Initial Topic Idea

  Citation: Cordaro, Millie, et al. “Pandemic-Specific Factors Related to Generalized Anxiety Disorder During the Initial COVID-19 Protocols in the United States.” Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2021, pp. 1–21, doi:10.1080/01612840.2020.1867675. Link: https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/doi/full/10.1080/01612840.2020.1867675 Summary: This article examines pandemic-specific factors that are related to generalized anxiety disorder. Since the pandemic just started last year, very little is known about the psychological stress and strain it has put on people. This article studies the rates of anxiety of people during the pandemic and identifies the factors that contributed to anxiety disorder due to the pandemic. Author: Millie Cordaro is a psychologist and works in the Department of Psychology at Texas State University. Her areas of interest are counseling psychology and developmental psychology. She specializes in the areas she discusses in her articles. Key Terms:

Citation: Ross, Virginia, and Newton, MA. Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. “Depression, Anxiety, and Alcohol or Other Drug Use among College Students. Prevention Updates.” Education Development Center, Inc, Education Development Center, Inc, 1 Feb. 2004. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED485601&site=ehost-live Summary: This article discusses the rising drug and alcohol abuse in college students. It talks about the main reasons why college students start using alcohol and drugs, which is due to the environment and stress they face in college. Students who do not get help start using drugs and alcohol as a remedy or medication. Author:  The author of this article is Virginia Ross. There is not much information about her on the internet, however, the article shows a Ph.D. next to her name, which implies that she is knowledgeable about what she is writing about. Key terms: Self Medication Hypothesis: students abuse

My specific example is a Pitt University Student whose name is Leah Mensch. In the article that she posted, she talks about how Covid-19 affected her mental health. Before the pandemic, Leah described herself as a solitary person. She did not really like going out to parties or anything and she got anxiety from this which directly relates to one of the factors that affect mental health about the social life of students and how it could cause anxiety among them. When Covid hit and colleges switched to a virtual online setting, there were some things that Leah looked forward to since she had an excuse not to go out. However, she quickly realized that even though she was a solitary person she still felt very lonely and that was the biggest factor that affected her mental health. She also said how sitting in her room all day doing homework and watching lectures was mentally and physically exhausting. She also said how she felt cramped in the small space because she cannot move around that

A theoretical frame that I used in this paper was "coping style". The coping style is the way someone confronts and deals with a stressful situation. This is very important in college students because some students feel so stressed about college and it's important they know how to handle hard situations. More specifically, one of the coping methods that students use is the self-medication hypothesis. This hypothesis describes how people use substances in order to make themselves feel better in stressful situations. Since they don't want to feel worse then they start taking drugs again. This is an endless cycle that can lead to drug abuse and a lot of students experience this because they do not get the proper help they need. Source Used: Ross, Virginia, and Newton, MA. Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. “Depression, Anxiety, and Alcohol or Other Drug Use among College Students. Prevention Updates.” Education Development Center, Inc, Educati

  This graph shows the percentage of college students who have experienced mental health issues pre-covid-19 and during covid-19. As the data shows, about 36% of students experienced depression in college before Covid, and it increased about 5% during Covid. The percentage of people who experienced anxiety stayed the same pre-Covid and during Covid. This shows how people suffering from mental health issues were already high, and Covid made it worse.

Research Question: What are the causes of anxiety and depression among college students, and why is it the most common at this age? What are the possible ways to prevent or treat it? Sources: Cordaro, Millie, et al. “Pandemic-Specific Factors Related to Generalized Anxiety Disorder During the Initial COVID-19 Protocols in the United States.” Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2021, pp. 1–21, doi:10.1080/01612840.2020.1867675. Dongmei LI. “Influence of the Youth’s Psychological Capital on Social Anxiety During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak: The Mediating Role of Coping Style.” Iranian Journal of Public Health, vol. 49, no. 11, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2020, pp. 2060–68, doi:10.18502/ijph.v49i11.4721. Drozd, Glenda P., and And Others. Is Depression Related to Study Habits? Nov. 1994.                EBSCOhost, login.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED389995&site=ehost-live . Jenaro, Cristina, et