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Research shows creative students sensed global catastrophe coming, had increased anxiety
LAWRENCE — New research from the University of Kansas shows that some of the most creative adolescents may have sensed that a global crisis was looming as far back as 2014. Researchers working with creative students noticed a spike in anxiety, depression and suicidality among the normally well-adjusted population, then conducted a series of studies to determine the causes. They recently published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Radhia Abdirahman named a Newman Civic Fellow
LAWRENCE — Radhia Abdirahman, a junior in human biology, global & international studies and African & African diasporic languages, is KU’s Newman Civic Fellow for 2021-2022. Abdirahman, from Overland Park and from Vancouver, British Columbia, joins promising student leaders across the country who have demonstrated investment and leadership in their communities. The Center for Service Learning will celebrate Abdirahman, CSL Award recipients and graduates from the Certificate in Service Learning program at their annual Service Showcase and Celebration at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 22.
Two students selected for Beckman Scholars Program
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas students Claire Dopp, of Olathe, and Sarah Noga, of Des Moines, Iowa, have been selected to participate in the 2021 Beckman Scholars Program. KU Beckman Scholars are outstanding KU chemistry and biology majors who receive a stipend totaling $18,200 along with $2,800 for travel and supplies to conduct research.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Mike Krings, KU News Service, 785-864-8860, [email protected], @MikeKrings
Research shows creative students sensed global catastrophe coming, had increased anxiety
LAWRENCE — New research from the University of Kansas shows that some of the most creative adolescents may have sensed that a global crisis was looming as far back as 2014.
While students didn’t predict a pandemic and resulting economic and social distress, KU researchers working with creative students noticed much higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicidality among the normally well-adjusted population. When asked about their negative feelings, the students pointed to a sense of impending worry about a global environmental catastrophe, the erosion of democracy and other international ills.
“Despite the common belief in the ‘mad genius’ myth, most scientific studies of creative people have found them to be surprisingly well-adjusted. Even in adolescence, supposedly a time of struggle, decades of research established that most of them were happily engaged in their art, music, writing, invention or social projects,” said Barbara Kerr, Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology in KU’s School of Education & Human Sciences.
Hundreds of creative young people who took part in KU’s Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States, known as Project CLEOS, matched that psychological profile from 2006 to 2013. But in 2014, alarming signs of depression and anxiety spiked. Initiation of suicide prevention protocols for the students jumped from one or two a year to 25% of the students assessed at the lab.
“Nothing had changed among the population of students we served or the nomination process. The students themselves had somehow changed,” Kerr said.
To determine why creative students were suddenly feeling more depressed and anxious, Kerr, principal investigator of Project CLEOS, and graduate students Maxwell Birdnow, JD Wright and Sara Fiene undertook a series of studies. They recently published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
The first study compared students’ scores on interests, personality and achievements. Results showed the students remained interested in their creative pursuits, but their personalities had changed. From 2014 to 2019 they scored higher on neuroticism, or the tendency to feel anxious, depressed, vulnerable or lacking emotional control. Simultaneously, they scored significantly lower on extroversion, or the tendency to be warm, positive, gregarious and leadership-oriented.
“The students were also highly conscientious – concerned about working hard, achieving and deliberateness. To their counselors, they appeared sad, overwhelmed and reflective,” Kerr said.
For the second study, Birdnow interviewed more than 100 of the students in small focus groups to determine why they thought their group of peers felt depressed and anxious. Results indicated two major themes: Dealing with others’ expectations and awareness of global issues such as environmental destruction and collapse of democracy.
“Increasing personal struggles to meet expectations and fears about the future collided with their conscientiousness,” Birdnow said. “They had a sense of foreboding, a strong need to do something about it and the awareness that as adolescents, they had little power to do so.”
Following the studies, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The research team commented that it was as if the students saw it coming. While they didn’t specifically predict a pandemic, the students felt a global catastrophe was inevitable. That sense of foreboding inspired a third study, in which Birdnow followed up with 19 previous participants in Project CLEOS to see how the pandemic had affected their mental health and creativity.
Throughout 2020, headlines told of people suffering from mental health issues, depression, lost creativity, loneliness, financial struggle and other negative results of the pandemic and the resulting isolation. The highly creative students largely reported they felt their mental health had suffered, but many said they also had been able to mask their emotional struggles. The most hopeful sign, the research team said, was that most remained engaged in their creative endeavors, despite their emotional struggles and isolation.
“One developed a much viewed TikTok profile, others wrote, or composed music. Some started community services; some continued scientific work,” Kerr said. “Somehow, in the worst of times, creative students used their imagination to be engaged, to entertain and inspire.”
While it may not come as a surprise that creative students suffered emotionally during the pandemic like so many others, the fact that such feelings preceded the pandemic warrant further discussion and research, the authors said. The population’s openness to experience and high degree of knowledge helped them see the possibility for global environmental and social crises and their inability to solve or prevent them likely led to their negative emotional states, the researchers wrote. However, the persistence of creativity shown in the third study adds support to the value of creative undertakings and shows researchers should continue to focus on how adolescent personality is influenced by internal expectations, external pressures and global events.
