Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

Kelsey Hotz

Research in the Disciplines: College!                             

                          

Research Proposal Assignment

        The research topic that caught my attention was stress in college students. It is well known that so many college students are faced with huge changes and a lot of tasks to balance, which in turn cause stress. “1 in 5 Undergrads Is Constantly Stressed”, an article written by by NBC, stated, “One in five say they have felt too stressed to do schoolwork or be with friends. About the same number say things have been so bad in the past three months that they have seriously considered dropping out of school” (NBC News). Different groups of people experience varied levels of stress, and they handle it in different ways as well. I will explore not only these topics, but also how stress negatively impacts one’s health, and how college stress can be reduced. In order to address the topic of stress in college students, I will discuss the many factors that lead to stress. These factors include the pressure to keep high grades, managing one’s social life, dealing with relationship issues, as well as managing a job and paying off student loans due to the high cost of higher education. Not all college students experience that same amount of stress, therefore it seems important to compare how students are affected relating to gender, race, major, sexual orientation, and more. From there, the paper will continue on with the many effects of stress on a student.  Emily Driscoll wrote, in the article “Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it”,” A constant state of stress can affect all aspects of students’ bodies: physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral functions can go haywire under duress” (Driscoll).  Exploring how stress affects the body will open many doors to how to deal with stress and even how to reduce it. With all of the aspects of college stress stated, this research paper will be very well rounded.

        After carefully considering all of the aspects that need to be included for this research paper, I came up with a valid research question. My research question is: Why are college students especially vulnerable to stress? This research question contains sufficient challenge in that it allows many topics to be covered.  While answering the question, I will discuss the general factors that cause college students so much stress, which will pave the way to comparing the significance of stress in various subgroups of college students. From there I will expand upon how to reduce stress in these college students, which will be more challenging because I must think about how the stress is caused and determine what methods truly reduce it. The research question seems manageable due to the many studies done on the topic and the many articles available online to support my ideas.

        In order to analyze facts and case studies, I will need to use some theories. For example, in the article “Effective Lifestyle Habits and Coping Strategies for Stress Tolerance Among College Students” it states, “Differences in effectiveness of coping strategies among students strongly suggest that genders and races cope differently and that ‘one size fits all’ health education stress intervention programs may not be effective for college students” (Welle, Graf). This theory that different genders and races cope with stress differently is just one of many theories analyzing differences in stress among subgroups of college students. Theories like this will help show that not all students deal with stress in the same way, therefore there must be alternate forms of reducing stress. Another theory I will use in the research paper is that the cost of higher education is one of the major stress factors for college students. The high tuition leads to students being left with large student loans to pay off, which in turn causes them stress in the process of figuring out how to pay it off. In Walden on Wheels, Ken Ilgunas reveals how he feels about his large amount of  student debt when he says, “Yet, with every passing day, I began to feel the pressure of all the debt weighing me down” (Ilgunas 30). Ilgunas is one of many students put in this same position, in which one is drowning in stress. These theories mentioned are only a couple that I will be able expand on in my paper, and they will prove to be very applicable due to the fact that they allow me to expand on my research topic.

        Through all of the facts, theories, and case studies I may find, my research paper will be complete. My research plan is to find more theories on how stress is brought upon college students and to provide statistical proof for these theories. I will find many statistics from the results of case studies performed. One case study that will help develop my research paper stated it’s objective as: “Using a stress carry-over perspective, this study examines the relationship between stress stemming from school and family domains and physical and mental health outcomes” (Pedersen). This case study is known as “Stress Carry-Over and College Student Health Outcomes”, and was done using 268 undergraduate students, men and women, in order to analyze any stress and health outcomes of the stress. It concluded that men and women are affected by stress differently, but similarly in some ways as well, and there may be at least one health outcome. This study will help support the theory that male and female genders deal with stress differently, and it will analyze the factors of stress in college students. I can find plenty more case studies that will open up additional questions like this study does, and they will also support my idea and research question. All in all, with my current research plan my paper will be successful and can only improve with more research.

Work Cited

Driscoll, Emily. "Stress in College: What Causes It and How to Combat It." Fox

        Business. FOXBusiness, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

Ilgunas, Ken. Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom. Houghton

        Mifflin 2013.

Pedersen, Daphne E.1. "Stress Carry-Over And College Student Health Outcomes."

College Student Journal 46.3 (2012): 620-627. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W.

Wilson). Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

Welle, Paul D., and Helen M. Graf. "Effective Lifestyle Habits And Coping Strategies

        For Stress Tolerance Among College Students." American Journal Of Health

        Education 42.2 (2011): 96-105. ERIC. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

"1 in 5 Undergrads Is Constantly Stressed." Msnbc.com. Associated Press, 18 Mar. 
2008. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.