Abstract:

In recent years, it's been reported that between 28-33% of first year college students enter this transition with already identified depression and anxiety symptoms. Shocking this same report (Duffy, Keown-Stoneman, Goodday, Horrocks, Lowe, King, Pickett, McNevin, Cunningham, Rivera, Bisdounish, Bowie, Harkness & Saunders, 2020) also concluded that symptoms for both depression and anxiety had increased over their first year. Of these students, 14% endorsed suicidal thoughts and 1.6% reported a suicide attempt over the course of their first academic year.

One exemplar of this is North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. According to US News and World Report, NC State is ranked #72 in their Best Colleges register (2022-2023 edition) in the United States. Yet, 5 students committed suicide at this flagship university between the start of the university fall semester and the month of March, prompting the university to release an 89-page report from the newly created Student Mental Health Task Force (Bunch, 2023).

In fact, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States reported that the suicide rate for all women in the 20-24 age range doubled between 2001-2020. Men in that age group saw a 40% increase. Many agree that mental health issues on campus continue to deteriorate at a rapid rate.

At the author's current university, each first-year student is required to take a course to help them transition from high school to their new university life. Many colleges and university offer such "Welcome to College" classes, and they typically focus on time management, organization and choosing a major. Four years ago, the author began to tailor this class around the science of happiness, focusing much of the class on the podcast, The Happiness Lab done by Dr. Laurie Santos.

The podcast, The Happiness Lab, provides students with research-based discussions on how they can improve their overall happiness levels and, more importantly, understand their own feelings and motivations.

In this presentation, the author will discuss the organization of this class, initial student response and preliminary data collected through student journals.

References:
[1] Duffy, A., Keown-Stoneman, C., Goodday, S., Horrocks, J., Lowe, M., King, N., Pickett, W., McNevin, S. H., Cunningham, S., Rivera, D., Bisdounis, L., Bowie, C. R., Harkness, K., & Saunders, K. E. A. (2020). Predictors of mental health and academic outcomes in first-year university students: Identifying prevention and early-intervention targets. BJPsych open, 6(3), e46. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2020.24.
[2] https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/north-carolina-state-raleigh-2972
[3] https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/north-carolina-state-student-suicides-20230216.html

Keywords:

Depression, anxiety, student suicide.