BYU named among best places to find a husband and most stressful universities

For years, Brigham Young University has been known for securing the No. 1 spot in the Princeton's Review as the most stone-cold sober school in the country. But over the past few months, College Magazine listed the university in the top 10 of two different genres.

BYU was recently listed as No. 2 for the best place to find a husband and No. 4 for the most stressful college campus.

As for the husband rating, not many would be surprised by the rank. In fact, many may wonder who beat the Cougars out for number one? According to Alexi Knock, the College Magazine reporter, BYU is second only to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Other schools in the top five included Washington University in Saint Louis, Harvard University and Texas A&M University.

Knock said that BYU was listed in the second spot because "the guys actually want to get married — and soon." BYU senior Caroline Henne was interviewed on her opinion of whether BYU men make good husbands.

"I would say that BYU guys could make good husband material because they are basically trained from birth to center their lives on God and family," Henne told the magazine.

Many BYU students, however, didn't agree with the reasoning behind BYU's listing as the fourth most stressful university. Jensen Werely, the reporter with College Magazine, cited the univeristy's strict honor code as one of the main reasons for stress, referring to the dress code and rules against drugs and alcohol particularly.

Addison Day, a sophomore at BYU, was interviewed by Werely and was reported as saying that living in such an environment added to the stress. But according to the Universe, Day felt he was misrepresented.

"The first thing that I said is (the honor code) probably makes it easier for most people,” Day told the Universe. “But I did definitely describe the school as high-strung, you know, it’s competitive. It’s a hard school. But it wasn’t because of the honor code."

A new study that was just released by Zaje Harrell, a Michigan State University professor, seems to agree with Day's reasoning. The Christian Post reported the study to have found that "religious college students reported less alcohol consumption than non-religious students, which is partly influenced by how they see their parents handle stress."

Harrell told the Christian Post that parents' ways of coping with stress had a large impact on their children, especially parents who turned to their religion.

"I saw that the students that used religious coping stated, 'you should not need alcohol to cope with stress.' They had a more conservative view of alcohol than students who were not religious."

Harrell continued to advise that, "Parents should think about the kinds of techniques or strategies that they use to manage stressful situations. Our study indicates that parents who use more contemplative and spiritual coping practices influence their children's behaviors related to stress. This could prove beneficial as children enter college and emerge into adulthood, particularly when it comes to risky behaviors like drinking."

Sarah Sanders Petersen is an intern for Deseret News where she writes for Mormon Times and does other feature articles. She is a communications major and editing minor from Brigham Young University.