universities should avoid scheduling mandatory early morning classes at 8 a.m. because they are incompatible with optimal sleep health and learning performance.

For the study, Gooley and his colleagues used Wi-Fi connection logs to collect data on nearly 23,400 college students in Singapore to see if early morning classes affected attendance.

They also analyzed data on the day and night patterns of more than 39,400 students to see if early morning classes were linked with waking up earlier and getting less sleep. The researchers then looked at the grades of nearly 34,000 students to see if having early morning classes affected their grade point average.

They found that early classes were tied with lower attendance, as many students slept past these classes. Students who did attend an early class lost about an hour of sleep, the researchers noted. Last but not least, students with morning classes on more days of the week had a lower grade point average.

Their latest report was published recently in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/sleep-school-2659666339.html

Less Sleep Brings Worse Grades for College Kids

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

A new study reveals that late-night cramming, hall parties, and other nocturnal activities can rob college kids of sleep, taking a big toll on grade point averages. Freshmen who racked up fewer than 6 hours of sleep a night saw a drop in their end-of-term GPA, the research showed. For every hour of nightly sleep lost, there was a .07 decrease in GPA.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says college kids should aim for 7 or more hours of sleep each night.

"First-year college students are only [getting] about 6.5 hours of sleep each night, which is significantly below the recommended needs for these young adults, and this has real consequences for their academic achievement," said study author J. David Creswell, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

What's robbing frosh of much-needed shut-eye? The list is lengthy, he said. "First-year college students have a lot of competing pressures on their nightly sleep, ranging from a desire to study more to wanting to build new friendships," Creswell said. "These challenges often create sleep debt cultures on college campuses, making it hard for students to protect time needed to sleep."

College kids must learn to prioritize sleep, he said.

For the study, more than 600 college first-years at three U.S. universities participated in five studies. Students wore watch-like devices to track their sleep.

On average, students slept 6 hours and 29 minutes a night during the week and racked up an additional 29 minutes of slumber on weekends. Students' average bedtime was 2:01 a.m., and they woke around 9:17 a.m., the study found.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/insomnia-2659390739.html

Fear of Missing Out in College Students Linked to Cheating, Drug Use, Stealing

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) can influence college students to break both the law and the honor system, new research explains.

Two studies found an association between FOMO among college students and illicit behavior, including illegal drug use and cheating on exams. The term FOMO gained popularity around 2004, with people using it to describe a phenomenon observed on social networking sites.

FOMO includes two processes; firstly, perception of missing out, followed up with a compulsive behavior to maintain these social connections. Researchers from Southern Connecticut State University say that the fear of missing out on rewarding and fun experiences is something most people feel at some point in their lives.

mong college students, however, the degree to which someone experiences FOMO displays a connection to their risk of participating in “maladaptive behaviors.” This includes academic misconduct, substance abuse, and even committing crimes.

For the study, 472 students completed a questionnaire assessing their FOMO levels, history of unethical or illegal behavior while in college, and their individual demographic variables.

Results discovered associations between FOMO and nearly all the bad behaviors examined by the team. Higher levels of FOMO displayed a connection to higher rates of classroom incivility, plagiarism, increased alcohol consumption, drinking at younger ages, as well as increased use of cannabis, stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens.

High FOMO levels also had a connection to illegal activities, including distributing drugs to others and stealing.

The findings are published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/fear-of-missing-out-students/

College Mental Health Crisis: Depression Cases Skyrocket by 135 Percent

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

College is supposed to be the best time in many students’ lives. From making lifelong friends to creating new experiences, college is the time to explore and find yourself before going out into the “real world.” However, researchers from Boston University reveal that the mental health of college students is getting worse. Their study found that rates of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed over the last eight years.

The study is the first long-term, multicampus examination of its kind that analyzes the differences in treatment and prevalence of mental health issues across race and ethnicity. Researchers examined survey data collected by the Healthy Minds Network between 2013 and 2021 from 350,000 students at over 300 campuses. They measured mental health symptoms, levels of flourishing, and whether a student received treatment during their time at college.

Researchers discovered that the mental health of college students has been on a steady decline for all eight years of data. There was a 135-percent increase in depression and a 110-percent increase in anxiety from 2013 to 2021. Researchers say the number of students who experienced one or more mental health problems in 2021 had doubled from 2013.

The study was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.org/college-students-mental-health/

Rising Parental Expectations Linked to Perfectionism in College Students

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by MedicalXpress.

