The present paper shared by https://specialessays.com/capstone-project-writing-service/ focuses on the approach to research regarding the correlation between stress and transitional period of college students as well as on the development of constructive methods aiming to eliminate tress and improve academic, emotional, and behavioral performance of freshmen. Specific attention is paid to social networking as a significant source of impact on the college students who undergo a crisis period, collective support, mindfulness, and self-efficacy that may help to solve this issue. The preliminary research contributed to the proper delineation of the key objectives at the initial stage of work. The next stage of the study comprises a survey. The consequent analysis leads to the group discussion of the outcomes in order to produce relevant improvements and design a final version of a complex of tools aimed at reducing tress for college students during the first semester. It is recommended to implement the developed instruments in a systematic and consistent way in order to achieve positive results.

Stress management is a challenging and special field of psychological practice. It is especially complicated when it concerns stress conditions in teenagers and coincides or is provoked by stressful circumstances. One of the most vivid and relevant examples of such cases is a transitional period when teenagers become college students. The course of transformation from a high school pupil into a student is accompanied by new challenges, reflections, paradigm shifts, and serious distress. Particular attention is paid to the physical changes students face. The paper is focused on potential instruments that can help to eliminate stress in college students. The target audience comprises college students aged between 18 and 23. Both male and female college students are involved in the research. The ultimate aim of the paper is to identify how stressful conditions impact emotional, behavioral, and academic performance of students, and to determine the most efficient tools for reducing stress. In addition, serious consideration is given to the effectiveness of popular social networks that provide students with some support under stressful conditions. It is hypothesized that high degree of stress accompanied by comparatively low degrees of social support provided by modern networking experience might predetermine poor skills of coping with emotional, behavioral, and academic tasks and challenges. The quantitative descriptive method is chosen for carrying out the study. The survey will be employed to acquire necessary data. The evaluation will be conducted as soon as every feedback is delivered.

The course of transformation into a college student and the transitional period featuring the entrance into an institution of higher education has numerous dimensions and influential factors. First, pupils move from familiar environment into a new academic world. Second, social surroundings change abruptly. Third, students have to significantly change some habits. Fourth, they face new serious challenges. Fifth, there is a paradigm shift in the degree of responsibility. These are the key stressing factors that influence college students during their first semester. Personal burnout, anxiety related to tests and examinations and overall depressed condition. Nontraditional approaches to students attendance at college contribute to the overall complex nature of the transition. It is vital to comprehend that the mind of college newcomers is in the process of a rapid and complicated development. Former pupils of a high school continue to mature, and it influences their behavior, capacities, and overall perception of the changes in their lives. Stress management should focus on the dual essence of the problem in question, namely, self-leadership and regulation of emotional reactions and conditions. Such an approach is regarded as efficient and constructive as far as it deals with the core determinants of tress and its consequences. Negative thoughts, irrelevant stereotypes, and distressful mood impact the overall condition of the students who undergo a period of transition. Negative self-talk is considered to be the ultimate focus of the methods aimed at reducing stress in college students. The stressful state of college students, especially on the initial stage of their study, may be provoked by low level of academic performance and affect learning in a negative way. The versatility of the factors that influence college newcomers requires relevant, timely, and constructive solutions. The interventions often rely on collective efforts to address the problem. To be more precise, group interventions are considered to be efficient due to support, reflection, and an opportunity to monitor, impact, and control the course and effect of the given method. For instance, a group of scholars have developed and presented a model that relies on self-compassion. Such an approach has considerably improved the level of students’ self-efficiency in terms of academic performance, optimistic attitude, and mindfulness. The scholars explored the effect of movement-based courses and its potential to raise the level of mindfulness in college students. Additionally, they focused on the correlation between self-regulation and stress management. The authors have revealed that the chosen approach significantly improved students’ sleep, mood, and mindfulness.

