Emotional Fatigue:

Coping With Academic Pressure

Nick Repak
Director, Grad Resources

Introduction: Recognizing the Problem on the University Campus

In the classic film, Catch-22, from the novel by Joseph Heller, Alan Arkin walks with a doctor at the
military base, amidst smoke and plane engines roaring for takeoff, and says "I don't want to fly anymore
because it's too dangerous and it's made me crazy." The doctor, in sympathy yet with sterness, states, "I
can't ground you just because you ask me; I can only ground crazy people." Arkin replies, "Let me get
this straight. I must be crazy to keep flying combat missions, but if I asked to be grounded because I'm
crazy, then I must not be crazy and therefore I can't be grounded." The doctor confirms, "That's right;
that's Catch 22."

It seems that the same logic is prevalent today at the major universities of America in describing the
hoops and hurdles thrust in the way of the average graduate student. Many are told, "We value teaching,
and you will teach (though you may receive little or no training as you become a TA), but if you excel at
teaching we may reward you with a special grant that allows you not to teach." Also, "The demands will
be so great that you will need a unique support system to help you through your academic quest," but the
environment will allow little time to establish relationships, and the department may be so competitive
that it hinders relationships from forming. Again, "You might want to take advantage of your advisor as
a mentor, and they will enjoy that also," however, their research demands force them to commit their
time and energy in the direction of research and publishing and may force you to do the same. You
might desire coherence in your life, and that would assist you in your personal wholeness and
integration of your studies, but again, there is no time for such things. Facing these academic "catches"
may require some critical reflection on your personal lifestyle and environment to avoid emotional
fatigue.

The problem of burnout, with its accompanying emotional exhaustion and feeling of low personal
accomplishment, has prompted much study as it relates to management and business. However, the
academic community, which seems to accept fatigue as part of student life, is just beginning to seriously
take notice.

An undergraduate study done by Neumann, Neumann and Reichel, professors at Boston and Ben Gurion
Universities, is the only research that has attempted to define the problem on the college campus. The
authors conclude:

College students may in fact experience the burnout phenomenon due to learning conditions that
demand excessively high levels of effort and do not provide supportive mechanisms that would facilitate
effective coping.{1}

The Neumann study found emotional exhaustion and lack of felt accomplishment as ingredients of the
burnout process. The conclusion: Emotional fatigue greatly influences student performance and affects
personal commitment. On the other hand, the degree to which the student experiences emotional
exhaustion is dependent on his individual flexibility, involvement, and student-faculty contact.

Grad Resources projected these same findings to be true for graduate students who face an increased
work load and have little involvement outside their department. Grad Resources commissioned the
Barna Research Group of Glendale, California, to conduct a survey of those enrolled in upper level
programs. Using telephone surveys with a representative sample of 404 students, stratified by degree
program and type of school, Barna evaluated their interests, lifestyles, and felt needs.
The survey revealed that graduate students do feel a great amount of pressure. Fifty-five percent of the
students surveyed considered dealing with stress and burnout a major challenge. In addition, 70 percent
of the grads responding to a broad list of "anxiety producers" declared that their major concern
was the achievement of the elusive "balanced life," i.e. finding ample time for family, self, and others
and feeling that their life is under control.

The majority of graduate students also expressed a desire to deepen personal involvement in their field
of study. For instance, 51 percent indicated interest in attending a panel discussion comparing ethical
issues in their field of study. One third desired a deeper relationship with a faculty member.

With what was uncovered in the Barna study, it became apparent that the majority of graduate
students struggle with emotional fatigue. Some are even in danger of abandoning the calling they have
chosen. To help understand the pressures and how to deal with them, we incorporate our findings to
present a description of the environment in which this burnout takes place. We also emphasize the traits
and symptoms of emotional exhaustion, discuss possible results from poor coping strategies in the life of
the graduate student, and conclude by exploring possible solutions to the cycle of fatigue.

The Environment

The Barna Study revealed the potentially oppressive environment of graduate students and some
ingredients that contribute to emotional fatigue.

