Health Risks Your College Student Might Face
It’s only natural for you to worry about your son or daughter when he/she is away at school, and to experience a fair amount of nervous energy as a result. The key is to channel your energies into productive activity in support of your student, and to narrow your concerns into what is really important, not fretting every aspect of day-to-day life.
To help you understand the truly critical concerns, College Parents of America has sifted through a lot of data. One source we’ve studied with great detail is made up of the reports published by the American College Health Association (ACHA), in particular their annual National College Health Assessment (NCHA).
The most recent ACHA-NCHA study was conducted in 2009 and included survey data from more thousands of students at hundreds of different institutions of higher education. To quote from the executive summary of the study itself, its purpose is “to assist college health service providers, health educators, counselors and administrators in collecting data about student habits, behaviors and perceptions on the most prevalent college health topics.” Our purpose is to interpret the data for you.
We assume that the heart of the matter for you as a parent is to understand what specific ailments or illnesses might cause your student to miss school. The three main reasons cited by students as causing them to miss class during the previous 12 months were:
- Allergies, 19.7%;
- Sinus Infection, 15.9%; and
- Back pain, 13.3%.
In the mid-range of reasons given for missing school, students cited:
- Strep throat, 10.3%;
- Broken bone, 8.1%; and
- Migraine headache, 7.6.
Mononucleosis, often a source of worry for parents and students is certainly a threat, with 1.6% of students surveyed mentioning it as a reason for missing class. Mono, of course, may last for several weeks, so the amount of total classes missed might reach well into double-digits and may even necessitate the need for considering a medical-related withdrawal.
Of course, it’s one thing to miss class, but then catch up. It’s quite another – and much more worrisome to your student – to fall behind, then even more behind and never catch up. There is quite a continuum of issues that can cause stress and anxiety for a college student which, in the classic vicious cycle, can then turn around and affect student performance in class. In fact, according to ACHA-NCHA, 27.8% of students cite “stress” as affecting their academic performance, while 18.6% mention “anxiety” as doing the same thing. The chicken-and-egg question then, is whether poor classroom performance causes stress and anxiety, or vice versa.
Whatever the cause, a large number of students (44.2%) told ACHA-NCHA surveyors that academic concerns caused for them “trauma” or a situation that was “difficult to handle.” Academics topped the list of such concerns, but “finances” weren’t too far behind, coming in at 35.6% of students expressing dollar concerns serious enough to note to researchers.
Now that you’ve read this column, you are probably asking: “what did I get myself into?”
You are pursuing the path that tens of millions of parents have trod before you, and millions more are today. Only some of you, however, have an unwavering commitment to your student and that in itself is invaluable. Please read this column every week, as we strive to offer more specific suggestions on how you can best support your student, and help him/her to overcome the inevitable challenges that come with growing up and going off to college.
