I had unequivocally recommended Jane for the student chaplain position on the campus where I teach. She was keenly insightful, brimming with compassion, and overflowing with vision and dreams for ministry and God’s kingdom. I had told the selection committee she was the most impressive student I’d ever had.
One month into the semester, I had lunch with Jane; she told me she was really swamped with the chaplain’s job, wasn’t sleeping well and was struggling to keep up in class. Two weeks later, a concerned colleague shared with me that Jane had yet to turn in any of the assignments for his course. By the end of the semester, Jane had failed three of five classes, quit her job as chaplain, dropped out of school and decided to spend a year traveling around Asia with missionaries she knew.
Nearly Half Feel Overwhelmed
In a 2007 study of college students conducted by the American College Health Association, more than 46 percent of responding students reported feeling overwhelmed more than seven times during the school year. More than a quarter of the students said they were overwhelmed more than 11 times.
When a Christian university polled their students with the same questions, the students were 10 percent more likely to communicate feelings of being overwhelmed.
In a similar study conducted in 2002 by the ACHA, more than 65 percent of responding students reported feeling “things were hopeless” at least once during the school year. That same year, 44 percent said that at some point in the year, if not more than once, they felt so depressed they had struggles functioning.
A study conducted at Kansas State from 1988 to 2001 showed significant, if not exponential, growth in terms of students reporting problems with depression, suicidal thoughts, sexual assault and situational problems during this 13-year span.
It is evident that large percentages of students are stressed or overwhelmed; that the number of students feeling this way is on the rise; and that, if anything, students at Christian universities and colleges may be more stressed and overwhelmed than the college student population at large.
Stress Leads to Misery
When asked if students she works with report feelings of stress, Sarah Baldwin, campus pastor at George Fox University, responds with emphasis, “Every student I talk to tells me they are overwhelmed.” Dr. Richard Kadison’s 2004 book, College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus Mental Health Crisis and What to Do About It, reflects a similar sentiment.
Jean Twenge’s insightful Generation Me asks why 20-somethings simultaneously are profoundly talented, confident and materially rich, yet profoundly miserable.
Kadison focuses on a plethora of causal factors ranging from normal developmental issues to pressures to perform and compete, and finally to social and financial fears. With each of these, Kadison considers the issues to be intensifying rather than stabilizing or diminishing. Essentially, there is no area where college students are not struggling more than they were even a decade ago.
Chap Clark’s 2004 book, Hurt, drew attention to extended or prolonged adolescence. Clark points out emotional and social developmental issues once negotiated in one’s teens now continue unresolved into one’s mid- to late-20s. The inference of this reality for college students is clear. Profound issues of identity and social development that once happened in the relative security of a teen’s home now accompany students as they move into semi-autonomous college environments and continue throughout their time there.
Added to the mix is the existential angst brought on by an increasingly postmodern world. While postmodernity has brought cultural and intellectual openness, seemingly limitless opportunities for experience, and a profound appreciation for the uniqueness of one’s individual story, it also has brought a rootlessness, difficulty in making decisions, and inability to form a coherent and cohesive personal identity.
Finally, Nicholas Carr, in his book The Big Switch, argues the speed, ubiquitous availability and constantly changing nature of the online, Googlized world leaves us increasingly unable to concentrate, slow down or contemplate ideas. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Carr says we are “connected to everything but disconnected from any one thing.” He argues this frenetic interaction with information makes us anxious, inattentive and unable to focus. Collectively, we are one big ADD civilization. Nowhere is this more evident than among college students.
Solutions and Suggestions
How can those ministering to college students help in any meaningful way, given the scope of issues pressing in upon students? There are no magic bullets or sure-fire applications that can inoculate college students from the stress they experience. There are, however, things we can do to help and to serve students in this stressful time.
Promote Health
In addition to our well-placed emphasis in ministry upon spiritual health (helping students develop spiritual disciplines, worshiping with them, etc.), we can be advocates for them living healthy lifestyles in a holistic sense. Psychologists see adequate rest, regular exercise and a healthy diet as preventative medicine in terms of avoiding psychological and emotional distress. All-nighters, road trips, diets of pizza and beer and hours of video games common to many college students invite poor emotional and physical health.
Listen and Understand
Adults working with students should not assume life feels the same as it did for us “back when we were in school.” Prolonged adolescence, life in a postmodern intellectual and cultural environment, constant technological connectivity and a myriad of other changes create a different context for students from even a few years ago. Adults need to allow students to vocalize what their experience of life feels like. We need to read and study broadly: in theology, sociology and culture.
Don’t Be Part of the Problem
Ministry to, and with, college students involves meetings. Developing young people for ministry involves giving them responsibilities. That said, those ministering to and with college students need to evaluate how much we ask of college students.
Are we part of what is overwhelming them in their scheduling? How can we help ease the pressure? Are our expectations of them helpful in their developing adulthood, or are we adding another layer of pressure to them that primarily heightens their stress?
Walk Alongside
Every person I know in college ministry would confirm the increasing prevalence of students like Jane. Talented, motivated, devoted, overwhelmed and unable to make or keep decisions and commitments.
Do we throw up our hands and walk away from what seems like an immature and spoiled generation? We could, to their great harm and that of God’s kingdom.
Rather, we need to walk patiently alongside them. We need to aid them in the incremental process of moving through late adolescence. We need to trust the best in them and not be surprised by the worst or most maddening. We need to sit for hours as they struggle to discern a way forward (in terms of relationships, vocation and even what courses to take next semester). We need to help them find a story, a meta-narrative, that can make sense of, provide form to and give direction and purpose to their lives.