First, lack of time. Graduate students indicated that their total available free time averages to about 15
hours per week. For many, those hours are consumed by family or job responsibilities, leaving little time
for personal needs, refreshment by exercise or leisure pursuits, or even for ordering priorities.

Second, financial pressure. Forty-six percent of students surveyed listed finances as an anxiety.
Dealing with the financial pressures which result from an extended period of study and pursuing future
job prospects may raise graduate students' anxiety levels. Many are already in the work force, at least on
a part-time basis and face the tensions of the working world as well as those of intensive study.

Third, lack of faculty contact. The Neumann study revealed that faculty involvement was an important
ingredient in academic success. One third of those surveyed in the Barna Study said they desired a
deeper personal relationship with their supervising professor. Yet the need for individual support and
affirmation often goes unmet due to a lack of faculty availability. This situation contributes to the sense
of helplessness that graduates feel as they strive to shape their academic environment. One Ph.D. student
explained, "Having come from a smaller undergraduate experience to a major research institute, I felt
stressed over the department politics for which I had no game plan."

However, it is unreasonable to expect graduate students to shut down, take time out, or demand that their
supervisors lessen requirements to help them cope with fatigue. In the present academic system, the
life of the graduate student is so clearly defined with built-in pressures that there is little room for
escape and recovery.

Excessive workload, lack of balance, inadequate free time, and little opportunity to influence the
environment make up only part of the fatigue syndrome. Most graduate students possess distinctive
inner qualities and traits that help them persevere in academic goals but which may also accentuate the
cycle of burnout.

The Traits

Traits exhibited by a majority of graduate students set up an emotional cycle of perfectionism that easily
leads to exhaustion (see chart detailing the self-description of grads from the Barna study). The Barna
survey revealed that most (54%) take life very seriously. Eighty-seven percent said they wanted to be
known for integrity. Many graduate students also exhibited perfectionistic tendencies -- placing high
expectations on themselves and allowing no room for failure. Consequently, the average student refuses
to acknowledge the internal alarms that signal a need for help.

Even if support were available, most probably would not accept it. An overwhelming majority of
graduate students surveyed (86%) said their primary source of strength during times of need or
crisis was their inner self. As self-reliant individuals, they feel they must face their external
environment and any accompanying sense of hopelessness and helplessness or feelings of isolation and
frustration alone. The internal qualities which keep them pushing, pursuing, seeking, and reaching out of
their realm of skill and familiarity, also make them hesitant to seek external help.

Why do graduate students persevere so persistently? They have a dream that drives them. The
majority (68% ) indicated a tendency to lean away from the practical, tangible rewards towards
achieving ideals for their own sake and the potential to influence others through an academic career.

Graduate students are usually classical examples of the "over-achiever." The Barna data presents
the profile of an individual who sets lofty (often unrealistic) goals, allowing no room for flexibility or
adjustment to the barrage of new challenges. Many feel inadequately prepared for the tasks that they
face -- such as being a teaching assistant. Although some colleges offer seminars in learning teaching
techniques, many still do not. Despite lack of guidance, grads still sense internal pressure to push
themselves until they master these skills independently. Suffering occasional feelings of bondage to a
faculty member does not deter them because they know that their future in academics is partly
determined by a positive report from their professor.

Below is a listing of typical traits characterizing a high achiever (compiled from David Fontana,
Managing Stress{2}):

• Does several things at once (i.e. telephoning. holding a conversation, jotting notes on a
pad and swiveling back and forth on your chair all at the same time).
• Often feels guilty when relaxing.
• Quickly bores with other people's conversations, wants to interrupt, finish sentences for
others or hurry them up.
• Tries to steer conversations towards his/her own interests instead of wanting to bear
about those of others.
• Usually feels anxious when engaged in a task, wanting to finish it and get on to the next
one.
• Is unobservant about anything that isn't immediately connected with what he/she is doing.
• Prefers to have rather than to be (i.e. to experience possessions rather than to experience
himself or herself).
• Does most things (eating, talking, walking) at top speed.
• Finds people like himself/herself challenging and people who dawdle infuriating.
• Is physically tense and assertive.
• Is more interested in winning than in simply taking part and enjoying himself/herself.
• Finds it hard to laugh at himself/herself.
• Finds it hard to delegate.
• Finds it almost impossible to attend meetings without speaking up.
• Prefers active holidays to dreamy relaxing ones.
• Pushes to achieve his/her own standards without showing much interest in what he/she
really wants out of life.

