The Psychosocial Impacts of Academic Stress in First to Second Generation Asian American Female Students Attending Barrett the Honors College at Arizona State University

The pursuance of higher education has always been a competitive feat and as the years progress competition amongst students becomes tighter. This competition increases when focus is placed upon the Asian American student population and the stressors that are placed on them to excel in their respective fields of academics. The Asian American population in particular also has a high prevalence of not seeking out mental health services as a whole due to high stigma associated with the topic (Zhang et al 2019). This study intended to determine the psychological and social impacts that academic stress may have on female Asian American students and why university mental health services go underutilized by this crowd. The impacts of academic stressors on student’s lives were measured using a 5 point survey scale (1 being not stressful and 5 being extremely stressful). Willing participants were then selected for an interview in which 10 individuals' experiences were recounted. The results indicate that an overwhelming majority of students reported experiencing negative impacts to multiple aspects of psychological well being. A high number of these students also reported feeling uncomfortable to seek mental health aid due to familial judgment and cultural taboos. These findings indicate significant numbers of students struggling to cope with the implications of poor mental health in their lives. This study serves to decrease the prevalence of academic stress in the lives of Asian American students by increasing their therapy seeking behaviors. Upon its completion, the researcher provided ASU counseling services with suggestions to increase utilization by female Asian Americans.