Social Life at Middlebury

Carriers of misperceptions are not limited to students; alumni, faculty staff, community members, and families can also contribute to a “reign of error” and a normative environment supportive of behaviors or ideas that don’t promote health and help-seeking. Families often underestimate the critical role that they can play in the lives of their students once they leave home. Research tells us that students do care what their families think about substance use, academic performance, relationships, and career aspirations. Students under 21 are more likely to make decisions based on their perception of their families’ level of approval of substance use while of-age students look to the behaviors they have observed in their families and cultures of origin to guide their own.

Important Middlebury Social Norms

40% of Middlebury students meet the criteria for Thriving. The remaining 60% report they they are managing developmentally appropriate challenges including relationships with peers, self-esteem, purpose, and optimism.

77% of Middlebury students agree that if they need to seek professional help for mental or emotional health, they know where to go on campus.

48% of Middlebury students reported feeling a component of loneliness sometimes including lacking companionship or feeling left out. Forming new and growing relationships is hard and many students experience times of connection and disconnection during their undergraduate years. 

53% of Middlebury students reported not using any substances in the last 30 days and in any given year between 25-33% of students report that they do not use substances at all.

72% of Middlebury students agreed that our community actively works toward combatting racism within the campus community. Active engagement in combatting racism is one of the best predictors of belonging at the community level.

68% of Middlebury students reported that they have received mental health services and support with 47% reporting active engagement in therapy.

48% of Middlebury students reported that they turned to a family member for emotional or mental health support in the last year. The only relationship students report turning to more frequently than their families is friends (64%).

Middlebury College data from 2022 Healthy Minds Study

Tips for Talking with Your Student about Substance Use and Other Health Issues

Ask open-ended questions about substance use.

• Be open to the responses. Ask follow-up questions if you aren’t sure what your student means by what they have shared.
• Talk about why people use alcohol or other substances. Try asking: what are the hopes and regrets of use? What do you see people on campus doing? What do you think of that?

Be direct and set high expectations.

• Remember that more means less: students who consume high rates of substances have lower associated GPAs. For those who choose to consume substances low or moderate use is associated with better academic, health, and post-graduation career-based outcomes.
• Remember that parental/caregiver expectations do factor into young adults’ decision-making

Meet students in their room on campus.

• If you are able to visit your student on campus, please do!
• Knowing family will be visiting has positive effects on hallway environments. Your influence goes beyond your student. Taking the time to be in their residence hall is a positive influence for that entire community.
• Talk about what you see and notice in the room, on the floor, and across campus. Asking your student questions about your observations can help then share with you their goals, values, and behavior choices. 

Take advantage of everyday events to talk about health issues.

• When substance use comes up, consider sharing what you know about your family’s history.
• When local violence is in the media, consider talking to your student about their safety plans, who they turn to for emotional support, and what they know are signs that they need to ask for help when they feel overwhelmed or affected by campus or home-town events. 

Encourage students to get involved with campus activities.

• The more unstructured free time a student has, the more likely they are to engage in higher risk behavior.
• Encourage Friday morning classes and Friday afternoon activities, volunteering, job shifts, etc.
• Students who participate in student organizations, volunteer in town, or who have peer-to-peer engagement as a tutor, teaching assistant, or peer educator report higher levels of belonging, lower levels of stress, higher GPAs, and less substance use than their counterparts who are less engaged.

Be prepared and know the campus and community resources.

• Keep a list of campus and community resources handy in the event that your student calls and is looking for support.
• If you don’t know the answer or what resource to suggest, look online together. The conversation you have while problem-solving together can be even more effective than just telling your student who to call or where to go.
• Normalize help seeking by sharing some social norms for Middlebury, an example of a time where you needed help and asked for it, or a time from the past when you saw your student leverage relationships and resources to achieve a goal or remedy a challenging situation.