A person who possesses many of the traits is a primary candidate for stress-related emotional fatigue. A
serious disposition, an attitude of self-reliance, a "driven" personality, and tendencies to
overachieve are some of the contributors to a cycle that leads to burnout in graduate students.

The Indications

We can identify basic physical and cognitive components that are good indicators of an approaching
fatigue problem. Physiological components concern actual physical changes that occur. The following
are several signs and symptoms of burnout:

• Decreased stamina
• Sleep problems increased need for sleep or insomnia
• Weight loss or gain; decreased or increased appetite
• Accident proneness
• Increased susceptibility to illness
• Psychosomatic complaints headaches, migraines, u1cers or backaches
• Substance abuse -- excessive drinking or drug use
• Cardiopulmonary problems increased blood pressure or heart disease

Obviously, a person may not display all of these symptoms nor is this list comprehensive. One symptom
may be enough to necessitate personal lifestyle change.

Cognitive components also make up some of the primary manifestations of stress and emotional fatigue.
Listed below are some of these factors{3}:

• Depression: mood changes or cries easily

• Isolation: lack of desire to socialize, or simply isolates self from others either physically
or emotionally
• Marital/family/roommate conflicts
• Cynicism
• Rigidity or passivity
• Aggression
• Mental illness
• Self esteem problems: sense of despair, emptiness or sense of meaninglessness

Physiological and cognitive changes associated with stress and emotional fatigue interact. A sample case
study below provides a picture of how the two types of elements might present themselves and interact
with one another:
Brian is a first year graduate student in chemistry. After moving across the country to a new school, he
quickly becomes immersed in his work. He develops a few close friends but just does not have time to
cultivate relationships outside of the few people he sees every day. Thus, at times, he feels alone and
depressed.

These feelings are further complicated by the enormous workload thrust upon him. He confesses feeling
angry with himself for not staying on top of his work and guilty for all the things he leaves undone. At
times, he gets nervous and panicky thinking about all he needs to accomplish and the limited amount of
time he has to complete everything. Some nights, even after a long exhausting day, he can't get to sleep.
Sometimes he forgets to eat because he is too busy; other times, he grabs a doughnut or candy bar.

Brian realizes things need to change but just does not know how to go about it.

In Brian's case, some of both the physiological and mental symptoms associated with emotional fatigue
are seen. Fortunately, Brian recognizes that he cannot keep going at the same pace and that he needs to
deal with his emotional fatigue.

However, many graduate students refuse to acknowledge their need to slow their pace or to accept
outside help. They allow their condition to proceed to advanced stages before dealing with
symptoms like those listed above. Soon they melt down from fatigue and reap devastating results.

The Results

But what, then, are the possible results of the cycle of environmental and personal stresses that lead to
burnout? Here are several areas that may have lasting repercussions:

1. Quality of work affected. The quality of work produced in the course of a graduate career can be
severely affected by poor coping strategies. First, stress may produce a focus on short term completion
versus long term learning. For instance, a fatigued student may cram for an exam rather than master the
content, or he may throw together material for a paper instead of thoroughly researching his subject. The
result is that his work suffers, and he will not get the maximum value from his education.

Second, many pressured students attempt to minimize other interests and limit their efforts to what is
required within their field of study This causes an unhealthy isolation.

Dr Ernest Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching says,
"Graduate study is all too often a period of withdrawal -- a time when students are almost totally
preoccupied with academic work and regulatory hurdles.{4}" This detachment not only isolates the grad
from a potential support network but also limits the degree to which the assimilation of ideas can be
processed and applied to the complexities of ethical and social issues in real life.

Dr. Boyer presents the need for interdisciplinary involvement: "The real danger is that graduate students
will become specialists without perspective, that they will have technical competence, but lack larger
insights.{5}" This narrow view will directly affect the student's ability to deal with issues later in his
career field.

