2. Citation:
Krieg, Dana Balsink. "High Expectations For Higher Education? Perceptions Of College And Experiences Of Stress Prior To And Through The College Career." College Student Journal 47.4 (2013): 635-643. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
3. Summary:
"High Expectations For Higher Education? Perceptions Of College And Experiences Of Stress Prior To And Through The College Career" is an article about the difficulties that students experience as they adjust to college. Many students have difficulties due to their expectations of college before they enter it, and therefore they have a difficult time their freshman year. Krieg did a study in which she assessed 36 students before and during their freshman year, as well as their senior year. She expected to see higher stress as a result of expectations of college not being fulfilled, and the results showed that most students are actually more prepared in having realistic expectations than they used to be. The only violation of expectations found was that students were much more involved with their families throughout college than they had thought. Another conclusion was that there was not much difference found in stress between freshman and seniors.
4. Author:
Dana Balsink Krieg is an associate professor of psychology at Kenyon College. Her areas of expertise are emerging adulthood, as well as social and cognitive development. She has done a lot of research involving educational psychology and other areas similar to her study done about high expectations for higher education.
5. Key terms:
One key term in this article is expectation, which is a strong belief that something will occur one way or another. In this case, the term refers to students' expectations about college, whether it be that they are well prepared for the workload or whether they will have free time. Another key term used in this article is the "first year myth", which is basically that first year students may have very high expectations for their soon to be college life. This may not be as true now, because many students are able to research more into colleges with the use of the internet and other similar sources.
6. Quotes:
"The First Year Myth may be less dramatic now as students have multiple sources of information about college life and the specific colleges they have chosen to attend. For example, it is not uncommon for students to visit colleges and speak with current students about their experiences" (1).
"Overall, we predicted that violated expectations would be associated with higher stress. Specifically, we expected that finding the academic experience more rigorous than expected, being less involved socially than expected, and being less satisfied with the chosen college than expected would be associated with higher stress" (1).
"Overall, we found that students were fairly accurate in their assessment of their academic preparation and performance, as well as their social interactions. This finding is supported by other research indicating less uniformly optimistic views of college (Jackson, et al., 2000). Students' expectations were violated, however, regarding involvement with their parents. Students maintained higher levels of involvement with their parents than expected" (1).
5. Key terms:
One key term in this article is expectation, which is a strong belief that something will occur one way or another. In this case, the term refers to students' expectations about college, whether it be that they are well prepared for the workload or whether they will have free time. Another key term used in this article is the "first year myth", which is basically that first year students may have very high expectations for their soon to be college life. This may not be as true now, because many students are able to research more into colleges with the use of the internet and other similar sources.
6. Quotes:
"The First Year Myth may be less dramatic now as students have multiple sources of information about college life and the specific colleges they have chosen to attend. For example, it is not uncommon for students to visit colleges and speak with current students about their experiences" (1).
"Overall, we predicted that violated expectations would be associated with higher stress. Specifically, we expected that finding the academic experience more rigorous than expected, being less involved socially than expected, and being less satisfied with the chosen college than expected would be associated with higher stress" (1).
"Overall, we found that students were fairly accurate in their assessment of their academic preparation and performance, as well as their social interactions. This finding is supported by other research indicating less uniformly optimistic views of college (Jackson, et al., 2000). Students' expectations were violated, however, regarding involvement with their parents. Students maintained higher levels of involvement with their parents than expected" (1).
7. Value:
This article contained very valuable information that could definitely benefit my paper. Krieg looked into how a student's expectation not being fulfilled could make his or her college experience even more stressful, but her results showed that this may no longer be the case since there are so many more resources for students when they choose their college. This may be useful as a counter-argument in my final paper because many people would think that violated expectations for first year students would increase their stress.
Great lit review! Yes, what you write about the unmet expectations is really interesting and might even be a frame for your analysis of why students experience so much stress in college. They really have not been prepared for all of the complications they will face.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, for you, Dana Becker's argument might be the "counter-argument" since you seem to focus on the individualized way that we all have to take to adapt to stress. Basically, she says that the individualized focus is limited as a solution because there are endemic / structural stressors that we should be addressing as a society. Of course, as a practical matter, we all do have to find ways of adapting to stress individually, though, so her argument may not be so useful for individuals facing immediate issues.
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