CURRENT SITUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND COUNTERMEASURES OF EDUCATION MANAGEMENT

Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 282-287

DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.237 282

CURRENT SITUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE

STUDENTS AND COUNTERMEASURES OF EDUCATION MANAGEMENT

Yangtao Kong

Abstract

The mental health of college students is a key issue of concern for the entire society. This paper attempts to identify the psychological problems of college students and develop countermeasures of education management. To this end, a questionnaire survey on mental health was carried out among students from Beijing Technology and Business University. The survey results were analysed from the following perspectives: the demand of college students for mental health education, and the key aspects of mental health education. The results show that the psychological problems of college students mainly concentrate on interpersonal relationship, emotion management and learning stress; the higher their grade, the less likely for college students to seek help from teachers in the face of psychological problems; the most prominent psychological problem of college students in lower grades arises in terms of interpersonal relationship, and that of senior college students arises in terms of learning stress. The research findings provide an important reference for the healthy growth of college students and the development of mental health education in colleges.

Key words: College Students, Mental Health, Education Management, Psychological Problems.

Received: 22-03-19 | Accepted: 02-08-19

INTRODUCTION

At present, the mental health of college students is a key issue of concern to the whole society. Our country has attached great importance to the mental health of college students, and universities have also taken many measures to strengthen the related work, which greatly promotes the development of the mental health education for college students in China

(Bracke, Pattyn, & von dem Knesebeck, 2013).

However, with the increasingly fierce social competition, the mental health status of college students is not optimistic. Also, there is a deviation between the psychological health education of college students and their actual needs. These problems are likely to adversely affect the mental health of college students

School of Education Science, Shaanxi Xueqian Normal University, Xi’an 710061, China.

E-Mail: [email protected]

(Priest,Roberts, Dent et al., 2008).

Therefore, it is of great significance to strengthening the emphasis on psychological health of college students and improving the level of related education management (Wilson & Hungerford, 2015).

Many scholars at home and abroad have conducted in-depth research and analysis on the mental health of college students, and achieved numerous research results. Some scholars have studied the connotations and standards of mental health (Schieman & Glavin, 2011); some have analysed the causes and existing forms of

mental health problems (Baggio, Iglesias, Deline

et al., 2015); other scholars have proposed targeted countermeasures to effectively solve mental health problems (Babyak & Koorland, 2001). Based on these existing research results,

it’s found that most scholars have carried out the

normative analysis of mental health issues from a theoretical level, but lacking the empirical analysis. Therefore, empirical analysis based on

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283

Figure 1

.

The main standards of College Students' mental health

Main standards of mental health

Normal and full use of intelligence

Emotional

health Sound will

Integrity of personality

Correct self-evaluation

Interpersonal harmony

Strong adaptability

data demonstration is particularly necessary in future research.

Taking students from Beijing Technology and Business University as the research objects, this paper analyses the current mental health status of college students using the questionnaire survey, and proposes specific countermeasures to improve the education management level of mental health in colleges and universities. This study provides important theoretical guidance and practical reference for the growth of college students and the development of college mental health education.

BASIC THEORY

Mental health

Mental health mainly refers to a sound, positive, and sustained mental state possessed by an individual, which can better adapt to external environmental changes, and give full play to its full potential according to changes in external environment (Esty, 1967).

Now China's assessment standards for college students' mental health mainly include normal and full use of intelligence, emotional health, sound will, integrity of personality, correct self-evaluation, interpersonal harmony, and strong adaptability (Frankel & Clark, 1969).

Division of mental health level

In general, mental health can be divided into three levels: the first is the normal mental state, which is mainly manifested as a good physical and mental state, can better adapt to changes in the surrounding environment, and make effective adjustments; the second is the mild mental illness, mainly manifested as being a little difficult to get along with other people, unable to achieve the state of joy that peers should have, but it can be restored to normal

psychology through appropriate adjustments; the third is serious mental illness, which is mainly manifested in failing to adapt to the surrounding environment, and in the state of anxiety and pain for a long time, seriously affecting one's life (Bracke, Van De Straat, & Missinne, 2014).

SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF COLLEGE

STUDENTS' MENTAL HEALTH

Survey statistics of research samples In this study, the students from Beijing Technology and Business University were selected as the research objects, and the questionnaire method was used to analyse the current mental health of college students. A total of 950 questionnaires were distributed and 920 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective rate of 96.8%. The basic situation of the surveyed objects is shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Analysis of the basic situation of the

respondents

Classification Quantity Proportion/%

Gender Male 292 32%

Female 628 68%

Grade

Freshman 364 40%

Sophomore 242 26%

Junior 222 24%

Senior 92 10%

Major

Liberal Arts 508 55%

Science 220 24%

Engineering

Course 134 16%

Art 58 5%

From Table 1, it can be seen that the proportion of female students was much higher than that of males, that of students in lower grades was higher than that in higher grades, and

CURRENT SITUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND COUNTERMEASURES OF EDUCATION MANAGEMENT ₂₈₄

that of liberal arts students was higher than that of other majors.

Needs of college students for mental health education

The survey was conducted on whether college students ask for help from teachers when encountering psychological problems. The specific results are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

.

An analysis of College Students'

asking for help from teachers after their

psychological problems

Figure 2 shows that with the increase of grades, the proportion of students seeking help from teachers about psychological problems gradually decreased, indicating that students' self-regulation and problem-solving abilities are continuously enhanced as the age increases

(Flores,Izquierdo, Leahy et al., 2011).

Survey on the key aspects of mental health education

Also, a survey was conducted on the key aspects of mental health education for college students. The results are shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

.

