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More than 90 percent of first-year students are optimistic about their personal lives, including 28 percent who are “super” optimistic, according to a new poll from NBC News/Generation Lab.
About the same share believe they’ll land the job they want when they graduate, 88 percent say they will definitely or probably marry and almost 80 percent say they plan to have kids, the poll found.
They’re less sanguine about circumstances beyond their own lives, however; 60 percent said they’re optimistic about the world, and less than half -- 48 percent -- said they were optimistic about the United States.
The poll, conducted from Aug. 18 to 19, surveyed 1,108 incoming students attending either two-year or four-year institutions.
Additional questions about students’ mental health found that 62 percent have experienced anxiety in the last year and 47 percent depression. Of those who cited anxiety and/or depression, 58 percent say the pandemic made it worse.
The poll comes on the heels of another recent report that found most incoming first-year students are mentally exhausted and many have struggled with depression, loneliness and hopelessness.
