College students can easily build up anxiety while trying to juggle school assignment, work, friends, social life and family. There is a lot going on during this phase, while they are trying to choose a career and figure out what they want to do further in their lives. Some can make their ways out of it while some build up frequent, serious, and uncontrollable anxiety that interferes with their daily routines and ends up as a disorder. I personally also have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and I will be talking about the causes of different types of anxiety, how it is triggered and its effect on academic performance.
Leta (2011) found out that anxiety disorders have been rising for a past few decades among college students. Since most of the students are on their own when they go to college, they go through a phase where they are treated as adults and not as children or young adults anymore. This means they have higher responsibilities, and they might also have to manage more things than they used to. There are many causes of anxiety and many ways how it is triggered which is different from a student to student. According to Sielberger in Sansgiry and Kaviat (2006) found that exam anxiety is a situation specific trait that can be defined as the stress and worry conditions that are experienced during exams. Pecarora (2006) reports suggested that students who are not well prepared for exams might have higher levels of anxiety than those who are well prepared. Eventually, due to the built-up anxiety students might stop appearing for exams and make silly mistakes in their papers because of the fear they have within themselves. This can lead to failures and low grades, and some students might also choose to drop out of college because they believe they are not ready yet. Some research also suggest that examinations can be stressful for a number of reasons such as its consequences, markers of self-esteem, judgements from others such as teachers and peer groups.
Zeidner (1998) outlines three components of test anxiety:
• cognitive: the negative thoughts and depreciating self-statements that occur during assessments (e.g. ‘If I fail this exam my whole life is a failure’) and the performance difficulties that may arise from anxiety (e.g. recalling facts and difficulty in reading and understanding and answering the questions)
• affective: the person’s physiological state (such as tension, tight muscles and trembling);
• behavioral: poor study skills, avoidance, procrastination, low confidence, trouble in making notes or writing them down, lack of time management skills
Similarly, language is one of the study anxiety sources that also has an effect on students’ academic performance. Ying (2008) stated that half of the students that were examined, reported experiencing debilitating levels of language anxiety and it is a form of situation specific anxiety as well that is experienced in a particular foreign language context. It is true that students who have difficulties in understanding a certain foreign language have higher tendencies to make grammatical errors, difficult speeches and trouble in making personal interaction. The lack of communication skills might make the students feel that they do not belong to the group. They might also be less attentive in their lasses since they have trouble understanding the language, and they might also be less involved in group assignments. The students will not be able to use their full potential which can hamper their academic performance.
Cooley (2007) also suggested that social anxiety is also very common among the college students. Some of its causes can be lack of self-confidence, non-relatable experiences in life, feeling inferior compared to others, problems with roommate, homesick and problem with peers.
Disord (1994) also suggested that social anxiety is one of the most dangerous type of anxieties in teenagers, and it is very much related to depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry (1998) concluded through a longitudinal study that social anxiety in early adolescence can predict clinically significant depressive and anxiety disorders in early adulthood. Social anxiety disorder is also reported to be the most commonly occurring comorbid anxiety disorder among patients with depressive disorders. It detaches an individual from the society and in this case from peer groups which can lead to the students harming themselves in order to get over the feeling of depression and stress.
Kimberly (2007) conceptualized four approaches to understanding social anxiety. The first, skill deficit model, which explains that social anxiety is the result of an individual lacking the skills to handle situations that they perceive to be threatening. The second is cognitive-self model which explains that social anxiety is not due to lack of skills but due to perception of self-inadequacy. The third classical conditioning model explains how anxiety is conditioned when neutral stimulus associates with negative social experiences. Lastly, personality trait model explains that social anxiousness is a trait rather than reaction. Students who have social anxiety are often quite silent and feel shy to open up to people. This could make them less participative in class and in other co-curricular activities. All this can have negative impacts on the student’s academic performance.
Mathematics anxiety is another type of anxiety that many students have not just in colleges but various other educational institutions. Ma and Qu (2004) stated that low mathematic achievement was significantly related to higher level of anxiety, but high math anxiety was hardly related to low math anxiety. Many studies have also showed that mathematic anxiety is one of the major effects of low-level achievement. Some characteristics of this anxiety can be discomfort in Mathematic class, helplessness, tension and stress when one has to solve a mathematical sum or use certain type of calculations. Some end up building copying and cheating strategies to cope up with the fear which eventually can get them in trouble even more.
However, anxiety might not be the only reason which can affect a student’s academic grades. The journal fails to talk about other type of stresses that can trigger anxiety in college students such as economic problems, family and relationship tensions. Obsessive compulsive disorder which can be defined as unwanted and unnecessary intrusive thoughts to seek perfection, Posttraumatic stress disorder which is a bad experience caused by some kind of accidents or loss of someone very special and body dysmorphic disorder that can be defined as insecurity one has about his/her body can be some other types of anxieties college students might be dealing with. Similarly, anxiety might not always affect academic performance. Mc Donlad states that a student might generally feel anxious before a test or an examination, but it becomes a matter of concern when the condition is going to be severe. Anxious students might always have some kind of fear but they might also have a control over themselves as to figure out when the condition is so severe that it is hampering their day to day activities and even academic performance. According to Kaplan & Saddok (2000) an optimal level of stress can enhance learning ability and improve academic performance. Some students that do know how to manage their stress levels can be triggered by their anxiety to do better in classes and in life. I also tend to come out as a better person or a better student whenever I feel more anxious. Mazumdar, Gogoi & Haloi(2013) maintained that students’ stress is unavoidable phenomenon which is often seen in the undergraduates and postgraduates and can have many consequences where anxiety is one of them. All these stresses can be managed efficiently if a student is able to identify its causes and understand how it is triggered.
Students in colleges can be stressed by a lot of things and all these could have mental, emotional, physical and social effects on them. Anxiety is something most students deal with according to all the researches I have mentioned in this paper. Identification of anxiety and its types should be done as soon as possible so that the students can avoid further problems. It can definitely affect the student’s grades, academic performance and overall career. It is also true that mathematic anxiety, social anxiety, exam anxiety and language anxiety are some of the major anxieties that college students go through but it is also important that we should be talking about other major type of anxieties such as OCD, posttraumatic disorder and stress disorder. The students should be able to get help from the school, peers and family so that its effects on their academics and mental health can be mitigated.
References:
Prima Vitasari, Muhammad Nubli Abdul, Ahmad Othman & Muhammad Ghani Awaang(2010). A Reseach for identifying Study Anxiety Sources amomg University students, Vol 3, No 2
Bogdan, R. C., Biklen, S. K. (2006). Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods (5th ed.)
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Anxiety’s Hidden Cost in Academic Performance (online), obtained from http//www.science daily.com released 2012
American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4 edition, Washington DC
Hancock, D. (2001). Effects of Test Anxiety and Evaluative Threat on Students' Achievement and Motivation. Journal of Educational Research, 94 (5), 284−290.
Spielberger, C. (1966). Theory and Research on Anxiety. Academic Press, New York (1966).
Leta, S. (2001). Depression Rates among College Students on the Rise. The Daily California. Available on http://www.dailycal.org/article/6206/depression_rates_among_college_students_on_the_ris (January 12, 2008)