The key areas of mental health

education expected by College Students

From the data results in Figure 3, it can be seen that the psychological problems of college

students were mainly concentrated in

interpersonal communication, emotional

management, and academic pressure; the psychological problem of students in lower grade was more prominent in terms of the interpersonal relationships, while that of students in higher grade was more prominent in the academic pressure.

Survey on interpersonal relationships

A survey was conducted on the relationship between college students and teachers. The specific results are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4

.

The relationship between college

students and teachers

From the data in Figure 4, it can be seen that as the grade increases, students were more inclined to establish a friend relationship with the teacher, indicating that as the age increases, the students gradually become mentally mature.

Survey on emotion management

A survey was conducted on the problems of college students' emotional management. The specific results are shown in Table 2.

From the survey data in Table 2, it can be seen that college students' control and

management of learning, interpersonal

relationships, and their own emotions were prone to problems, mainly due to differences in the growing environment, thereby leading to different results in all aspects of emotional management.

Survey on learning stress

A survey was conducted from two aspects of students' learning attitudes and their purpose of study. The specific results are shown in Figure 5 and Table 3.

From the data results in Figure 5, it can be seen that the senior students felt a very substantial attitude towards learning, while the

41%

23% 20%

16%

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

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students of lower grades felt tired and boring. This is mainly due to the relatively higher learning stress of senior students (Poole, 1997).

From the data results in Table 3, it can be seen that for the majority of the students, the purpose of college students' learning is to achieve the better personal development in the future, because the learning level plays a very

important role in future professional

development.

COUNTERMEASURES AND SUGGESTIONS

Countermeasures and suggestions for

improving college students' mental health (1) Strengthening communication with others Although they are from different provinces and regions, the college students studying and living together on campus inevitably need to get along with others. In this process,

Table 2.

The problems of College Students' emotion management

Serial

number Topic content

Often Sometimes Never

Number Proportion Number Proportion Number Proportion

1 Often feel depressed 183 19.9% 486 52.8% 251 27.3%

2 often Blame yourself 209 22.7% 355 38.6% 356 38.7%

3 Easy to get nervous 237 25.8% 369 40.1% 314 34.1%

4 Blush easily in public 178 19.4% 393 42.7% 349 37.9%

5 Can't get rid of meaningless ideas 248 26.9% 364 39.6% 308 33.5%

6 Good mood, bad mood 118 12.8% 464 50.4% 338 36.8%

7 Learning energy is sometimes high

and sometimes low 160 17.4% 435 47.3% 325 35.3%

8 Attitude towards classmates is hot

and cold 186 20.2% 391 42.5% 343 37.3%

9 Worry about everything 178 19.3% 412 44.8% 330 35.9%

Figure 5

.

Students' attitude towards learning

Table 3.

The purpose of College Students' study

Topic content Proportion

Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior

In order to master more knowledge 32.8% 30.6% 36.8% 35.7%

For better personal development in the future 41.2% 45.6% 50.3% 51.2%

To make parents happy 30.1% 28.9% 32.3% 31.9%

Others 7.2% 6.9% 4.4% 8.3%

21.3

32.4

41.2

6.9

28.7 31.6

35.4

2.7 30.2

38.7

52.8

7.2 32.4

40.4 40.6

5.6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Monotonous life Get tired Very substantial Others

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

CURRENT SITUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS AND COUNTERMEASURES OF EDUCATION MANAGEMENT ₂₈₆

communication and exchange are necessary. For college students, they should continuously adapt to campus life, strengthen communication and exchanges with others, and respect the differences between them, so that they can get the help and understanding of others when they have problems, thereby relieving stress to a certain extent and effectively solving mental

health problems (Kataoka,Rowan, & Hoagwood,

2009).

(2) Combining the theoretical learning with practice

In the mental health education class, students can learn professional knowledge about mental health, which provides a theoretical basis for the effective solution of mental health problems. However, this only provides a theoretical method for solving practical problems, and various psychological problems that arise in practice need to be analysed and dealt with according to the actual situation (Jersild, 1943). Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the combination of theoretical learning and practice in order to

effectively solve various mental health

problems.

Countermeasures and suggestions for

improving the education management of mental health

(1) Reasonably arranging teaching courses The analysis above showed that the main psychological problems faced by different grades vary among them. Therefore, in the education management process of college students' mental health, colleges and universities should carry out the teaching according to the different levels, formulate different teaching courses for different grades of students, and carry out differential education management so that they can focus on the main problems, and effectively solve the most important and direct problems

faced by college students (Leung, Wah Mak, Yu

Chui et al., 2009).

(2) Increasing investment in resources The education management of college students' mental health is not only the responsibility of the teachers, but also the activities that the whole school and the whole society should jointly participate in. Schools should strengthen the importance of mental

health management and investment in

resources, and also actively carry out various activities related to mental health training

outside the classroom while imparting basic knowledge in the classroom, so as to enrich the

practice content. Meanwhile, various

departments of the school should also actively participate in it, and provide a good atmosphere and environment for the development of physical and mental health for college students.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper selects students from Beijing Technology and Business University as the research objects, and uses the questionnaire method to analyse the current mental health status of college students. Then it proposes specific countermeasures to improve the education management level of mental health in

colleges and universities. The specific

conclusions are as follows:

(1) The psychological problems of college

students were mainly concentrated in

interpersonal communication, emotional

management, and academic pressure; with the increase of grades, the proportion of students seeking help from teachers when encountering psychological problems gradually decreased.

(2) Mental health problems of college students in lower grades were mainly concentrated in interpersonal relationships, and those of senior college students were mainly in learning stress.

(3) It’s suggested to improve the mental

health of college students by strengthening communication with others and the combination of theory and practice, and to promote the education management of mental health by rationally arranging teaching courses and increasing investment in resources.

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