This is the time of year when kids from all across the country end their summer vacations, and head back to school. Some students love it, some students hate it, but it is a huge adjustment for almost everyone, and can be a trigger for students and parents. Obviously returning to school can increase anxiety, but it also can cause depression, increase self-harm, and be incredibly detrimental to sleep patterns which impacts every part of both mental and physical health. There are three powerful, easy, and research-based things families can do to ease this stress: Extend the transition window, keep friendships alive, and goalsetting.
A study of over 100 subjects transitioning from high school to university was done and found that extending the transition window is one of the most effective ways to reduce transition stress (Cage, 2021). What that could look like in your home depends on the family, but the absolute minimum should be slowly returning sleeping hours back to “normal” schoolyear sleeping hours. If you have been going to bed at 2:00 am, and getting up at noon, try to get up and go to sleep an hour earlier, every day for a week or so before school begins. The amount of data on the importance of sleep is incalculable. One recent study, however, showed not only how adequate sleep improves academic performance, but it also improves anxiety and depression (Al-Khani, 2019).
Beyond just a better sleep pattern, you could try and get your body used to completing tasks and sticking to a schedule. Maybe you set a schedule of chores, exercise, meals, snacks, and playtime, and stick to it, or even go to work with a parent or family-member. Anything you can do to get back in the habit of having some sort of rigid schedule and holding yourself accountable to it. This will make the shock of a school schedule less jarring for you when the year begins.
The second important thing to do is keep friendships alive. The most common time for families to move is during the summer, and especially if you are changing schools due to graduation, it is important to keep those friendships alive, even at a distance. Goldstein (2015) found that having strong friendships not only helped with mental health, but also increased academic performance, as well as perceived academic ability. There have been many, but one study (Escalante, 2021) showed how students simply thinking they can achieve, increased their actual achievement. Therefore, keeping those friendships alive will not only help your mental health, but can also increase your overall academic achievement.
The last thing you can do is sit down with a parent, friend or family member and simply discuss school. Talk about what went right and what went wrong last year. What mistakes did you make, and how can you avoid them? What successes did you enjoy, and how can you repeat them? Talk out the upcoming year and make a plan, removing some of the unknown and hopefully some of the anxiety. Giving yourself goals, and grace, will make a huge difference. Research has shown how goal-setting and visualization can improve mental health (Gamble, 2021) as well as actual performance!
Enjoy the last days of your summer vacation! I am sure you deserved it after studying so hard for the ten months before, but it is time to head back for another year. Find ways to get in some last-minute rest and relaxation, do things that bring you happiness while the weather is warm and school has not quite started, but a little preparation before school begins can help you start the year strong and ready to excel!
Al-Khani, A. M., Sarhandi, M. I., Zaghloul, M. S., Ewid, M., & Saquib, N. (2019). A cross-sectional survey on sleep quality, mental health, and academic performance among medical students in Saudi Arabia. BMC Research Notes, 12(1), 665. doi:10.1186/s13104-019-4713-2
Cage, E., Jones, E., Ryan, G., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2021). Student mental health and transitions into, through and out of university: student and staff perspectives. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(8), 1076–1089. doi:10.1080/0309877X.2021.1875203
Escalante Mateos N, Fernández-Zabala A, Goñi Palacios E, Izar-de-la-Fuente Díaz-de-Cerio I. (2021). School Climate and Perceived Academic Performance: Direct or Resilience-Mediated Relationship? Sustainability, 13(1):68. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010068
Gamble, B., Tippett, L. J., Moreau, D., & Addis, D. R. (2021). The Futures We Want: How Goal-Directed Imagination Relates to Mental Health. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(4), 732–751. doi:10.1177/2167702620986096
Goldstein, S., Boxer, P., & Rudolph, E. (2015). Middle School Transition Stress: Links with Academic Performance, Motivation, and School Experiences. Contemporary School Psychology, 19. doi:10.1007/s40688-014-0044-4