It’s estimated there are over 8,000 university clubs and societies in the UK, and whilst these give students a sense of belonging to find their way around university life they can also leave them feeling isolated. Accenture (2021) surveyed over 12,000 students throughout the pandemic on student mental health. Their research found that 39% said their mental health declined since starting university.
Higher educational institutions are well known for emphasising the benefits of joining a society around their campus through leaflets to posters, as well as online on their websites and social media. Whether it is academic, cultural, physical or just social it is notable that they can create a fabulous campus life. They provide a positive environment full of personal growth by finding ‘your people’.
This exclusivity can foster a tight-knit community building social status and reputation, however for some students clubs and societies can make their experience at university a distressingly dark place. An anonymous source from a female sports team in the South West quoted she felt “isolated and lost”.
Sarah* joined a team during freshers which was heavily promoted to be for all abilities, though this has not really been the case. She said “There is a lot of blame shifting if someone does something wrong but the blame is never on who is highest in terms of social hierarchy”. This can lamentably leave Sarah* and others feeling below par and damaged.
Between the 1870s and 1920s, women clubs became frantically popular in America in which they could exercise their talents beyond their homes and ‘housewife roles’. Evidently this has been proven that now over the years, more so than ever, if women are not up to standard in ability and physical existence they are below the belt in popularity within these ‘inner circles’. Whilst young women have to deal with these detrimental cliques it is found that the male youth experience opposing but equally as damaging social pressures.
This is not due to the actual club itself but due to the ‘club culture’ and socials that happen within these. Research has suggested that young males in particular (aged 18-24) constitute the most frequent cases of alcohol related treatments in emergency departments. There is many of reasons in which this happens but it is commonly known that students feel as though they have to perform tasks on nights out just to get accepted by their peers.
A recent interview with an anonymous student on a male sports team in the area has said that “I wasn’t too interested in the social side of it, there seems to be a lot of pressure in doing activities that aren’t my forte ”. He added that teammates in their first year had to “binge drink” and “make themselves look like a fool to make a good impression for second and third years as they find enjoyment in bringing others down”. He stated further that during icebreakers freshers were told to share “mainly sexual stuff, talking about STIs to body count” but mentioned “that’s pretty much the same for men and women across every single sports team” and “that’s the uni atmosphere in general”.
More and more students are being pushed out of a club they love as they “can’t fit in” to these activities which have become the ‘norm’, not to only mention how dangerous it can be on these pupils if they do go against their boundaries to feel included.
Majority of undergraduates fit into the age bracket of 18-25 years and this is universally acknowledged as the prime vulnerability period for the development of mental health problems, this means these problems may worsen with the acts these students have to perform which leave many in fear and panic. It is also dually noted that universities unfortunately cannot control these said activities but it should be something that’s monitored – this is not just by having resources that pupils can talk to somebody higher up about.
Continual research showcases that people do not like asking for help, this being specifically men. Seventy-seven percent of men in which have polled that they suffer with common symptoms of mental health; anxiety, stress and depression. Forty percent of these men have never spoken to anyone about their mental health and twenty-nine percent of those state they are “too embarrassed” to speak up about it – this was shown by recent mental health statistics.
This displays men feel as though they can’t ask for help. They tend to downplay their physical and mental health symptoms leading to self-destructive behaviours. This is why these toxic ‘groups’ in any education most certainly need to be kept track of and observed instead of waiting until something serious may happen.
In addition to that, great quantities of freshers cannot join said clubs that contradictorily benefit their mental health due to cost. One more anonymous first year student (also within the area) stated “I wanted to join the cheerleading team, however I could not afford the costs that came with that” she added “The sports fed is about fifty pounds per person, uniforms are one-hundred and five pound each, not to mention comps ranging from around thirty to forty-five pounds”. This makes these institutions that the universities promote not accessible to every individuals circumstances. Making cost a major factor in the difference in how someone’s student life can be.
Substantially, it is to be famed that the impact of clubs and societies can help multifarious amounts of undergrads with confidence through networking with people of similar interests and gaining interpersonal skills in the process. Consequently, an abundance of teens and young adults can have antithetical circumstances and that few of these pernicious everlasting ‘club cultures’ should be – with greater reason – disposed of.
Nevertheless, as a whole, university life can be hard at first or throughout the entirety of the experience and this is what makes an individual’s journey so personal. Providentially, due to these unfortunately bad experiences everybody has to encounter in their lifetime – positive outcomes await – making it all worth it. These stories make every beautifully capable human being unique.