Essay Sample on Interpersonal Problems Among College Students: Increasing Rates & Solutions

Introduction

Rates of interpersonal problems among college students have increased continuously over the past decade and mental health issues are one of the leading causes of poor academic personal and elimination from college. There has been widespread of on-campus psychotherapy services and assertive outreach efforts established to avert psychological health issues. Additionally, screening and early diagnosis of a student at risk for interpersonal problems should be given priority. Due to the damaging effect of interpersonal difficulties on psychological well-being, students are subjected to various coping approaches to deal with the issues. Coping is thus seen as a wide range of conscious behaviors and psychological efforts adopted to address an interpersonal problem to minimize its negative repercussion. Coping entails a precise cognitive assessment of whether a person believes that he or she can handle the stressful circumstance (Kato 31). The coping mechanism takes diverse forms like emotion-oriented coping in which people emphasize on decreasing the adverse expressive response, and problem-oriented coping in which the emphasis is on discovering viable ways of handling stressful circumstance.

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Experience of chronic and recurrent sources of interpersonal problems may be a crucial target for early diagnosis of students at risk for psychological health issues. After joining college, students experience new difficulties like reducing interaction with family members, increased academic demands, interpersonal problems with colleagues and romantic friendships as well as monetary challenges. Based on the salience of interpersonal problems, the ways that learners cope with issues may be a critical element in defining who is harmfully affected and may serve as a target for interventions to intensify resilience and avert psychological health conditions (Kato 100). Coping strategies like endeavors to monitor emotions in reaction to interpersonal problems have been recognized as a major mechanism connecting interpersonal problems and stressful circumstances to the development of mental health issues.

There is proof of substantial connections between three coping/emotion control approaches that may be mal-adaptive (cogitation, evasion, suppression) and greater levels of four forms of psychopathology (signs of depression, anxiety, eating conditions, substance misuse). The key to procedures of coping is the function of controllability of the interpersonal problems, that is, effecting managing entails both a precise appraisal of an individual's control over the problematic situation and grounded on that appraisal, the assortment of a suitable coping approach. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) within a section of populaces have indicated support for a control-oriented model of managing interpersonal problems computed with the Responses to Stress Questionnaire (RSQ). The strategy entails primary control coping (like endeavors to transform a problem or directly transform a person's emotional reaction to a problem, with inclusion of problem solving and emotive cadence), auxiliary control coping (like endeavors to adapt to a problem, with inclusion of intellectual reassessment and approval) and disentanglement management (like endeavors to familiarize away from the problem, with inclusion of avoidance or ambitious thinking). Authentication of this 3-factor model of management using the RSQ and experimented with CFA has incorporated college undergraduates in the U.S (Essau and Trommsdorff 315).

At the same time, there is proof to support the control-oriented model of coping in connection to some signs of psychological health conditions. Emphasizing precisely on college undergraduates, there is greater use of auxiliary control coping endeavors which facilitate reduced levels of signs of anxiety and depression. College students who use coping approaches that entail reassessing an original thought (intellectual assessment) or creating a precise plan of action (problem-solving) were less probable to encounter an intensification of depressive signs following reasonable, recurrent interpersonal problems (precisely, acquiring a disappointing test grade). According to Kato, there are three coping approaches for addressing interpersonal problems; they entail reassessing coping, distancing coping and constructive coping. Distancing coping entail the approaches that try to directly interrupt, damage or disband a problematic relationship (for instance, ignoring a roommate, evading interaction with an individual). It is highly likely that distancing coping results in pitiable interpersonal relationships in the case of college students (Darling et al 215). Reassessing coping entails endeavors to tolerantly wait for a suitable chance to act, as a transformation or progress of a situation.

Constructive coping entails directly seeking to advance, sustain and uphold a relationship with exasperating the other person (for instance, reflecting on another person's behavior, attempting to comprehend the other individual's sentiments). This approach focuses on respecting others and sustaining their harmonious relations. College students must learn to cope with their relationship with colleagues as a classroom-related stressor to decrease the negative impacts on their performance. There have been cases of students using the wrong coping strategies to deal with interpersonal problems. Strategies like the consumption of alcohol, smoking, and misuse of drugs are not appropriate in dealing with interpersonal problems. College students vary depending on their appraisal of the stressor, preoccupation, sentiments, attribution, and actions to handle the stressors. The use of skills like cognitive interpretation and problem-solving is likely to improve the well-being and adaptations in students of higher learning (Hunt and Eisenberg 3). Some studies have shown that students who make little efforts to control negative feelings are less likely to react to interpersonal problems with unsuitable conduct.

