Dr. Sean MacKinnon (PhD (Psychology)’12) has some advice for first-year students – and perhaps their parents as well – when it comes to dealing with the stress of starting university or college. He suggests that establishing good friendships is key.

“Developing a good social support network and a sense of intimacy with other people is … a well-known protective factor against psychological distress of various sorts,” said Dr. MacKinnon who is a psychology and neuroscience instructor at Dal. First-year students may experience a drop in grades from high school to university, leaving home and new social situations, all of which can lead to new challenges they may not have dealt with before.

Dr. MacKinnon advises watching out for a spike in these stressors in October when the novelty of new-found independence is wearing off and mid-terms loom.

Read more in “Coping with the first-year university jitters” on thechronicleherald.ca.

Dr. MacKinnon was also interviewed for a Dal News article discussing how students with perfectionistic tendencies can really stand to benefit from keeping close ties with friends – new and old.

Read “The perfection problem: How friendships help first-year students manage depression,” in Dal News.