S tudent A ffairs L eadership F orum October 19, 2005

1. Student Affairs Leadership ForumOctober 19, 2005 Special Issues in Student Development • Religion and Spirituality • Mental Health

2. Agenda for today’s forum • Introduction and overview • Religion and spirituality presentation • Mental health presentation • Discussion

3. Data sources(see full reports for details) • Surveys of incoming first-year students conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), at UCLA and comparable national institutions. • Freshman Survey (1973-2004) • “College Students Values & Beliefs” study (2004) • University of California Undergraduate Experiences Survey (UCUES) of all undergraduates, conducted at UCLA and seven other UC campuses, 2004. • Ashe Center Student Survey of undergraduates and graduate students, conducted by the Ashe Health Education Unit, 2002.

4. Religion and Spirituality Jennifer R. Keup Student Affairs Information & Research Office (SAIRO) Suzanne Seplow Office of Residential Life

5. National Context • “Spirituality in America”Newsweek, Aug. 2005 • “How College Students Define Religiosity and Spirituality” ACUHO-I Talking Stick, Feb. 2005 • “Supporting Students’ Search for Meaning in Their Lives”Women in Higher Education, Oct.2005 • “The Spiritual Life of College Students: A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose” Spirituality in Higher Education; HERI, 2005

6. What do you think? Given your experiences with UCLA students, how would you characterize their spiritual and religious activity/beliefs?

7. Guiding Questions • What are the characteristics of the religious & spiritual commitment of incoming UCLA students? • How are UCLA students’ religion and spirituality associated with their world view? • How do our undergrads characterize the campus climate and their own religious/spiritual involvement at UCLA?

8. 2/3 of Entering UCLA Students Indicate a Religious Affiliation

9. The Emerging Religion: “None” Religious Affiliation: “None” Self-Identification: “Born-Again Christian”

10. Spiritual/Religious Views Reveal a Quest for Meaning

11. High Interest in Existential Issues

12. Potential Areas for Interpersonal Conflict

13. Religion/Spirituality and Socio-Political Orientation

14. UCLA Students Tend to Have a Pluralistic World View Experience or Belief Percent Non-religious people can lead lives that are just as moral as those of religious believers 91 Socialized w/someone of another race/ethnicity 85 Important that UCLA respect diverse perspectives 80 People can grow spiritually without being religious 73 Very important” or “essential” to improve my understanding of other countries and cultures 54 I have an interest in different religious traditions 14

15. Moderate Levels of Religious or Spiritual Activities During College • Time on “spiritual activities” (e.g. prayer, meditation, attending services, etc.) • 14% spent 3 or more hours per week • 47% reported that they dedicated no time • Comparable to students at other UC campuses • In-depth conversations with students with different religious beliefs • Over 1/3 of UCLA students report having these conversations “often” or “very often” • 21% decline to state and 7% report that they “never” interact with students in this manner

16. Moderate Levels of Religious or Spiritual Activities During College • Consistent with other UC campuses, UCLA students reported low levels of need and use of University Religious Conference • 80 spiritual/religious student organizations are supported by Center for Student Programming • 58 are primarily religious (53 dedicated to one religion) • 10 are primarily spiritual • 10 are primarily cultural • 39 organizations have active websites • 10 are dedicated to students of a particular race or ethnicity

17. UCLA students today • Students tend to feel that college is a place they can talk about religion with their peers • Even if students don’t affiliate with a particular religion, they are often comfortable talking about religion and may participate with discussing their “spirituality”

18. UCLA students today • General sense that college is the place to struggle with such issues as religion/ spirituality…searching, gaining greater understanding, discovering… • Not many stats that are kept regarding student organizations’ activities, however, tend to do small group programs or studies within their group. Occasionally, will do interfaith based programs.

19. Implications What do we as Student Affairs professionals need to be attentive to & how do we foster this important element of student development?

20. Mental Health Kristen McKinney Ashe Center Health Education Unit Christina Miller Ashe Center Health Education Unit Student Psychological Services

21. Guiding Questions • What is the state of students’ mental health as they enter UCLA? • Do different groups of students show different patterns of mental health concerns and behaviors?

22. Entering freshmen show a varied picture of mental health • CIRP 2004 • 58% rated their emotional health as above average or top 10% • 53% indicated that they had felt depressed “frequently” or “occasionally” in the past year • 62% reported feeling overwhelmed “frequently” in the past year; another 25% felt this way “occasionally”

23. Care-seeking likely to rise while attending college • 5% of entering freshmen sought mental health consultation in the past year (CIRP 2003) • 52% anticipate that there is “some” or “a very good chance” that they will seek personal counseling while in college (CIRP 2004)

24. Transfer students do not fare as well as direct-entry students

25. Transfer students may have more difficulty with “life balance” • Transfers more likely than direct-entry students to report difficulty with: • Finances • Transportation issues • Time management • Taking care of others • Handling stress

26. Asian students show higher rates of mental health concerns

27. At-risk groups show lower rates of care-seeking • Transfer students more likely to report they “needed but didn’t use” SPS than direct-entry students (UCUES 2004) • Asian/Asian American students report lowest rate of mental health care-seeking (11% versus 14-20% in other groups) (Ashe 2002)

28. Asian students least likely to use Student Psychological Services

29. Use of Student Psychological Services

30. Use of Student Psychological Services Demographics

31. Use of Student Psychological Services Demographics: Race & ethnicity

32. Chronic/severe mental illnessCases fall under 3 categories in SPS data

33. Chronic/severe mental illnessOSD data

34. Problem areas that showed an increase in percentage (>1%) of students seeking treatment at SPS

35. Problem areas that showed a decrease in percentage (>1%) of students seeking treatment at SPS

36. Most prevalent problems in 2002 to 2004 Interpersonal problems 26.4% School-related problems 12.3% Mood disorders 10.7% Sense-of-self issues 8.5% Anxiety disorders 7.7% Situational adjustment 6.2% Separation/loss issues 6.1% TOTAL 77.9%

37. Less prevalent problems in 2002 to 2004

38. Conclusions from SPS data • Chronic mental illness does not account for the lion’s share of increased demand for services • There is a general overall increase across problem areas. • Clinicians report more complex problems (multiple problem areas). • There is a need for increased psychiatric care for more complex cases and increased need for access to medications for more commonplace conditions (anxiety and simple, unipolar depression). • Interactional/interpersonal issues are the most salient problem.

39. The Other 92%:Students Who Don’t Seek Help from SPS • Students who seek medical care • Developmental/educational issues and programming • The limits of psychotherapy • What students want • Speed • Access • Interpersonal connection • Skills, efficacy, competence

40. Discussion • What are your own observations about current student needs in these areas? • What are the implications of these issues for Student Affairs practitioners seeking to support student development?

41. For more information Visit http://www.sairo.ucla.edu/sairo_recent_reports.htm or contact Judith Richlin-Klonsky, UCLA Student Affairs Information & Research Office (jrichlin@saonet.ucla.edu).