Health Survey Suggests Stressed Campus
The latest results from the Youth Health and Risk Behavior Survey (YHRBS), a survey administered to all Exeter students last spring, reveal that although Phillips Exeter Academy is below the national average for most risky behaviors, a relatively high percentage of students still admit to experiencing unmanageable levels of stress and pressure.
“From 2005, we looked at the percentages of Exeter students who were being very pressured and so stressed that they can’t stand it,” Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove said. “And that’s risen on average. Its gone from 35 percent to 38 percent and 42 percent in the last two surveys.” He also noted that “on average, females, racial ethnic minorities, LGBT students reported higher levels than white male heterosexual students.”
Stress and other factors have given rise to other reported potentially dangerous behaviors, including binge-drinking and non-binge alcohol use. Also, reports of attempted suicide increased in this survey, although the attempted suicides have never risen above two percent of students in the past year.
The YHRBS is an anonymous student survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in high schools across the nation. Exeter’s YHRBS Task Force—comprised of various faculty, staff and administrators—collaborates with the CDC to tailor the survey specifically to the Academy’s needs and concerns. The Academy first administered the survey in 2005 and conducted the survey again in 2007, 2015 and 2017. Exeter plans to continue the survey biennially.
Dean of Student Health and Wellness Gordon Coole shared the survey results in early April at an evening faculty meeting. Advisory groups will discuss these results in the coming weeks and explore issues of student wellbeing and personal identity on campus.
Perhaps as a coping mechanism for increasing stress, the Academy has seen a rise in alcohol use from 8 percent across all grades in 2015 to 11.5 percent in 2017. Alcohol use remains more prevalent among older students. Participation in binge-drinking, defined as five or more consecutive drinks in a period of a couple hours, hovers around 9 percent of the student body, less than half the national average.
Coole expressed that the Academy is “pretty progressive in all aspects” compared to the rest of the nation. “We do a pretty good job of empowering students to have a voice, more so in this school than the rest of society,” he said. “It’s a very healthy time we’re living in now, and Exeter’s a big player in that.”
However, upper Aaron Baez feels that mental health issues at Exeter need more attention from adults on campus.“I think the administration kind of overlooks this idea that students are unhappy, in several cases whether with what’s on campus regarding a certain situation, or just regarding academics or athletics,” Baez said.
Lower Jasmine Liao hopes the community will work to denounce stigmas surrounding mental health issues. “I think there is enough support for student mental health on campus; however, there is still that stigma that needs to be removed. It’s just that it’s awkward to talk about [mental health], so I think putting our efforts to removing the stigma [would] be great,” she said.
Stigmas also surround the perceptions some students have of their own body image. The Academy’s former Medical Director Myra Citrin commented that societal expectations and a narrow definition of beauty promulgated by popular media in the current digital age can also manifest in tangible ways such as disordered eating behavior and sensitivities around body image, particularly among women.
Records from the Lamont Health and Wellness Center indicate that eating disorders are more prevalent among female than male students at Exeter. “I think that some young women compare themselves to others and try to achieve a weight that is ultimately unhealthy,” she said. “People are subject to body shaming regardless of sex, but girls are more likely to be subjected to the icons of models and actresses. We’re constantly looking at images of women who are airbrushed to perfection and very thin, where there’s such a focus on appearance. That can really trigger insecurity.”
Coupled with more instances of eating disorders among female students, some feel that female students are generally less happy than male students on campus. One of the most clear separations seems to occur in the classroom. According to senior Clara Lee, “People tend to trust you less if you are a girl in terms of the answers to your questions and homework, especially when we do group work.” Senior Celeste Wu felt similarly and said, “The difference between guys and girls is that girls have to prove themselves first, whereas guys don’t.”
In terms of dealing with these instances and with stress in general, Coole said, “Girls tend to reach out for help more easily than boys do. Boys conversely have better coping skills than girls, meaning that they typically manage things on their own.”
He also speculated that broader social inequities and stereotypes not specific to the Academy could have contributed to the gender discrepancy. “The issue of the gender divide is a big sociological question. We’ve reinforced a certain set of standards in our parenting, in our society, that girls are supposed to be soft and cute and friendly and boys are supposed to be hard and tough. These have been perpetuated in our society for generations, and our numbers reflect that,” he said.
Coole continued, “I don’t think four years of Exeter can hope to counter what’s been done in 14 years of upbringing in a certain culture. Can we influence it? Yes. But can we really make huge change? No, I think that’s got to come from home, from families, before students get here. ”