Anthropologist Terri Guilliemets stated the quote “If your teeth are clenched and your fists are clenched, your lifespan is probably clenched.” Although it is unknown how much research Gulliemet has done on the topic, studies have shown that this is likely. Even an extensive amount of stress is shown to cause health problems. Our bodies are built to receive stress and immediately tackle and sort the issue out. However, for many that is not the case. A long term stressor is present more often than not in the average person, constantly on their mind. Now combine the person with an added five college courses, it would take a toll on a person if not managed correctly. These stressors can lead to some serious inconveniences, particularly health issues.
The exposure use for this study is stress, specifically in college students. The stress in college students can be generated by multiple things. Some of which are; the totally new environment they are in, where they must learn to navigate through a new system. They have to make new friends, deal with new finances, and adapt to new academic styles. Those are just a few things that freshman will think about until graduation. The importance of this exposure is how a student handles the stress they’d develop in school, does it lead to acute or chronic stress?
The stated disease of this study was digestive discomfort. It may include any of the following: an upset stomach, nausea, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, difficult bowel movement, irritable bowel syndrome. Having a stomachache or worse consistently is not what anyone wants. Furthermore, may lead to worse diagnosis later on if the pain does not subside.
Much of the research done stated that the stress students experience in college, whether towards the end of their programs or beginning in freshman year, can induce some sort of digestive discomfort. Barbara Nicholl and her colleagues state “research has demonstrated that anxiety, depression, and some other psychological symptoms are independent predictors of IBS onset.” IBS stands for irritable bowel syndrome. This disorder can include multiple symptoms such as; abdominal pain, change in stool frequency, change in stool consistency, indigestion, nausea usually occurring for twelve or more weeks. Lei Shen’s results confirmed the same among Chinese students in a 2009 issue of the journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The issue found that a Chinese students experienced a higher prevalence rate of IBS compared to other university students. The Public Health department is meant to monitor, regulate and try to promote healthy living for the vernal public. Based upon much of the literature published by several researchers the disease, digestive discomfort, can be an outcome from ongoing stress, particularly in a college student. As stress is only supposed to be warning system to put someone’s body in fight or flight mode. The body being in consistent stress will make a person ill.
My research question was, did school stress cause digestive discomfort in the past six months for current students enrolled in colleges in the tristate area who aged between 18-23? Much of the research I have read has focused on specific ethic groups or students that lived in different regions. This study done is unique because it surveyed college students that are currently living in the tristate area.
Methods
The methods of this study went as followed. I obtained my sample by posting along different social media platforms and asking people to reach out if they were interested in participating in a quick survey for a study being conducted. I posted on snapchat, facebook and instagram. Additionally, two out of the fourteen surveys were done in person. I chose a cross-sectional type of study which is a type of investigation “…that examines the relationship between diseases (or other health-related characteristics) and other variables of interest as they exist in a defined population at one particular time.” Cross sectional studies are a type of prevalence which includes both new and old cases. A prevalence “is the proportion of the population with the outcome of interest.”
My sample consisted of fourteen currently enrolled college students within the age range of 18-23. To limited the study to a more specific and current time frame, the researched question specifically asked “have you in the past six months…” The measure of association used was the odds ratio, it qualified the relationship between the chosen exposure and health outcome which were, stress and digestive discomfort.
Results
The collective sample was fourteen individuals who were in college and ranged between the ages of 18-23. The participants included six males and eight females. Most of the participants confirmed that they encountered both stress from school and digestive discomfort, for a total of 64% with both the exposure and disease outcome. Of the twelve people who had this exposure only 21% of them did not have digestive discomfort. Furthermore of the ten people who had the disease 90% of them confirmed on having the exposure of stress from school work.
The measure of associate calculated with the odds ratio formula showed a positive association. The results showed that by multiplying the people who had the disease and exposure by individuals who had neither equaled 9. Then multiplying the non-diseased individuals with a positive exposure by unexposed by the positive diseased participants equaled 3.
Discussion
My topic of interest was vastly supported by my findings listed above and the literature on the subject at hand. Other published papers that conducted similar studies came to the same conclusion that stress in college students that was primarily cause by school can lead to the outcome of digestive discomfort in any of its many forms.
A researcher should evaluate the method of cross sectionalism, both its advantages and drawbacks. A strength of using the cross sectional method is that a large sample of people can be studied in a short period of time, additionally it is an inexpensive method. A limitation of this study design is “because the exposure and outcome are simultaneously assessed, there is generally no evidence of a temporal relationship between exposure and outcome.” That is, there is no evidence that the exposure caused the outcome at that specific point time.
Knowing the outcomes of stress is relevant to many students in college. This does not mean that all campuses need to reduce the workload given to their students. The studies have shown that there are numerous different ways to cope with stress, that can reduce the possibility of students feeling discomfort.
In an effort to reduce the risk of experiencing digestive discomfort due to the many stressors that college can cause, students may try to diminish the negative affects by altering certain aspects of their day to day life. These changes may include, but are not limited to seeing a therapist, planning assignments and exams accordingly, and maintaining a balanced school and social life.