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While many people appear secure, even invincible, hardly anyone lacks a major fear.
So what do students at Pepperdine dread?
To discover the answer, The Graphic compared generalized fears that students supposedly share with four Seaver College students’ testimonies. Each from a different academic year, they spoke about what panics them at school and in their own lives.
University of Cincinnati identified the apprehension most think of when college is mentioned: test and performance anxieties. According to their online report, these involve nervousness or apprehension surrounding an exam but also “lack of confidence, fear of failure, and other negative thought processes.”
Bill Keefe, founder of CampusBlues.com, identified public speaking as a source of terror for many students.
“College represents the first real test of these emotions,” he said. “You may be required to speak publicly as part of a class assignment or social event.”
Dr. Steven Rouse, a professor of psychology at Pepperdine, agreed. “People are afraid of public speaking and of rejection. I think those things have remained the same,” he said.
Overall, he thought students’ anxieties were actually pretty similar to what they were when he was in college in the late 1980s.
However, he felt that their international concerns were different. “When I was in college, the big fear was World War III with the Soviet Union,” Rouse said. “I think college students’ fears have changed in terms of what the biggest source of danger is,” he said.
With the bombings on Sept. 11, 2001, Iraq war and continuing terrorist threats, current students are well aware of the dangers involved with world politics.
So how did four Pepperdine students’ testimonies compare to the findings of professional opinions, surveys and studies?
Freshman Amanda Kingsley said her biggest fear as a college student is losing the strong relationship she has with her mom.
“In the back of my head, I know it would never happen, but there’s always that possibility, and that really scares me,” she said.
Sophomore Lauren Morton-Farmer had a different worry. “I guess it would be working for the sake of working, not being able to put the last four years of hard work to good use,” she said.
“I’m studying something that makes me happy, but the fear is not being able to put it to use, to not be able to follow through with all the goals I’ve set for myself,” she added.
Junior Tiffany Ferguson voiced an anxiety that many students share: failure. She said she was afraid of not being able to do her best. For example, she was anxious that she might have a class she could not excel in, one she could not pass.
Senior Katrina Spencer’s college worry was straightforward. “I would just say not finishing,” she said.
Finally, the interviewees shared what terrifies them most in their personal lives.
Interestingly, their private apprehensions were unrelated to those they mentioned for college life.
Kingsley is a prime example: “I’m afraid of strangers,” she said.
“Not stranger in the sense of all people I don’t know but in the sense of someone who could hurt me both physically and emotionally,” she explained.
Kingsley said that, while her anxiety has lessened over the years, she has retained that childlike fear of strangers.
Although not linked to her school worry, Lauren Morton-Farmer’s concern is more familiar. She said her primary fear is not being able to grow up and be a wife and mother.
“It seems so taboo for young girls in college to say that, but I would never settle for anything less than […] someone I [could] see spending the rest of my life with,” she said.
Ferguson had a similar anxiety. “I think my greatest fear is being alone, like there’s absolutely no one around,” she said.
Ferguson said that she fears “not having the ability to emotionally connect with people [or] to make friends and form relationships because that’s basically the center of my life: my friends and my family,” she said.
Spencer voiced a concern that is a difficulty for many people but that few students at Pepperdine have experienced first hand. “My greatest fear is the fear of failure,” she said. “I guess that fear is more of a socio-economic thing than it is a psychological thing.
“I don’t know how long it’s been my fear, but for years it’s been my motivation. One of my main goals in life is to secure three squares a day and a safe residence,” Spencer said.
She also said this was a primary concern of hers because she has known what it is to be hungry, to be in need, and to be homeless.
Overall, the four students’ private fears were more profoundly troubling than the ones they experienced in college.
So how do they cope with their personal anxieties?
Again, each student was different. Kingsley said since her fear is irrational, she usually just handles it when the situation arises. “Sometimes I [also] cry or talk to someone, and other times I work through them internally,” she said.
Morton-Farmer described herself as a “que sera sera” sort of person. “I try not to worry too much about it because I know my days are going to play out however they will,” she said.
Ferguson said she deals with her fear of being alone just by hanging out with people, being social, and going to church.
Spencer takes a proactive approach to counter her terror of failing. “I succeed and try to secure economic stability by, for example, pursuing education to make me a more desirable employee,” she said.
If any students would like to talk about their anxieties with someone, the Student Counseling Center is open Mon. through Fri. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is located on Towers Road across from RHO Parking Lot.
This on-campus facility offers a Stress Management Seminar every Mon. from 6 to 7 p.m. The Center can be contacted at extension 4210 or by e-mailing student.counseling.center@pepperdine.edu.
For any after-hour emergencies, Public Safety is available at extension 4441.
Submitted 06-12-2006
MALIBU, CA