2. Degree plans halted. Without change the graduate student may succumb to overwhelming fatigue
which may lead to the halt of his/her degree plans. Dreams of teaching researching and publishing are
shattered. Despite investment of years in academic training the grad will fall short of his/her perceived
goals.

3. Interpersonal relationships stunted. The Barna study indicated that graduate students place a high
value on close personal friendships (81%) and family relationships (59%). Yet the data suggests that
when "push comes to shove" for time demands, the pursuit of academic goals wins out.
While the Barna study shows a hearty agreement among graduate students concerning the benefits of
mutual respect, empathy, commitment, and camaraderie of close peer networks, it may be an agreement
in principle only. The hindrances of time commitments, lack of social involvement, and hesitancy
toward self-disclosure prevent the natural development of rewarding support networks. Typical coping
mechanisms tend to move graduate students to redouble their work efforts in an attempt to catch up and
to guard their personal "academic turf" from those perceived as potential competitors within their
department, creating greater isolation. These barriers to vulnerability virtually assure the fatigued
graduate student that the benefits of the close community relationships will not be part of their emotional
fatigue release.

In addition, emotional exhaustion may disengage the student from family relationships. Harvard
professor, Dr. Armand Nicholi, in his paper "What Do We Really Know About Successful Families?"
emphasizes the devastating effect of an absent spouse or parent on the family. Without spending time
together, he says, family members fail to meet each other's emotional needs. For the student who is
married, this leads to low self-esteem and results in depression for husband and wife.

The same is true for children of graduate students. Dr Nicholi describes the crippling impact of an absent
parent. "A child experiences an absent or emotionally absent parent as rejection, and rejection inevitably
breeds resentment and hostility.{6}" He cites numerous examples from case studies on the long term
results of parental inaccessibility on the child's development and the family experiences, i.e. anger,
rebelliousness and incapacitating emotional conflicts.

The consequences of poor coping strategies within the family have lasting effects on spouses and
children. The coping mechanism of isolation can also set patterns that affect future marital and parental
relationships.

4. Future career jeopardized. The academic life holds pressures that remain prevalent throughout
graduate school and into an academic career. Yet, how often have so many struggled for so long,
through so much, only because they say to themselves, "soon things will be different." Those pursuing
Ph.D.'s to teach at the college level (51%) may be deceiving themselves. A recent study of faculty by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching reveals the intense pressures felt by professors.
"Fifty-three percent of those (faculty) under 40 years of age reported that 'my job is a source of
considerable personal strain'."{7} They also indicated that "the quality of their work is, in fact,
diminished by competing obligations." As one professor confided, the stresses became so unbearable
that he was forced to cease his work completely until he recovered from fatigue.

The pessimistic picture painted by the formal studies of the burnout phenomena and the descriptions
given by graduate students themselves have prompted the offering of various methods of coping. These
solutions furnish suggestions for dealing effectively with the burnout phenomena, not with eliminating
the situation.

The Solutions

It is essential to develop effective coping skills while in graduate school to succeed in a healthy manner,
both while in graduate school and later in life. An individual's reaction to, and ability to cope with stress
may be more important than lessening the load.

The problem of burnout demands that the graduate student possess a strong ego identity. Antonovsky, in
Health, Stress, and Coping defines a strong ego identity as "a sense of the inner person, integrated and
stable, yet dynamic and flexible; related to social and cultural reality, yet with independence, so that
neither narcissism nor being a template of external reality is needed."{8} This inner sense gives
confidence to the individual and a coherence to life experience which frees the student to cope with the
pressures of academia.

Developing adequate methods of dealing with stress throughout a lifetime involves recognizing
weaknesses, utilizing strengths and employing outside sources. We have included a chart on "The
Salutogenic Model of Health" which shows the interaction of stressors that lead to a healthy continuum
(see appendix). By using the path from the model, coping strategies can be delineated and used in
forming effective methods for coping with burnout.

To aid in developing a strategy for coping, we have included the following practical recommendations
for dealing with the burnout syndrome.

