Science1 publisher2 min readPublished
Felt time pressure tracks student anxiety and depression whatever the schedule, CU Boulder survey finds
University of Colorado Boulder researchers found feeling rushed tracked anxiety and depression in 646 undergraduates, however full their schedules were. The lead author cautions that the survey cannot establish cause, so it leaves open whether trimming a workload would ease that stress.
The Scientist · Science desk
What happened
- Students with the busiest weekly schedules were significantly less likely to be depressed and earned better grades.
- Heightened felt time pressure was strongly associated with lower grades as well as with more anxiety and depression.
- Students who scored higher on mindfulness appeared able to take on heavier schedules without their mental health suffering.
- Asked what they would do with more time, the students ranked self-care, including mental health care, first.
Compiled by The ScientistSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- decision A student weighing a part-time job against GPA fears finds no evidence here that extra hours hurt grades or mood, though a survey cannot promise the job is harmless.
- constraint Counselling aimed at felt time pressure could end up treating a symptom if depression is what makes time feel unmanageable in the first place.
- precedent Mindfulness training is the natural intervention to test next, since earlier studies tie breathing practices to a sense that time is abundant.
Caitlin McKimmy, the first author and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience [18], split time into two measures that everyday speech treats as one. "Time pressure" is the subjective sense of rush. "Time scarcity" is the objective shortage of uncommitted hours [6]. Students reported their weekly hours in class, preparing for class, at jobs, commuting and in other activities, and the same survey scored felt time pressure, anxiety, depression and mindfulness [7]. The sample was 646 undergraduates [1], so "busy" here means a week made of coursework, jobs and commutes [7].
The two measures came apart. Being short on hours did not necessarily mean feeling short of time [10]. "You can have a very busy person who has a harmonious relationship with time and someone else who, objectively speaking, has a calendar with some space in it but is really stressed out about time," McKimmy said [11].
Grades are the firmest part of the design. Students agreed to release their GPAs and academic records [8], so the grade results do not depend on how students describe themselves. The mood results are softer. Time pressure, anxiety and depression all came from the same questionnaire [7], and some research suggests depression itself can make time feel unmanageable [14]. If that holds in this sample, part of the measured rush is the depression it appears to predict, recorded a second time.
The belief being tested is a familiar one. "We have a tendency to think, 'Oh, things will get better, and I won't be stressed if I can just take some things off of my plate,'" McKimmy said [5]. A survey cannot settle it, because no student's workload was cut or added to [7]. The data fit the idea that felt rush matters more than hours; they do not show that it causes the distress. McKimmy stresses that the findings do not prove staying busy makes people happier: students in better mental health may seek out more, while those in a low mood say no more often [13]. The phys.org account describes the associations as significant and strong [2][9] but does not report effect sizes or say how the analysis adjusted for scheduled hours.
Her summary of the practical upshot leans further than that caveat. "These data support the idea that doing more and being engaged can not only lead to better mental health but could also support academic and professional success," she said [16]. She also stressed that overscheduling does exist [17].
What to watch
- A longitudinal follow-up showing whether high time pressure comes before a rise in anxiety or depression, or after it.
- A randomized trial that trains down felt time pressure, for example with mindfulness practice, and measures anxiety alongside records-based grades.
- Replication in working adults, whose busy weeks are built from paid jobs and caregiving instead of coursework.