Student’s Mental Health Essay Example

Mental health is defined as the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of humans as individuals. Mental health affects how they think, feel, and act. Mental health obstacles are a part of everyone’s daily life-- similar to how school is a part of a student’s daily life. Some may argue that attending school has a negative impact on a student’s mental health due to school connectedness, stress, and depression caused by academic grades. On the other hand, attending school can have a positive impact by providing students with help from specialists, educating students about mental illnesses, and instructing teachers on how to identify signs of students with mental illnesses in students. Thus, the question arises: does attending school have a positive or negative impact on a student’s mental health? 

To begin, students may become mentally ill in school due to school connectedness. School connectedness is defined as the belief students have that their teachers and peers care about them as an individual. According to Michael Strong, the author of Are public schools causing an epidemic of mental illness, School connectedness was the strongest protective factor for boys and girls to decrease substance abuse, early sexual initiation, and risk of unintentional injury. This proves the argument that school connectedness can protect students from many negative factors. However, it has the potential to do the exact opposite and provide students with the same issues, such as mental illnesses. Strong also says results suggest an association between school connectedness and adolescent depressive symptoms and a predictive link from school connectedness to future mental health problems. Students are not feeling connected to their teachers or peers at school, and this is leading to these students becoming depressed or forming other mental illnesses. These few years in high school where students do not feel connected can lead to the development of mental illnesses that will last a lifetime. Michael Strong has used data from studies done on students in the United States to explain how school connectedness affects students’ mental health. This article’s information is credible because the information has been collected by specialists such as psychologists and pediatricians.