1. Journal your progress. Journaling your progress in dealing with stress and burnout will enable you to
identify how this syndrome operates personally in your experience and to seek solutions. Some possible
suggestions are:

• Begin to analyze your destructive "self-talk" -- identify the statements that you say to
yourself that minimize your worth and are false statements of your progress and accomplishments. Don't
compare yourself to superperformers. Be aware of what you require to remain refreshed and do not
attempt to maintain the same pace as them.
• Identify your strengths and give yourself the opportunity to rebuild confidence through
utilizing them. Grad Resources offer aids to help in identifying personal strengths and weaknesses. At
particularly low times, list the top fifteen strengths and read them back to yourself.
• "Mark your trail" when exhaustion sets in. Begin describing the conditions that bring it
on, the symptoms by which you identify it and the most efficient means to deal with the problem. Take
note of your progress and remember that healthy change takes longer than expected Use your stressful
experiences to prepare yourself for the next occurrence.

2. Manage time and set personal priorities. Without good time management, burnout becomes a high
probability. When attempting time management consider: First, conserving time -- be wise with the
hours in the day. Set a schedule, but don't be forced to follow it absolutely. Second, controlling time --
learn to say "no" where possible and follow through. Third, making time -- realize priorities, reorganize
them, and stick to what is important. The following are some suggestions for making use of your time:

• Find privacy where the telephone can't ring and people can't interrupt.

• Get an appropriate amount of sleep. Add one-half hour of sleep each day until you wake
up on your own to assess your biological need. You can go for a brief period of shortened nights for
extended study hours but do not sustain this schedule for long periods of time.

• Allow yourself leisure time and take vacations -- even if for a day. Include types of
leisure that refresh (alone and in a quiet atmosphere) and that give perspective ie reading an article in
another field, novels, listening to music, cooking (or even escaping to the graduate coffee house).

• Exercise regularly -- even regular walks will help.

• Eat properly balanced meals. Plan menus for two weeks and freeze large dishes. Plan
meals around for socializing to give more time for interpersonal relationships.

3. Cultivate relationships. To cope with burnout, acknowledge your need for interaction with other
people. Although finding time for relationships is a challenge for graduate students, social networks add
a balance that is vital to alleviating stress. Here are some areas to appraise:

• Assess your current friendships Which of these are at the acquaintance level the
companionship level or the established-friendship level? How could these relationships be cultivated
with the goal of seeing them progress to a higher level than they are at the present?
• Develop interaction networks Consider exercising with a group of people to be
accountable to one another and maximize the aerobic benefits.
• Find ways to get out of yourself and get your focus off your condition. Many faculty are
hosting optional seminars that cross disciplines to provide greater depth for graduate studies that would
be missed by the student unable to think past this fatigue condition Most importantly look for
opportunities to serve your peers, the campus community, and the less fortunate in your city.
4. Seek professional help. If stress becomes overwhelming and coping strategies do not help, seek
professional help early. By waiting problems can only be exacerbated. The key here is to prevent mental
illness. It should be noted the diathesis-stress model of mental illness{9} shows that certain genetic
combinations may lead to a predeposition toward a mental disorder and that this genetic predisposition
combined with environmental stress will result in abnormal behavior. Many forms of mental illness
appear to be brought on by "environmental stressors." Therefore, there is no admission of failure in
asking others to help manage stress. In fact, it maybe necessary.

5. Develop your world view. Your philosophy of life is vital to achieving purpose and fulfillment.
Acquiring a perspective on your place in society and contribution to life will help guard against feelings
of discouragement and meaninglessness that deepens emotional fatigue. In assessing your world view,
here are some essential questions to consider:

• What is the highest priority of your life?

• What would you like the biggest priority of your life to be in 40 years?
• Is there a cause (or causes) for which you would sacrifice your personal standard of
living?
• If someone asked you to describe the principles by which you live your life, what would
you say?
• Are there any absolute rights or wrongs? What are they?
• How do you make decisions? For example: How will you decide upon your future job
placement? The person you decide to marry?
• What is one question that you would most like answered about life?
• If you could change one thing about our wor1d what would it be?

