NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1154862
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1948-5891
EISSN: N/A
Can We Talk? Employing Conversation to Ameliorate Undergraduate Distress at Catholic Colleges and Universities
Petro, Susannah J. P.
Journal of Catholic Higher Education, v36 n1 p61-80 Win 2017
This article addresses students' need for robust relationships to counteract the epidemic of loneliness, anxiety, and depression pervading contemporary undergraduate life, and proposes that Catholic colleges and universities can find in Catholic theological anthropology a warrant for recognizing relationship-building as central to their mission. The article (1) identifies three socio-cultural forces (individualism, hyperconnectivity, and confrontational styles of communication) that impinge upon student well-being and predispose them to attenuated relationship and disconnection, (2) highlights the unique pressures of undergraduate education that increase student stress and anxiety, and (3) examines the Catholic theological conviction that the human person, made in the Divine image, is made whole through authentic relationship. The article identifies conversation as foundational to relationship and offers a theoretical model for teaching and implementing a praxis of intentional conversation across the academic, residential, and co-curricular divisions of Catholic undergraduate institutions to foster students' ability to enter and sustain relationships.
Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. 1 Dupont Circle Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-457-0650; Fax: 202-728-0977; e-mail: accu@accunet.org; Web site: http://www.accunet.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A