Browsing by Author "Eisinger, Jack"

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    Exploratory Analysis of Anxiety in College Students
    (Rice University, 2025) Eisinger, Jack; Hooge, Kim; Psychology
    Many established predictors of anxiety (e.g., socioeconomic status, sleep, loneliness) have been studied, yet research investigating how these factors interact with anxiety, specifically in the college student population, is sorely lacking. This exploratory study surveyed Rice University undergraduates on predictors typically shown to predict anxiety in non-college student populations, including social media use, gratitude, and self-efficacy, along with anxiety levels. Together, the predicting factors of neuroticism, problematic social media use, gender, general self-efficacy, and loneliness explained 43.3% of the variance in anxiety scores. Unexpectedly, alcohol/drug use, phone use before bed, and socioeconomic measures (parental income and education) did not correlate with anxiety. These findings can help universities understand how to ease the burden of anxiety that is particular to the college student experience. Future research endeavors will incorporate other validated measures and explore how demographic differences affect the relationship between anxiety and its predictors.