Philosopher W. P. Alston emphasizes the importance of periodic reflection when he says:

It can be argued on the basis of facts concerning the nature of man and the conditions of human life that
human beings have a deep-seated need to form some general picture of the total universe in which
they live, in order to be able to relate their own fragmentary activities to the universe as a whole in
a way meaningful to them; and that a fife in which this is not carried through is a life impoverished in a
most significant respect.{10}

The graduate student's basic outlook toward his studies, his future career, and the meaning of life is
fundamental to the implementation of any solutions. Burton R. Clark in his book The Academic Life,
states:

Under all the strengths and weaknesses, the autonomies and vulnerabilities, of American academic life,
we can sense the problem of calling (italics ours). When academic work is just a job and a routine
career, then such material rewards as salary are front and center. ...A calling transmutes narrow self
interest into other regarding and ideal regarding interests: One is linked to fellow workers and to a
version of a larger common good. It has moral content, contributing to civic virtue.{11}

The view that one's academic circumstances are a calling is paramount to maintaining commitment and
achieving success. A calling makes a graduate student's studies inseparable from his personal ideals and
integrates his work into his sense of coherence.

Conclusion

In this article, we have examined the fatigue syndrome and have presented a number of practical
solutions for coping with burnout. The question remains, can the graduate student learn to have a
balanced fife in the midst of such tremendous pressures?

By recognizing the role of the academic environment and its oppressive nature, by understanding
the personal traits such as perfectionism and the tendency to over-achieve, and by identifying
physiological and cognitive symptoms that indicate emotional exhaustion, the graduate student
can learn effective coping strategies to stop the destructive cycle of burnout. Internal approaches
such as journaling, managing time and setting priorities relieve inner pressure and stream-line activities.
External techniques such as cultivating relationships and seeking professional help build support during
stressful periods. Most importantly, developing a life philosophy allows the student to maintain the
direction he/she has chosen despite immense pulls from every direction.

We believe the academic arena needs the new blood of those who are deepened in character and
integrity through just such a test as emotional fatigue. Those students who develop the inner strength
and wisdom to cope with the pressures they now face will bring tremendous gifts into future leadership
and personal commitments.

What do you perceive to be your calling, the ideals for which you work? Is it consistent with the highest
priorities of your life and with the principles by which you live? Are you living out these views in your
academic life? The answers you formulate for these questions reveal your perception of life. In
addition, by forming a realistic and accurate world view, you increase your ability to deal with
burnout and fatigue in an effective way and forge an inner purpose upon which you can build for
the rest of your life.

{1} Neumann, Y and E., and A. Reichel, "Determinants and Consequences of Students' Burnout in Universities," Journal of
Higher Education, Vol. 61, No. 1 (January/February 1990).
{2} David Fontana, Managing Stress (London: British Psychological Study and Routeledge Ltd., 1989) pp. 70-71.
{3} This list of cognitive symptoms was compiled from several sources; see reference list included.
{4} Dr. Ernest Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered (Princeton, New Jersey: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching, 1990) p. 69.
{5} Ibid., p. 68.
{6} A. Nicholi, "What Do We Know About Successful Families?" Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital,
from pamphlet containing excerpts from papers delivered during the past few years, p. 2.
{7} Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, p. 45.
{8} A. Antonovsky, Health, Stress and Coping (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1979) p. 109.
{9} D. Rosenthal, Genetic Theory and Abnormal Behavior (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970).
{10} W.P. Alston, "Problems of Philosophy of Religion," in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, reprinted ed. (New York:
Macmillan, 1972), 6:286.
{11} Burton R. Clark, The Academic Life (Princeton, New Jersey: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,
1987) p. 274.