“Creatively gifted adolescents and young adults are much more perceptive than often credited. Amidst their own internal and external pressures to achieve greatness, they are acutely aware of the unpredictable inequity in the world,” Kerr said. “While this combination of awareness and pressure can lead to greater difficulties maintaining mental health, creative experiences can provide solace, meaning and predictability in an otherwise chaotic world.”
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Contact: Kate Kemper, Center for Service Learning, 785-864-0960, [email protected]
Radhia Abdirahman named a Newman Civic Fellow
LAWRENCE — From across the country, college and university presidents of Campus Compact member institutions have nominated promising student leaders as Newman Civic Fellows. Through service, research and advocacy, these fellows have demonstrated an investment in their community and are working to better understand themselves, the root causes of social issues and effective mechanisms for creating lasting change.
Radhia Abdirahman, a junior in human biology, global & international studies and African & African diasporic languages, is KU’s Newman Civic Fellow for 2021-2022. She is from Overland Park and Vancouver, British Columbia, and a graduate of Tamanawis Secondary School.
As a Somali-Muslim woman with an innate desire to help those around her, Abdirahman brings a unique outlook and perspective to service and community engagement.
“Across the groups that Radhia provides leadership, she has a commitment to advancing both ethical service and cultural competence and humility. Each of the organizations Radhia is affiliated with support campus and community efforts to address social issues and foster change and improvement in communities, including with often underrepresented groups,” KU Chancellor Douglas A. Girod said.
Abdirahman currently serves as the development director for the KU Center for Community Outreach and has been instrumental in providing structure and direction for student leaders and volunteers through training, membership development, service hours and more.
As the co-director of advocacy for HEAL KU, Abdirahman has raised awareness about a number of social issues, such as student homelessness, suicide prevention and voter engagement, through strategic internal and external communication.
Not long after Abdirahman joined the KU Muslim Student Association as a first-year student, she became the organization’s vice president. In this role, she integrated a mentorship service project at the local mosque into Islamic Awareness Week. The volunteer opportunity was so successful that it has sustained as a standalone offering by the organization outside of its advocacy week.
Abdirahman joins a cohort of over 200 students from across the country in a yearlong program that includes training, virtual learning opportunities and an annual fellow convening. The opportunities available to the Newman Civic Fellows include attendance at the national Newman Civic Fellows conference, participation in regional and state gatherings of Newman Civic Fellows, engagement with a virtual event series focused on skill development and professional learning, and guidance from a local mentor.
Campus Compact advances the public purpose of over 1,000 colleges and universities by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. For more information, please visit compact.org.
The Center for Service Learning will celebrate Abdirahman, CSL Award recipients and graduates from the Certificate in Service Learning program at their annual Service Showcase and Celebration at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 22.
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Contact: Betsy Carlson, Department of Chemistry, [email protected]
Two students selected for Beckman Scholars Program
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas students Claire Dopp and Sarah Noga have been selected to participate in the 2021 Beckman Scholars Program.
The KU Beckman Scholars Program is funded by the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, which was established in 1977 with a mission to support leading-edge research. Since 2015, the foundation has supported research activities of outstanding KU chemistry and biology majors who strive to become leaders in their respective fields.
KU Beckman Scholars receive a stipend totaling $18,200 along with $2,800 for travel and supplies, while their faculty mentors receive a separate $5,000 stipend to help support their research goals. During summers 2021 and 2022, Dopp and Noga will be expected to perform a minimum of 40 hours of research per week as well as 10 hours per week during the intervening academic year. Both scholars will present the results of their research at the annual Beckman Symposium in August 2022, held in California, and at the KU Center for Undergraduate Research Annual Research Symposium. Find out more about the KU Beckman Scholars Program here.
About the scholars:
Claire Dopp is from Olathe and attended St. James Academy. She is majoring in chemistry with a minor in environmental studies. Dopp’s passion for research is driven by her desire to better understand the chemistry of alternative energy. Her work in the research group of James Blakemore, associate professor of chemistry, involves the preparation and study of chemical compounds containing multiple metals. In this work, Dopp is using precisely tailored structures to hold vanadium together with other metals, with the goal of mapping influences of the metals on electron transfer. Her work could contribute to improved nuclear fuel recycling technologies and complements ongoing studies of uranium chemistry. Following graduation, Dopp aspires to attend graduate school to earn a doctorate in chemistry.
Sarah Noga is from Des Moines, Iowa, where she graduated from Waukee High School. She is majoring in biochemistry with a minor in health information management. Noga was inspired to pursue a career in research by her passion to help others and her love of learning. Her work in the laboratory of Joanna Slusky, associate professor of molecular bioscience, focuses on investigating the structure and folding pathways of antibiotic resistance proteins. A more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms behind these proteins will aid in the development of techniques to slow antibiotic resistance. After graduation, Noga plans to attend graduate school and earn a doctorate in pharmacology.
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