Increased Anxiety Among College Freshmen

I recently read a book by Tim Elmore called "Generation iY," and in it he stated that young adults today have higher levels of anxiety, in part because of our culture's emphasis on building self-esteem divorced from accomplishments. We want kids to feel good about themselves without having done anything to actually earn respect. This paradoxically can lead to higher anxiety levels as they do not have a foundation for their self-esteem.

Interestingly, this parenting and teaching focus on self-esteem is contrary to the "Tiger Mother" approach espoused by Amy Chua.

Here is recent data reported in a NY Times article, showing that college freshmen have higher stress levels than at any time in the past 25 years.

The emotional health of college freshmen — who feel buffeted by the recession and stressed by the pressures of high school — has declined to the lowest level since an annual survey of incoming students started collecting data 25 years ago.

In the survey, “The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010,” involving more than 200,000 incoming full-time students at four-year colleges, the percentage of students rating themselves as “below average” in emotional health rose. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who said their emotional health was above average fell to 52 percent. It was 64 percent in 1985.