Additional References

Farber, B. A. (1983) Stress and Burnout in the Human Service Professions. Pergamon Press: New York.
Golembiewski, R. T. & Munzenrider, R. F. (1988) Phases of Burnout: Developments in Concepts and Applications. Praeger:
New York.
Hockley, R., ed. (1983) Stress and Fatigue in Human Performance. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
Rigger, T. F. (1985) Stress Burnout. Southern Illinois University Press: Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois.
Schuler R. S. (1979) Effective use of communicating to minimize employee stress. The Personnel Administrator, 24.
Watkins, C. E. (1982) A new academic disease: Faculty "burnout." Chronicle of Higher Education.

http://www.gradresources.org/articles/emotional_fatigue.shtml

Coping Mechanisms, Stress, Social Support, and Health Problems in College Students

Ellen H. Zaleski, Christina Levey-Thors, and Kathleen M. Schiaffino

Department of Psychology
Fordham University

Longitudinal data were collected from a sample of 95 college freshman to investigate

the degree to which personal beliefs and social supports moderate the contribution of
college stressors to health-compromising behaviors and to physical illness. Students
who were of higher socioeconomic status, lower in religiosity, and who perceived less
social support from their families in the fall semester were more likely to be engaging
in risky sexual behavior during the spring semester. Students who perceived less social
support from friends reported higher amounts of alcohol use. Moreover, future time
perspective, family support, alcohol use, and sexual behavior interacted with stressful
life events to predict reporting of physical symptoms during the spring semester. When
investigating the relation between stress and symptom-reporting, future time perspec-
tive and alcohol use were found to buffer the impact of stress on illness. On the other
hand, family social support and sexual behavior exacerbated the relation between
stress and symptom-reporting. The implications of these findings for interventions with
college students are discussed.

For most young men and women, the transition to

college represents a time of great developmental chal-
lenge and opportunity ( Schulenberg, Maggs, & Hurrelmann
, 1997). For many, the college experience is the
first time spent away from home, parents, and familiar
surroundings ( Balk, 1995; Hurrelmann & Losel, 1990).
Like other major life changes, going away to college
can be a time for personal growth and development, as
well as a source of great stress. For instance, Haan,
Millsap, and Hartka ( 1986 ) found that the transition
from adolescence to young adulthood is marked by
instability in such personality traits as dependability
and aloofness. Similarly, the transition to college has
been associated with elevated anxiety and depression,
as well as increased family difficulty ( Kuribayashi,
Whitney, & McCluskey-Fawcett, 1997). According to
Margolis ( 1989 ), college freshmen who experience
great difficulty in adjusting to college lack effective
coping skills and resolve their problems by withdraw-
ing from school or friends, blaming others, using alco-
hol or other drugs, and engaging in sexual activity.

When college students move away from dependence

on their families and relatively restricted high school
roles, they have a chance to develop social skills, to
separate from parents and home, to develop greater
intimacy with peers, and to develop a sense of personal
identity; they also have a greater chance to experiment
with alcohol and drugs ( Grayson, 1989; Petersen, Richmond
, & Leffert, 1993; Schulenberg et al., 1997). The
means by which an adolescent copes with the college
environment and achieves these changes can be positive
or negative, setting the stage for either health opportu-
nities or health risks ( Schulenberg et al., 1997). Health
opportunities involve behaviors that serve to enhance
mental and physical health, such as the seeking of social
support or exercise. Health risks include behaviors that
can impede healthy living, such as substance abuse and
unsafe sex. Depending on the level of stress experi-
enced, college transitions can involve both types of
coping strategies. Moreover, the same coping mecha-
nisms can, in different circumstances, constitute either
adaptive or maladaptive coping. For example, alcohol
use during the transition to college can be viewed as a
normative way of coping. Binge drinking, on the other
hand, is viewed as a health risk ( Maggs, 1997; Schulenberg
et al., 1997).

The presence in the college population of health

risks, such as unsafe sexual practices and alcohol and
drug use, is well documented (e.g., see Brooks-Gunn &
Furstenberg, 1989; Holman, Jensen, Capell, & Woodard
, 1993; MacDonald, Zanna, & Fong, 1996; Maggs,
1997; Netting, 1992; Pentz, 1994; Schulenberg,
Wadsworth, O'Malley, Bachman, & Johnston, 1996).
As demonstrated by work applying Jessor's problem
behavior theory, adolescent risk-taking tends to come
in "packages," with alcohol and drug use often predict-

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