When Jason Radish pledged Kappa Sigma in the fall of his freshman year of college at The University of Memphis, he was well aware of the infamous fraternity lifestyle.
"My brother was already a member," said Radish. "I wanted to be a part of the good times."
By the time he was initiated in the spring of his freshman year, he was already in the process of moving into the fraternity house.
"I would call that the turning point," said Radish.
There are more than 12 million students who currently attend the nation's 3,600 colleges and universities. Of these students, 18 to 24 year olds make up about 57 percent or 7.1 million, a percentage that has been steadily rising for the last 50 years.
According to experts, this rise in enrollment has accompanied a significant rise in the prevalence of participation in health-risk behaviors among college students nationwide. Furthermore, there continues to be an increasing amount of data that indicates that many college students throughout the United States engage in behaviors that place them at risk for serious health problems or severe injury.
"One night, I remember passing out drunk on one of the wooden benches on our deck," said Radish. "One of my pledge brothers thought it would be funny to push that bench over. I jumped up in an angry rage and ended up breaking my foot when I chased him down the front porch steps."
Accidents are the leading cause of death in college students, and each year thousands of students die or are severely injured because they have car accidents, make bad or hasty judgments, engage in binge drinking, fall and fatally injure themselves or drown while swimming drunk. Any type of frivolous or risky behavior, especially when it is coupled with excessive drinking or use of recreational drugs, can potentially be deadly.
According to Radish, living at his fraternity's house meant that there was always someone who wanted to hang out. Even on nights when he "stayed in," there would usually be at least four or five of his fraternity brothers on the deck drinking beer.
"By my junior year, I was doing so well that they sent me to Southwest (Community College) to take advanced courses," said Radish.
A comprehensive study of college students that was done by the Centers for Disease Control showed that more and more students each year are having difficulty managing the academic and social pressures of college life.
Dr. Noel K. Frizzell, a Memphis-based physician who has formerly served as both chief of staff and chief of medicine at LeBonheur Children's Medical Center, said that he frequently gives his oldest patients their college physicals. He said that college physicals are commonly the last significant contact that an inbound freshman will have with a doctor for years.
"Since most college students are pretty healthy, it will likely be their last contact with a health professional for many years," said Frizzell. "The physical exam is also a good opportunity to counsel young people on health risks."
According to Frizzell, there are danger and risks that a sudden introduction into the independent and unstructured environment of college can cause.
"The biggest change in lifestyle is the independence that leads to excessive drinking of alcohol," said Frizzell. "The leading causes of mortality in college kids are accidents and injury, followed closely by suicide. Both causes of death can often be traced directly back to excessive alcohol consumption."
As many as 360,000 of the nation's 12 million undergraduates will die from alcohol-related causes while still in college. That is more than the number who will receive M. A. and Ph.D. degrees combined.
More often than not, alcohol is a contributing factor in the deaths of college students. Both accident-related deaths and suicides, the leading causes of death in college students, are often related to excessive alcohol use.
The Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's (IAAA) 2001 study of alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. revealed that unintentional fatal injuries related to alcohol use increased from about 1,500 in 1998 to more than 1,700 in 2001 among U.S. college students aged 18-24. Furthermore, a national survey that the IAAA conducted during the same period of time indicates that the number of students who drove under the influence of alcohol increased by 500,000, from 2.3 million to 2.8 million from 1998 to 2001.
Every year, 1,100 college students commit suicide, making suicide the second leading cause of death among college students, following accidental injuries, and the third leading cause of death for all youths aged 15-24. Based on self-report data collected by the CDC in 1995 (National College Health Risk Behavior Survey), an estimated 11 percent of college students ages 18-24 have seriously considered suicide within the past year. About eight percent have made a suicide plan, and almost two percent have made a suicide attempt. A significant factor in many college students' accidental deaths, alcohol is also a major factor in 66 percent of student suicides.
According to Susan Te Paske, director of Student Disability Services at the University of Memphis, repressing hopelessness and anxiety when they surface can ultimately lead to grave consequences.
