The Hardships of University: Academic vs. Social Aspects

     In psychology, the noun ‘adaptability’ is defined as the ability of an individual to acclimate to novel environments, socially, cognitively, and behaviourally (Martin et al., 2012). This is rather difficult to achieve, especially when you must adjust both to new academic and social environments. For some it’s easier to integrate into a new social world, whilst others find it easier to delve deeper into the intellectual side of things. Regardless of which one you fall into (if any), there’s a side of university for everyone.

Finding what's for you:

    Each year you are told that “there is a sport or society for everyone”, however, in coming here, that was not the case for myself. Furthermore, the sport I had spent my whole life competing in, was not available to me… so what now?

    Joining a new sporting club saved my entire university experience. From not finding my type of people in my flat, to being disheartened at my favourite sport not being an option anymore, joining Lacrosse with no previous experience, saved me. 

    Although “gendered power relations” and differing “societal contexts” seen “on and off the field” could be said to negatively affect mental health, particularly more in females (Forsdike, 2022), I found that joining a brand-new sport allowed me to feel a part of something in such a new and huge environment- without the pressure of having to be excellent straight away. It provided me with social network full of new friends, which other parts of university really neglected me of. 

    

    However, we are aware that sport isn’t for everyone, so if none of the sports on offer sound like quite your thing, then fear not. After taking a gap year, I came to the University of Warwick knowing absolutely no one. I was incredibly nervous about joining any sports teams having not played any sports since school, so held off on this prospect and instead hoped that I might find ‘my people’ through my course. Two of the most challenging parts of forming friendships are the fears of “peer rejection” and “social neglect” (Laugeson, 2013). But making friends on your course is incredibly important, not only in helping to keep you motivated and on top of work but also to make your lectures more enjoyable, reducing feelings of isolation and just having someone to sit with. It is so important to remember that whilst you are stood outside your first welcome lecture, everyone is experiencing similar feelings, but ‘your people’ might be stood right there with you. 

Academic challenges:

    Even when surrounded by ‘your people’ university can still be challenging in many aspects, particularly the pressure to pass first year to advance. As university requires more independence, additional pressure is placed on students to essentially figure things out for themselves. Due to this emphasis on success, immense significance is placed on assessments. Naturally, this may result in assessment anxiety for many students, which can become counter-productive and negatively impact health.

    Choueiry et al. (2016) found that clinical insomnia was significantly more frequent in first years in addition to being very closely associated with anxiety, demonstrating a correlation. These students experienced “excessive daytime sleepiness”, which potentially leads to decreased productivity thus, negatively impacting their studies. Having said that, through sporting societies and course friends, there is always a social support network there for you to fall back on when you feel overwhelmed and burnt out. This support will increase motivation to maintain schoolwork, allowing you to progress in your journey. 

    

    Given that the learning environment is vastly different to school, you may struggle to adapt. But, in addition to finding your social networks, independent learning and self-regulation are an important part of university life (Räisänen, Postareff & Lindblom-Ylänne, 2016). 

    Previously, your studies were guided every step of the way by your teachers, so initially, university seems so unfamiliar and difficult. In addition, you must learn to work in a group and co-regulate which means that you share your behaviour, thoughts and feelings with someone else (Hadwin and Oshige, 2011), whether that be a lecturer or a classmate. This will aid in your studies as well as your wellbeing since sharing concerns and issues can make them easier to deal with (Järvenoja & Järvelä, 2009). Both co-regulation and self-regulation are so important as they lead to deeper processing of information (Heikkilä and Lonka, 2006), something that is vital at university. 

 Conclusion:  

    Ultimately, university life is a massive change, and not everyone will adapt in the same way, but that’s okay! Whether you’re an “I can do this myself” or a social networks type of person, 

you’ll find what’s right for you. The most important message to extract from this, is that you persevere through the challenges, and go get that degree!

 References:

 Choueiry, N., Salamoun, T., Jabbour, H., Osta, N. E., Hajj, A., & Lydia, R. K. (2016). Insomnia 

and Relationship with Anxiety in University Students: A Cross-Sectional Designed Study. PLoS One, 11(2) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149643

Forsdike, K., Sawyer, A., Fullagar, S., & Marjoribanks, T. (2022). Women’s use of sport as 

identity-work in managing mental health and trauma. Women’s Studies International Forum, 92, 102595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102595

Hadwin, A., & Oshige, M. (2011). Self-regulation, coregulation, and socially shared 

regulation: Exploring perspectives of social in self-regulated learning theory. Teachers College Record, 113(2), 240-264. 

Järvenoja, H., & Järvelä, S. (2009). Emotion control in collaborative learning situations: 

Do students regulate emotions evoked by social challenges. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(3), 463-481. 

Laugeson, E. (2013). The science of making friend : Helping socially challenged teens and 

young adults. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

 

Martin, A. J., H. Nejad, S. Colmar, and G. A. D. Liem. 2012. “Adaptability: Conceptual and 

Empirical Perspectives on Responses to Change, Novelty and Uncertainty.” 

Australian Journal of Guidance and Counselling 22: 58–81. doi:10.1017/jgc.2012.8.

Räisänen, M., Postareff, L., & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (2016). University students' self-and 

co-regulation of learning and processes of understanding: A person-oriented approach. Learning and Individual Differences, 47, 281-288