Anxiety is one of the most common mental health disorders in the U.S. and is becoming increasingly common and problematic for college students across the country. Building on research conducted at single universities, we used a large national data set from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) and compared self-reported levels of anxiety amongst various groups of college students across the U.S., as well as the prevalence of comorbidity between anxiety reported on the generalized anxiety subscale of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS) and other mental health concerns. We found that a number of self-reported variables (e.g., considered attempting suicide, experienced traumatic event, non- suicidal self-injury, etc.) on the CCAPS had a positive correlation with anxiety levels at intake. Interestingly, we found that those who participated in organized college athletics and those who are international students were found to have lower anxiety at intake than others. We further found that participants from certain demographic backgrounds had higher levels of anxiety than others. Notably, participants who reported they were born female had higher levels of anxiety than those born male. Similarly, women and transgender individuals had higher anxiety levels than men, and those who self-identified their gender identity had higher anxiety scores than women, men, and transgender individuals. Our results also indicate that, at intake, those who self-identified in their sexuality and identified as bisexual reported the highest levels of anxiety compared to those who identified as lesbian, questioning, gay, or heterosexual. Our model, which contained the variables sexual orientation, gender identity, marijuana use, experienced traumatic event, considered attempting suicide, non-suicidal self-injury, current financial situation, prescribed medication for mental health concerns, and emotional support from social network, was the best fit that most parsimoniously described which variables had the greatest impact on anxiety levels at intake. Finally, our results indicate that there is a relationship between generalized anxiety symptoms and other presenting concerns (distress, depression, social anxiety, hostility, eating concerns, substance use). Given our study's large sample size, we provide more generalizable data than single university studies and provide clinical and research recommendations.

Thesis (Ph.D. (English)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (English)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D. (English)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:25:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4743.pdf: 1215681 bytes, checksum: 4422300d0b07c05dd1bfa96d9f3767ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-16 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The seminar, a discursive activity predominantly oral and a literacy practice, is a genre of discourse usually used in the academic community as a method of student assessment, which receives peculiar shapes, according to the area of knowledge that it takes place. In this context, first-year university students often participate in this activity intuitively. Based on the social-interactionist and socio-rhetorical language studies, and through qualitative research method we followed the oral presentations of new incoming undergraduate students, who belong to three distinct areas of knowledge (Agricultural Science, Exact Science and Humanities Science) of a public university in the State of São Paulo, with the purpose of examining how university students acquire the discursive seminar gender. By the analysis of audio and image recordings of the students‟ presentations, semi-structured interviews withteachers, field notes and journal, we concluded that students acquire this discursive activity based on oral presentations previously known or following other literacies practices presented in the academic context. / O seminário, atividade discursiva preponderantemente oral e prática letrada, é um gênero do discurso usualmente empregado na comunidade acadêmica brasileira como método de avaliação estudantil e que assume formatos peculiares, de acordo com a área do saber em que se realiza. Nesse contexto, estudantes recém-ingressos na universidade muitas vezes participam dessa atividade de forma intuitiva. Com base nos estudos linguísticos sociointeracionistas e sociorretóricos, e por meio do método de pesquisa qualitativo acompanhamos apresentações expositivas de estudantes recém-ingressos na academia, pertencentes a três áreas distintas do saber (Ciências Agrárias, Exatas e Humanas) de uma universidade pública do interior paulista, com o objetivo de analisar de que modo esses universitários de apropriam do gênero seminário. Mediante a análise de gravações de áudio e imagem de apresentações realizadas pelos estudantes, entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas com professores, notas e diário de campo, concluímos que os estudantes se apropriam de tal atividade discursiva, baseando-se em práticas letradas de exposição oral por eles conhecidas ou pautando-se em gêneros presentes no contexto acadêmico.