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Introduction

One of the main causes of stress is getting used to the new life which we have suddenly landed in. For most college students it’s the first time that they have lived outside the nurturing and protective security of the family unit. Their parents used to provide for them materially and used to set down boundaries on how to live. This no longer applies in college and one of the first tasks that they should undertake is to find an identity and effectively test the rules that were set out by their parents.



The uncertainty and lack of identity is a common cause of stress for them. School-related issues also cause stress for students these days. It can be caused by them doing so badly in college that they gave up all hope of doing something worthwhile with their lives, or it could be caused by just not living up to their own standards. Stress also creates the way people deal with things like smoking and drinking, which are worse ways of dealing with stress. These things sometimes lead college students to become depressed. Sometimes the multitude of life’s changes that occur during your college years can trigger serious depression.



The college atmosphere can be detrimental to someone dealing with depression because social life revolves around “keggers”, parties and going to bars. Because alcohol is a depressant, it only deepens the depression and hides its symptoms. When college students first became depressed, they tend to spend their weekends drinking. It consumes them throughout the week as they “suffer” through classes they have signed up for, when Sunday evenings came around and the weekend is typically over, and the depression comes back as it once did, or in some cases it comes back worse then before.



According to a study done in 2003 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, alcohol-dependent individuals are almost 4 times more likely to have a major depressive disorder than those who are not dependent. The study also found that alcohol abuse was more common among students who had been diagnosed with depression than among those who had not. Alcohol and some drugs are very desirable to college students because it gets rid of the anxiety and stress of what they are doing in college. But most do not know that once the effects of these drugs disappear the depression comes back and they’re only left with that until they get their next drink or their next hit. But sometimes it’s just not enough to keep them from committing suicide.



Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students. And the number one cause of suicide for college student suicides as well as suicides in general is untreated depression. Going to college can be a difficult transition period in which students may feel lost, lonely, confused, anxious, inadequate, and stressed. And these problems may lead to depression. And again, untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Coed Dorms for College Campuses


Campuses are full of all girls’ dorms, which cause extra stress for students and leads to depression symptoms and suicidal thoughts throughout a school year. This situation can be avoided with the combination of genders in a coed dorm allowing for more opportunities of personal growth for the members of the college community.
Putting a group of females together can be best said by a first year student living in an all girls dorm, whom we will call Barb: “that many girls in one dorm equals a lot of stress, drama and in the end will lead to many students’ with suicidal thoughts and depression symptoms.” An increase in levels of stress will make a noticeable decrease in the student’s work ethic and grades, according to depression statistics.
The problem of lower class averages could be solved simply by the adjustment of the students' living situations; placing students in a more diverse atmosphere allows them to find their place on campus. If colleges would like to see future representatives and teachers achieving the best of their capabilities, then coed dorms can be the next simple explanation.
Junior Katie has noticed from living in both coed and an all girls dorm that “the all girls dorm was much more stressful, not only for the drama but the constant competition with each other. Living in a coed dorm it allowed her to reach out and meet people in her major and on campus.” The lives of students living on campus are affected by their living situations.
Coed dorms can be and will be a simple problem solver for lowering stress, depression and suicid mostly for girls throughout campus. It will help increase grades throughout year and help guide our future representatives and educators of our students to their greatest potential.

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