Healthy relationships are crucial for the success of college students. According to research, more than 70% of university students struggle with homesickness, with more than 20% of college dropouts terminating their studies because of mental health problems. Evidence shows that social support is important in learners’ mental health and academic performance.
Understand that healthy social networks can enhance the student’s life and improve self-esteem. However, these relationships don’t just happen. Students have to work on how they relate with others. Here are some reasons why solid social relationships are crucial in college.
Benefits of Social Support
Research associates social support with broad factors like identity, better motivation, networks, and empathy. Support is also linked to healthier life choices and improved interpersonal functioning. Here are a few notable reasons why students need to work on their social relationships in college.
Improve Mental Health
One of the most important reasons why college students need to work on their social support systems is that it relates to their mental well-being. Experts often link having a perceived strong social support system with robust psychological health. Remember, social support means having friends and family you can turn to in times of need or distress.
These relationships can be critical whether you are going through a personal crisis or in need of urgent assistance. Your loved ones can also prove helpful when you just need someone to spend time with and share your worries. In addition, the experience can be therapeutic and serves as a stress relief mechanism.
Being surrounded by caring and supportive people helps students see themselves as better capable of handling daily stresses. They are also able to get tips on things like where to order custom essay writing service online.
Is Good for Physical Health
Another benefit of social support for college students is concerns about physical health. Evidence shows that healthy relationships lead to responsible choices and behaviors. Furthermore, when students participate in healthy social groups, it has a normative effect on their behaviors. In other words, students can get to change their attitudes about exercise and healthy meals when their relationships are healthy.
Of course, there are instances where social groups can negatively affect your behavior. For instance, peer influence can lead students to drug and alcohol abuse. However, group influence can also push students to make healthy decisions as well. Evidence also shows that social support leads to longer lives.
Supports Collaborative Learning
Evidence shows that educational experiences that are active and social tend to lead to deeper learning. According to experts, students who collaborate on tasks report higher-level thinking and better oral communication. Collaboration also leads to better leadership skills and improved self-management.
Collaborative learning is also linked to better knowledge retention and an improved sense of responsibility. These students engage in social interactions often and have a better understanding of different perspectives. What’s more, they become more tolerant of others and are better prepared for real-life social situations. Besides, collaborative learning helps students to cope with difficult assignments together and share their knowledge with others. It is possible, for example, to find a good argumentative essay writer among your group mates who can help you with writing tasks.
Improved Motivation
Learning motivation is the driving force behind students’ psyche that guarantees the progression of learning activities. Motivation gives direction when learning and results in learning activities, allowing students to pursue and reach certain goals. The factors shaping motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic factors, in this sense, is the form of conducive learning situation and perceived rewards. On the other hand, social support is a necessary form of extrinsic motivation.
Recent studies have established a link between social support and students’ academic motivation. College life tends to be frustrating, and most learners struggle to keep up with the demands. Due to the challenges, the college dropout rate has risen as most people opt out of campus life. According to experts, healthy social support helps students remain motivated and can be a remedy for homesickness.
How to Establish and Improve Social Support
Growing a healthy social support system is a deliberate undertaking. It requires specific actions aimed at getting to meet new people and interacting to generate long-term connections. For example, students can grow their social networks by volunteering. When they pick important things and get more involved, the students meet people with whom they share interests and values.
You can also grow your social network by joining a gym or fitness group. In addition to allowing you to meet new friends, exercise is also great for your mental and physical well-being. Make sure you attend class to meet your coursemates and interact in meaningful ways.
Social support is an important factor in college students’ mental, academic, and physical health. This article highlights a few reasons students need to deliberately grow their social networks. Nothing quite matches the feeling of knowing that there are people who can support you whenever you encounter challenges.