麻豆影院

Research focuses on young people who face 鈥榓 dizzying duality of both resilience and risk鈥櫶�

One in three college freshmen worldwide reports having mental health problems, a fact that helps to drive a psychology professor who seeks student volunteers for a study to address that concern at the 麻豆影院.

June Gruber, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience who studies happiness, has launched a project called EMERGE鈥�. It is a paid study collecting mental-health data from first-year students at CU 麻豆影院.听

The study explores the age Gruber calls emerging adulthood, during which young people often go to college and experience some form of mental illness. EMERGE aims to enhance college wellbeing and mental health resources on campus, and the study is being conducted by the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology (PEP) lab, which Gruber directs.听

Gruber says her background teaching psychology and neuroscience and being 鈥渟omeone that values mental health service outreach鈥� influenced the creation and structure of the project. EMERGE aims to satisfy scholarship, science and public outreach for community benefit.

Students are paid $20 for participation in a survey lasting less than an hour. Completed in four parts, the study involves an initial survey, a lab visit, a diary study in the freshman鈥檚 first months, and a follow-up period lasting from that December to the next fall.听

Gruber says the project 鈥渉as become a wonderful synergistic partnership鈥� between the PEP lab and on-campus groups like the Office of Undergraduate Education, the University Exploration & Advising Center, the Center for STEM Learning, the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Advising Center and the Office of Data Analytics.听

EMERGE aspires to provide a descriptive profile of students鈥� emotions, decision-making and 鈥渙verall adjustment鈥� drawing on data from the survey, lab visit and diary.

Another objective is to identify what 鈥渋ngredients,鈥� or psychological mechanisms, might help explain students鈥� patterns of decision making and emotional wellbeing. Gruber notes that college students, typically ages 18-25, face 鈥渁 dizzying duality of both resilience and risk.鈥澨�

Finally, EMERGE engages in community outreach. 鈥淲e want to take this outside the lab,鈥� Gruber explains. The ultimate aim is to circulate the material back to educators with 鈥渢he goal that the information that we gain can be disseminated more broadly back to the college students themselves.鈥澨�

Gruber cites the World Health Organization鈥檚 research indicating that one in three students reports prolonged periods of depression, one in seven report 鈥渁bnormally reckless behavior,鈥� and one in four reports suicidal thoughts or feelings. Even to her own students at CU, these numbers are 鈥渟tartlingly high.鈥�

鈥淭his is not simply an issue affecting the individual college student鈥� Gruber says, explaining the cascading effects of mental illness. Classmates, roommates and friends of a suffering peer are themselves at increased risk for depression.听

Gruber hopes to distribute the study results widely, starting with courses and campus workshops centered around mental health for CU 麻豆影院 students.听

鈥淭he ideal impact for our students is to increase their own understanding of mental health issues facing college students just like themselves,鈥� Gruber says.听

Gruber underscores the importance of 鈥渇eeding back the results鈥� of the study to the campus population. Circulating these data will ideally help build new initiatives, programs and mental health resources on campus, and 鈥渆nhance the transition to college鈥� worldwide.

鈥淎fter all, we are in an interconnected and common ecosystem,鈥� Gruber observes

To participate in the study or learn more, email听gruberpeplab@colorado.edu听with the subject line 鈥淓MERGE.鈥