Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2018
Capstone Advisor
Jacqueline Orr
Honors Reader
Max Malikow
Capstone Major
Sociology
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
Mental and Social Health | Other Mental and Social Health | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
College students are currently experiencing what psychologists and media outlets refer to as an "anxiety epidemic." Undergraduates are self-reporting and seeking counseling for anxiety in record numbers. Fear of the Future: A Profile of Anxiety in College is an exploratory sociology project whose aim is to understand the experience, manifestations, and root causes of anxiety in late Millennial college students. The core research involves a survey of over 400 Syracuse University undergraduates and three interviews with some of Syracuse University's professional counselors. The demographic findings of the survey and the common threads among statements from counselors are synthesized to create a broad illustration of the ways culture and college life have fostered ever-rising levels of general and disordered anxiety.
One of the primary areas of investigation is social media's contribution to a rise in anxiety among college aged adults. The research helps to construct that argument that modern college students are subjected to a new kind of panopticon; one that operates through a socially mandated participation in a place of constant visibility. Counselors described how social media use behaviors can create extreme pressure for students, especially as many students rely on it as a source of cultural capital. The survey results showed a subtle but distinct correlation between both hours per day spent online and frequency of device checks and levels of anxiety. The results also confirmed that most students use a variety of social media platforms daily, and that these platforms are the primary source of news intake for college students. I construct the argument that the complete absorption of college students into the social media panopticon is one of the root causes of the anxiety epidemic.
The study also investigates students' relationships with psychopharmaceuticals, and the culturally informed reasons they choose (or reject) big pharma's solutions for anxiety and related mood disorders. Over 30% of survey participants self-reported some form of disordered anxiety, and over 20% of participants were currently taking an antidepressant to treat anxiety. The study reveals both a pervasive ethos of trust in psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry, and a simultaneous lack of education about the risks and side effects of certain commonly prescribed medications. At this point, I show that antidepressant psychopharmaceuticals have become, for better or for worse, an integral part of life and identity for a large fraction of college students. I proceed to criticize, in a cost-benefit analysis, the trend toward casual and commonplace use of antidepressants.
The most commonly self-reported source of anxiety was not technology, interpersonal relationships, or volume of academic work. Instead, a majority of survey participants said that fear about future achievement is their greatest psychological stressor. The sociological implications of this finding are very important to consider in a profile of college anxiety. Fear of the future might be informed by social media, channels of information, reliance on mood-altering substances, socioeconomic background, gender, and parenting styles. All these factors are considered in a comprehensive discussion of the unique circumstances that produce anxiety for current students.
Recommended Citation
Hannah, Lauren, "Fear of the Future: A Sociological Profile of Anxiety in College" (2018). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 1227.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1227
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
