Preparing Students with Anxiety for the Transition to Postsecondary Education

Trice, A. D. (Ashton)¹, Curtis, N. A. (Nicholas)^2
1James Madison University, MSC 7401, VA22807, Harrisonburg
²Marquette University, 615 N. 11th Street, WI53233, Milwaukee

 

Submission type

Poster only

Scheduled

Hallway, 10-07-2019, 15:30 - 17:00

Keywords

transition, anxiety

Summary

In many countries, clinical levels of anxiety are on the rise among high school and college students (Boumosleh & Jaalouk, 2017). Anxiety plays a significant role in low academic performance, class withdrawals, and failure to complete programs. In the USA, the amount of preparation for the transition to postsecondary education has declined for all students (Morton et al., 2018); for certain disability categories, including anxiety, it barely exists. This research examined the experiences of 12 academically successful student at three institutions (large state university, private liberal arts college, and community college) who were identified with anxiety while in high school and four students with anxiety who did not complete their programs. None reported any preparation while in high school specific to their anxiety. Semi-structured interviews that explored the over-arching research question, What would you have liked to know before you started college? were conducted. Findings fell into six categories: Finding support people with the right skills; Up-front anxiety management (e.g., selecting classes with many grading opportunities rather than a few stress-producing ones); Specific skill learning; Avoiding hope in a pharmacological "cure" or self-medication; Managing media; and Developing a willingness to forego some situation others think are essential college experiences.

Auteurs