Proactive coping is known to influence the probability of an increase in interpersonal problems. The theory of self-efficacy by Bandura (1997) is a fundamental requirement for transforming coping behavior. Acquiring comprehensive responses facilitate student's self-efficacy while attaining insight of precise response improves students' performance. High self-efficacious undergraduates apply high-level erudition approaches like elaborative approaches and critical thinking. Appropriate intervention models promote proactive coping skills. In addition, students taking part in the coping facilitation-training program tend to display better individual coping approaches after the training and depend on dysfunctional coping approaches less frequently even when the program is complete. Strategies like psycho-education, role-playing, group discussion, and relaxation training may be crucial in promoting coping competencies, reducing interpersonal problems and increasing social support. Male students tend to report higher levels of interpersonal problems which affect their mental health (DeBate, Gatto and Rafal 1286). Male students are also known to have inferior mental health and limited proclivities towards using positive coping approaches when likened to their female counterparts.

People who tend to over-consume food as a way of handling stress utilize food to stimulate their physiological reward framework and continue using this approach until they feel satisfied. Nevertheless, over-consumption is not a successful coping model because it can result in health risks linked to obesity. Male students have diverse strategies for coping with interpersonal problems that may affect their mental health. Women's stress coping models are emotion-based and are likely to reflect their sentiments more openly while men are more likely to constrain their emotional response to stress. Additionally, female students have high chances of crying as a way of addressing their interpersonal problems as a relief mechanism; this way, crying acts as curing, releasing and problem-relieving agent. Some college students are known to use engage in substance abuse like marijuana to relieve their stress. However, the use of the drug is known to have a detrimental effect on the user (Silver 34). Alcohol consumption tends to worsen the college students' psychological well-being and results in poor memory and lack of concentration.

In most cases, an effective social network cushions interpersonal problems and includes any interpersonal link which can entail face-to-face interactions and online socialization. Suitable colleagues can increase resilience and reduce the stress experienced in college. Colleague support plays a safeguarding role with resilience in the event a setting contains academic stress. Nevertheless, both part-time and full-time college undergraduates may decrease their social and non-academic activities to cope with their studies which are counterproductive because socialization functions like a stress reliever. There is also evidence that religious coping approach like prayers commonly practiced by numerous people may act as a stress buffer. Similarly, individual religious participation, especially the frequency of attendance at mystical services is known to positively influence good health and reduce distress. Having friends may keep a college student healthier and help them to deal with interpersonal problems better. Close friendships serve as buffers against adjustments hardships that result from negatives experiences.

Numerous college students tend to practice positive stress coping approaches than negative ones. Sleep is an essential human function and permits the brain to recharge and the body to rest. Taking enough rest enables a college student to reduce the levels of interpersonal problems. Interpersonal problems are known to change a person's sleep cycles. Research has shown that most college students would be healthier, happier and safer if they were to sleep an additional 60 to 90 minutes per night. Most surveys on stress have revealed that stress may be interfering with student's sleep and makes them lack sleep to maintain their healthiness. Sleep is an influential stress reducer. Adhering to a consistent sleep schedule calms and revives the body, regulates mood, advances attentiveness and sharpens judgment and decision-making. When students acquire enough sleep, they can solve problems and improve their performance in class. Students having interpersonal problems can watch a movie to relieve tension. Students are transported to another world. Some movies are futuristic and have modern technological inventions (Zhang et al 246). Observing another domain with different places and people can be charming and permit an individual to forget deadlines of the assignments.

Gender variations in coping have not yet been reviewed conclusively; nevertheless, female students use more coping approaches in general than male students. Female college students experience complex levels of nerve-wracking occurrences linked to personal relationships and have high chances of reaching more sensitively. Thus, female students may try to utilize more coping approaches in general for relational stressors than male students. Because of this, it is believed that female students are likely to employ diverting and positive coping strategies more frequently than male students. Since reviewing coping strategy is awaiting approach without approach to another person entailed within the stressful associations (Cimini and Estela 234). With the numerous problems experienced by college students, multiple coping approaches have been adopted and are in place within the institutions. For example, the college student's feeling of hope is said to have the pledge of resiliency. The conception of hope can be tra...