U.S.A. is No. 1…in Stress
Last week, YouthWorker Journal reported that college freshmen are experiencing record levels of stress; but freshmen are far from alone when it comes to a heightened anxiety level. Stress is practically a national epidemic, beginning when we’re just children. The United States is the most stressed-out nation on earth, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, with 18 percent of us suffering from some sort of anxiety disorder. Folks from developing countries such as Nigeria are five times less likely to suffer from stress and anxiety—despite having infinitely more to worry about—and yet, when people from such nations immigrate to America, they become just as anxious as the rest of us. Taylor Clark, author of Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress and The Brave new Science of Fear and Cool, believes there are three interconnected reasons for all this stress: 1) America doesn’t have the sense of community that many other cultures have; 2) we communicate far more via text and social networking than we do face-to-face; and 3) technology pumps us with more information than we can digest comfortably. “[E]ven worse,” Clark writes, “this avalanche of data is increasingly of the alarmist, fear-igniting variety. Quoting worry researcher Evelyn Behar, he writes, “‘We live in a culture where fear is used to motivate us.'” (Slate)

Gaming Girls
Are video games a waste of time? Not if you’re a girl and you play ‘em with your parents. According to a study from Brigham Young University, girls who played video games with their moms or dads were better behaved, mentally healthier and felt more connected to their families than those who didn’t. “Playing video games with your girls could be a really good thing,” says Sarah Coyne, Ph.D., assistant professor at Brigham Young University and the study’s lead author. “It’s the face-to-face time with an adolescent culture-type of game. When parents play with their kids, they’re saying, ‘I’m willing to do what you what you like to do.'” Research also found that games needed to be age-appropriate: Families bonded more over E-rated games such as “Mario Kart” than M-rated fare. The study also found that boys didn’t get the same benefit that girls did. (ABC News)

Pay Attention, Class, It’s Almost Halftime
Not everyone watched the Super Bowl because they cared who won or lost. Some watched the big game mainly for the commercials. At the University of South Carolina, there’s a handful of students who watched for college credit. About 60 USC students are taking a class that examines Super Bowl commercials—dissecting them to find out how well they work and why. On Sunday, the students gathered and ranked each ad electronically based on a number of criteria, from likability to persuasiveness to brand identity. They give the creators of the winning commercial the “Cocky Award,” and invite the recipient to come to class later in the semester and talk about how the spot was put together. “Throughout the semester, students will learn about the cultural influences of the commercials, whether it’s things from pop culture, things from history or things that will influence the big idea,” says professor Bonnie Drewniany. (Fox News)

Rising Tuition Pinches Students
It’s Economics 101: If it costs more for a company to make a given product, that cost most likely will be passed to consumers. Now students of state universities are learning that economic truth firsthand—in the form of tuition costs. With many states dramatically cutting education funding, colleges and universities are hiking their tuition rates to make up the difference; that’s becoming a pretty serious concern for many college students. Sophomore Ashley Murphy, funding her own education, thought she was saving herself money when she picked the University of South Carolina instead of a private Christian university. Now, given the fact the private school would’ve given her more financial aid and her tuition costs keep going up, Murphy isn’t so sure. “The whole thing is kind of scary for somebody like me who’s paying for college myself,” she says. “I turn 20 tomorrow, I’m already in debt, and if tuition goes up again next year, I’ll be in an even worse situation.” It’s not just college students who are concerned. “In the next three or four years, we’re going to have more students who are spilling out of the bottom, priced out of the expensive institutions,” says Jan Wellman, executive director for the Delta Cost Project. “We’re going to be rationing opportunity. We’re moving in that direction fairly rapidly.” (New York Times)