Anxiety and other mental health disorders are huge and growing concerns facing the younger generation today. Anxiety disorders do not have a cure, but researchers at Brigham Young University may have found one way to cope: doing family history.
The feeling of anxiety in and of itself is not a bad thing, but anxiety disorders can be. These disorders are characterized by excessive worry and fear that is not temporary and can be overwhelming. According to MedlinePlus, symptoms of anxiety disorders include the following:
- “Anxious thoughts or beliefs that are hard to control. They make you feel restless and tense and interfere with your daily life. They do not go away and can get worse over time.”
- “Physical symptoms, such as a pounding or rapid heartbeat, unexplained aches and pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath”
- “Changes in behavior, such as avoiding everyday activities you used to do”
Doing family history is not a fix-all for mental health disorders, but researchers did find significant evidence that it helped.
The Study
The BYU researchers’ study, published in The Journal of Genealogy and Family History in April, showed that those who participate more in family history work have higher self-esteem, reduced anxiety and greater resilience.
The study, done by surveying 256 BYU students, gave statistically significant results showing reduced anxiety connected to learning family history. The 145 students who took a family history course generally had less anxiety than the 111 who did not.
“Direct effects of being in the family history course show improvements in self-esteem of 8% and reductions in anxiety of 20%,” the study read.
Though the study had its limitations, such as sample size and diversity, there is a reliable body of previous research supporting its claims. Future similar studies could improve researchers’ and therapists’ knowledge of how to deal with anxiety disorders in the future.
Managing Mental Health through Doing Family History
Anxiety, like any other mental illness, can be hard to cope with, but it can be managed. The authors of this study didn’t claim to have found a cure for anxiety. But they did find that engaging in doing family history could help psychological well-being.
In particular, the students in this study who showed the most improvement were involved in researching and examining census records. Other studies have shown positive impacts of being told family stories, though the BYU study did not show these kinds of results.
These findings could open up new ways to help people deal with anxiety and make a better tomorrow through researching family members long gone.
– by Abbie Call
Feature image caption: Multiple studies show that doing family history can have great effects on mental well-being and decrease anxiety.
Abbie Call – Cannonville/Kirksville, Missouri
Abbie Call is a journalist and editor at The Byway. She graduated in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in editing and publishing from Brigham Young University. Her favorite topics to write about include anything local, Utah’s megadrought, and mental health and meaning in life. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hanging out with family, quilting and hiking.
Find Abbie on Threads @abbieb.call or contact her at [email protected].