By Harrison Hamm

This time of year, as classwork picks up and the end of the semester looms, attendance at extracurriculars seems to decline. I say this anecdotally — not backed by data — but it makes sense. Other priorities start to take precedence, from classwork to socializing to simply relaxing after a long day. Some students who had expressed interest at the involvement fair fall away after attending a few meetings or events.

I’ve seen this trend happen at The Denisonian, where I was Opinion Editor for two years. Early in the semester, we’d see an influx of new writers at weekly meetings, only for numbers to decline as time went on.

But based on what it can do for your mental wellbeing, perhaps there’s something to be said for making involvement a priority.

Studies elsewhere have established a link between campus involvement and all sorts of benefits, from academic performance to career readiness. Other OneTwentySeven writers have shown that students who are more involved tend to have more friends they can rely on.

From this semester’s survey conducted at the end of February, Denison students who are more involved also reported better results for a variety of mental wellbeing indicators. Students who are part of multiple groups tend to be less homesick and happier than their peers who participate in few. They are a bit less anxious and definitely less angry. One trick about these results is that some of the benefits mostly accrue to men, especially less anxiety and greater happiness.

Interestingly, they also report feeling more challenged — an indication that students who are busy with multiple activities don’t necessarily see adverse consequences to their wellbeing. In this case, being challenged is a good thing, potentially a product of students finding groups that they are passionate about. If an activity is a source of satisfaction, rather than simply another task to complete, it can provide positive relationships without leading to stress. There is a slight uptick in reported stress levels, but an increase of 3 (for men) to 6 points (for women) out of a 0-100 scale isn’t much of an increase considering a shift from 0 to 5+ group involvements.

For the most part, students who are involved in multiple groups don’t report increased stress. But that correlation is ever-so-slightly stronger for women than men, a continuing trend from the first graph: men seem to benefit more from being part of multiple groups.

Perhaps this has something to do with the so-called “male loneliness epidemic.” National surveys have reported that men have fewer strong friendships and community bonds than they did in previous decades. There are a variety of proposed causes and factors, so much so that there are recent books about loneliness.

The easy opportunities to find like-minded friends in clubs and organizations are unique to a college campus. Getting involved — and staying involved — can help students find their place.

Harrison Hamm is a senior who was happy with his March Madness bracket until about an hour into the first game of the tournament.