Rising parental expectations and criticism are linked to an increase in perfectionism among college students, which can have damaging mental health consequences, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

Researchers analyzed data from more than 20,000 American, Canadian and British college students. They found that young people's perceptions of their parents' expectations and criticism have increased over the past 32 years and are linked to an increase in their perfectionism.

"Perfectionism contributes to many psychological conditions, including depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders," said lead researcher Thomas Curran, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychological and behavioral science at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Study co-author Andrew P. Hill, Ph.D., a professor of sport and exercise psychology at York St John University, added that "the pressure to conform to perfect ideals has never been greater and could be the basis for an impending public health issue."

The first meta-analysis included 21 studies with data from more than 7,000 college students. Parental expectations and criticism had moderate associations with self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism and a large association with socially prescribed perfectionism.

The second meta-analysis included 84 studies conducted between 1989 and 2021 with a total of 23,975 college students. Parental expectations, criticism, and their combined parental pressure increased during those 32 years, with parental expectations increasing at the fastest rate by far.

"These trends may help explain increasing mental health issues in young people and suggest this problem will only worsen in the future," Hill said. "It's normal for parents to be anxious about their children, but increasingly this anxiety is being interpreted as pressure to be perfect."

Source: MedicalXpress
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-03-parental-linked-perfectionism-college-students.html

Survey: 55% of High Schoolers Don’t Think College is Needed for Successful Career

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds.

Teens today only want one thing: to forge their own success and happiness in their future careers. A recent survey of 2,000 American high school students found that although a third of respondents have no post-graduation plans, 82 percent agree the most important thing to them is to do something they’re passionate about, regardless of what career they choose.

Seven in 10 (69%) believe it’s important to have a job immediately after graduating, while others consider higher education more polarizing. Over half of students surveyed (55%) believe college isn’t a requirement for a successful career, compared to 45 percent who think it’s mandatory.

For students who haven’t considered any alternatives to higher education, half the poll (51%) explained they didn’t know enough about other options, such as career paths in the skilled trades — hinting that students may not have access to those options in school.

Commissioned by Wolverine and conducted by OnePoll, the study revealed two-thirds saw how important essential workers and skilled trade careers were and continue to be during the pandemic, prompting 45 percent of students to show more interest in pursuing essential jobs.

The results also show students feel more pressure to pursue traditional higher education after high school than alternatives — a third (35%) have felt pressure to attend a traditional four-year college. Still, only 18 percent have felt the same pressure for vocational schools. Three out of five (62%) say the pressure comes from their parents.

Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters (72%) believe looking at alternative options to a traditional four-year college is important. However, three in 10 have considered vocational schools, with 46 percent contemplating community college and 41 percent thinking about having a job immediately after graduation.

Two in three students say their schools offer vocational classes that teach them practical skills and essential careers. Meanwhile, 65 percent favor their vocational courses over their core curriculum. Overall, 79 percent of high schoolers believe high schools should teach vocational skills.

Source: StudyFinds
https://www.studyfinds.org/high-school-students-college-career/

1 in 3 College Freshmen Has Depression, Anxiety

*The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

Starting college can be a time of fun, new experiences, and growth. Yet it can also be a rough transition for many students who struggle with mental health issues.

A new study from researchers in the United Kingdom and Canada found about one-third of first-year students have or develop moderate to severe anxiety or depression.

When these young adults had increasing use of illicit drugs, they had greater odds of developing high levels of anxiety or depression. Yet if they were more socially active, their mental health tended to be better.

“We've been seeing that the mental health of college students has been deteriorating,” said Dr. Rachel Conrad, director of young adult mental health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She was not involved in the study.

“Prior to the [COVID-19] pandemic, alcohol use had been decreasing, but stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicidal thoughts had been increasing. And then during the pandemic, alcohol use increased significantly in the college-age population as well,” Conrad said.

The study was led by Kiera Louise Adams, a doctoral student at the University of Oxford in England. She and her colleagues analyzed nearly 1,700 responses from a survey of first-year undergraduates at a public Canadian university taken in September 2018 and in March 2019.

About 32% of respondents had anxiety at the start of the academic year and 27% had depressive symptoms. Six months later, 37% of students had anxiety symptoms and 33% experienced depressive symptoms.

Students who had a history of internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression, when they began were almost four times as likely not to recover from significant levels of anxiety/depressive symptoms as those without that history, according to the research. Conversely, students who felt connected to university life and their peers had greater odds of recovering.

The findings were published in BMJ Open.

Source: HealthDay
https://consumer.healthday.com/12-6-1-in-3-college-freshmen-develop-depression-anxiety-2655888935.html