Annotated Bibliography

My research paper will be focusing on the HPA (Hypothalamus-Pituitary Gland-Adrenal Gland) axis activation in response to stress with a focus on the harmful side effects of the end product of the HPA axis, cortisol hormone. I would also like to bring to attention how stress response can vary in different individuals with certain predisposition that can cause them to have severe physical responses to stress later in life, such as diabetes and cardiac health issues. My lens will be focusing on how college students, in particular, cope with stress while highlighting which coping methods they are using and evaluating how effective they are.

Word Count: 104

Annotated Bibliography

Brougham, Ruby R., et al. “Stress, Sex Differences,

“Early Life Stress and Later Health Outcomes-Findings from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study.” American Journal of Human Biology, Wiley Online Library, 26 Dec. 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.22502/full.

This research based on individuals, known as “war children”, who were sent abroad from Finland during World War 2 (1934-1944). Epidemiological and clinical studies were conducted on these individuals to determine if early life stressors can result in health disorders later in life, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This study was successful in confirming the proposed theory, early life stressors are a major risk factor for various mental and physical health later in life; early life stressors (ELS) can alter the HPA

“Health Trends among College Freshmen.” Tandfonline, 9 July 2010, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07448481.1997.9936895

Though annual surveys, college and university students trends are observed in this study, from 1966 to 1995 (30 consecutive years). Amongst alcohol and drugs, physical health, and sexual attitudes, psychological health is also a trend observed. Although some trends are declining, such are beer drinking, there’s also an observed increase in stress. Students at 2 year and 4 year college were asked how frequently they felt “overwhelmed by all I had to do” during the past year. It was observed that during the last 10 years, the percentage of students feeling overwhelmed has increased from 16.0% in 1985 to 25.3% in 1995.

Since the lens of my research study will be focusing on how college students deal with stress and how effective their coping methods are, this study is a good starting point for the 2nd half of my paper because it helps the audience understand why I am focusing on college student population. This article clearly highlight that stress levels amongst college students have been increasing throughout the years. Most college students would have no doubt accepting the fact that college has continuously been getting more stressful throughout the years, however, without some evidence it might be harder to convince the general population of this. Therefore, it would be very beneficial for my paper to have statistics of reported