Nevertheless, it is relevant to consider diverse approaches and results to form an objective and a multidimensional study. For example, the scholars regard stressful conditions in a college-related context as inversely related to academic performance among traditional undergraduates, for freshmen in particular. In addition, stress has also been identified as a factor negatively affecting persistence for college freshmen.  Therefore, in order to design a relevant, justified, and potentially efficient method for intervention, it is crucial to conduct a constructive and consistent survey in order to provide an in-depth insight into the correlation between distress and the changes freshmen face during their transitional period. Primary data that will be acquired via surveys will be aligned and compared with the secondary sources reviewed on the preliminary research stage.

The sample will comprise both male and female freshmen aged between 18 and 23. The participants will be chosen randomly. The database will be kindly provided by a local college with the principal’s permission. Only e-mail addresses will be employed. The students will receive e-mails inviting them to participate and informing them about the survey and its purpose. The letters will also inform the students about the background of the study, its topicality, and practical value. In addition, every potential respondent will be notified that participation is voluntary and anonymous. It is guaranteed that the data obtained during the survey remain confidential and will be used only for researching. The students confirm their participation by means of an e-mail. Afterwards, the survey will be sent to each student who is ready to take part.

The structure of the survey will correspond to the key objectives of the study. To be more precise, the research objectives are aimed at detecting the impact of a transitional period on emotional, behavioral, and academic student performance; identifying the influence of social networks on stress management; exploring the correlation between distress and collective support; and defining the link between stress and self-efficacy, mindfulness, and optimism in college students. Hence, each block of the survey will correspond to one of the aforementioned objectives. It is also crucial to underline that only entirely completed surveys will be accepted for a further analysis. The researches will not accept delayed responses. The students will have ten days to deliver a completed survey.

As soon as the responses are delivered and analyzed, the outcomes of the survey will be employed for developing relevant, constructive, and applicable methods to eliminate stressful effects of the transitional period on freshmen. One of the major results of the study will be the development of a set of necessary coping skills that freshmen need to manage the transitional period and accompanying stressful conditions effectively. This set will comprise diverse types of exercise that may be either relaxing or promoting; group activities; collective meetings; tools for understanding stress triggers and alternatives for their elimination. Special instruments will be developed for the social networking experience in order to prevent its negative effect, and simultaneously assist students in benefiting from its potential. The interventions should be semester-long in order to provide a significant effect on college students. Therefore, each intervention will be structured not only in terms of tools it uses but also according to a relevant schedule. 

The developed methods aimed at reducing the impact of transition and stress related to it will be presented and discussed at several group meetings. The volunteers from the audience, namely, twenty most pro-active participants, will be invited to partake in these activities. They will require an in-depth insight into the methods, a constructive analysis, and suggestions concerning enhancement and adjustments of each instrument. Every improvement should be justifiable, applicable, and provide a significant outcome. The results of three such sessions will form a solid background for the developed methods.

The final complex of interventions and methods for reducing stress in freshmen during the first semester will address the following issues and their solutions:

• promotion of understanding external triggers of stress in order to be capable to identify, address and cope with them properly;
• assistance in understanding internal triggers and implementing appropriate strategies;
• methods that help to cope with stress caused by anxiety related to classes and tests;
• assistance in stress management by means of learning and empirical activity;
• promotion of the importance of self-maintenance as well as assistance in designing a balanced schedule;
• an introduction to mindful meditation will be one of the most promising and potentially efficient methods for freshmen;
• positioning of procrastination as an influential factor of numerous aspects of daily life, academic performance, and an overall emotional condition;
• recognition that thoughts, attitudes, and stereotypes are related to stress formation and possible solutions;
• finally, a relevant method for stress elimination means setting a specific goal, working on it, and achieving it timely.

The introduction of the aforementioned interventions should be presented as a holistic approach that helps to improve the overall performance of college students. Separate methods may be efficient only partially since a student should work systematically and persistently in order to achieve a positive outcome.

Thus, the methods for eliminating stress should take into consideration diverse aspects of the transitional period and development of teenagers in order to be effective, namely, emotional, behavioral and academic ones. Moreover, social networking, collective support, mindfulness and self-efficacy are considered to be determining factors that help to cope with stress.