"Problems start with students getting overwhelmed," said Te Paske. "If unaddressed, stress then anxiety and depression will inevitably follow."
If left untreated, depression can lead to suicide. In the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the CDC, over 60 percent of the participating students reported feelings of profound hopelessness at one or more times. Moreover, almost 40 percent of the men and 50 percent of the women surveyed, reported feeling so depressed at one or more times in the last year that they could not function.
Jonathan Dunavant, a 2004 graduate of the University of Mississippi, is no stranger to depression.
However, according to Dunavant, things were not always that way.
"I thought I was just like everyone else," said Dunavant.
According to Dunavant, the stress and hurt of a failing relationship, added on to his usual academic pressures and work obligations, was too much.
"Eventually, my suppressed tensions and frustrations demanded to be addressed," said Dunavant. "A stupid and needless fight with my girlfriend turned into a trip to the emergency room."
Anger caused Dunavant to punch through a glass window.
Unfortunately, Dunavant's rash reaction caused major tendon and nerve damage to his right hand.
"I still only have partial feeling in the three middle fingers on my right hand," said Dunavant. "You can only ignore your feelings for so long - eventually they will catch up to you."
Relationship problems and difficulties adjusting to new expectations and settings are risk factors for depression and also very common reasons why some college students commit suicide. Moreover, perfectionism and an inability to tolerate failure may also be risk factors for developing severe depression, a psychological issue that around 15 percent of college students are diagnosed with during their collegiate career. This marks a 4.6 percent increase in the number of students who report that they were diagnosed with clinical depression during college.
Dr. Susan Ross, a clinical psychologist who counsels college students with a wide array of problems, said that one factor that is contributing to the inability of many college students to cope with the independent and unstructured college atmosphere is that many students are poorly equipped to deal with the added stress because they've been protected and sheltered by their domineering parents.
"Parents should talk to their college student about psychological problems well before they leave for college," said Ross. "The college environment commonly brings out learning disabilities and psychological issues that had previously gone undetected."
For many people, underlying psychological issues and learning disabilities do not surface until entrance to college, where their academic and social habits are completely unstructured. Because of this, mental illness has now become a major concern on US college campuses.
In the last 50 years, the suicide rate has more than doubled for college-age women and tripled for college-age men. According to several U.S. News and World Report studies, about 30 percent of colleges in the U.S. experienced a suicide last year, around 10 percent of students say they have seriously contemplated suicide and about two percent have made an attempt at committing suicide. Each year, there are more than 1,150 suicides on college campuses in the US, making it the second-leading cause of death, after accidents, among college students.
According to Dr. Carl Gilleylen, director of the Center for Counseling, Learning and Testing at the University of Memphis (CCLT), college students commonly encounter much more complicated problems today than they did a decade ago, including both typical problems such as relationship losses or difficulties adjusting to expectations and settings, as well as more severe problems such as depression, which can lead to dangerous and harmful thoughts and behavior.
"It's hard to manage stress," said Dr. Carl Gilleylen. "On top of that, many students have other responsibilities besides making good grades. Between going to work and class, trying to pay bills and make grades, and studying and trying to have any semblance of a social life, for some students just living can be an overwhelming ordeal."
According to Gilleylen, the CCLT probably sees around 700 different students in a given year, four percent of the U of M's entire student body.
"The need for counseling is more widespread than you would think," said Gilleylen. "Stress has always been a part of collegiate life, but there is evidence that it has gotten worse in recent years."
A 2002 survey of college and university counseling centers found that around 85 percent of the 274 surveyed directors reported a significant increase in the number of students with serious mental health problems and an increase in the demand for campus-based psychological services over the last five years.
Gilleylen said that he has seen a noticeable increase in the demand for psychological counseling and mental health treatment at the CCLT.
"Today, college students frequently have much more complex problems to deal with than they did in the past, including both the expected difficulties of college life such as relationship and developmental issues and more severe problems, like depression, thoughts of suicide and rigid social expectations," said Gilleylen.
