Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychometric study of depression, anxiety and stress among university students

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Public Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 30 January 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Aim

Depression, anxiety and stress are phenomena observed across world, especially in developing countries. This research explores a relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress, and socio-demographic characteristics of university students.

Subject and methods

For this purpose, depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS–21) was used for data collection along with socio-demographic variables. The data were collected from 361 students of various academic disciplines and degree programs through self-reported questionnaire.

Results

The findings reveal that male students had more depression, stress, and anxiety in comparison to female students. There were no significant differences in depression, anxiety and stress on the basis of family type. In addition, there was significant difference in the perception of depression, anxiety, and stress on the basis of their residential status and parents’ education.

Conclusions

This study concludes that male students were more depressed, stressed and anxious as compared to female students. Furthermore, symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were the same among students with nuclear and joint family living systems. Parental education was associated with students’ depression, anxiety and stress. Students with educated parents had fewer symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 30 January 2018

    The journal had been advised to revise the title so that Clarivate Analytics can try to count the citations more accurately. There’s been confusion due to the existence of another journal with the same name.

References

  • Abdallah AR, Gabr HM (2014) Depression, anxiety and stress among first year medical students in an Egyptian public university. Int Res J Med Med Sci 2:11–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Adewuya AO, Ola BA, Afolabi OO (2006) Validity of the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) as a screening tool for depression amongst Nigerian university students. J Affect Disord 96:89–93

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ali BS, Rahbar MH, Naeem S, Tareen AL, Gul A, Samad L (2002) Prevalence of and factors associated with anxiety and depression among women in a lower middle class semi-urban community of Karachi, Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc 52:513–517

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Altaf A, Khan M, Shah SR, Fatima K, Tunio SA, Hussain M, Khan MA, Shaikh MA, Arshad MH (2015) Sociodemographic pattern of depression in urban settlement of Karachi, Pakistan. J Clin Diagn Res 9:9–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvi T, Assad F, Ramzan M, Khan FA (2010) Depression, anxiety and their associated factors among medical students. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 20:122–126

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews B, Wilding JM (2004) The relation of depression and anxiety to life-stress and achievement in students. Br J Psychol 95:509–521. https://doi.org/10.1348/0007126042369802

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anson O, Bernstein J, Hobfoll SE (1984) Anxiety and performance in two ego threatening situations. J Pers Assess 48:168–172. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4802_11

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bayram N, Bilgel N (2008) The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 43:667–672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-008-0345-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, Rhoades D, Linscomb M, Clarahan M, Sammut S (2015) The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. J Affect Disord 173:90–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bhasin SK, Sharma R, Saini NK (2010) Depression, anxiety and stress among adolescent students belonging to affluent families: a school-based study. Indian J Pediatr 77:161–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-009-0260-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan JL (2012) Prevention of depression in the college student population: a review of the literature. Arch Psychiatr Nurs 26:21–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2011.03.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chow HP (2005) Life satisfaction among university students in a Canadian prairie city: a multivariate analysis. Soc Indic Res 70:139–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-004-7526-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christie H, Munro M, Rettig H (2002) Accommodating students. J Youth Stud 5:209–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260220134458

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford JR, Henry JD (2003) The depression anxiety stress scales (DASS): normative data and latent structure in a large non-clinical sample. Br J Clin Psychol 42:111–131. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466503321903544

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlin M, Joneborg N, Runeson B (2005) Stress and depression among medical students: a cross-sectional study. Med Educ 39:594–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02176.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel K (2013) Loneliness and depression among university students in Kenya. Glob J Hum-Soc Sci Res 13. 10.17406/GJHSS

  • Dusselier L, Dunn B, Wang Y, Shelley II MC, Whalen DF (2005) Personal, health, academic, and environmental predictors of stress for residence hall students. J Am Coll Heal 54:15–24. https://doi.org/10.3200/JACH.54.1.15-24

  • Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Shanafelt TD (2006) Systematic review of depression, anxiety, and other indicators of psychological distress among US and Canadian medical students. Acad Med 81:354–373

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillman JL, Kim HS, Alder SC, Durrant LH (2006) Assessing the risk factors for suicidal thoughts at a nontraditional commuter school. J Am Coll Heal 55:17–26. https://doi.org/10.3200/JACH.55.1.17-26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haq MA (2016) Association between socio-demographic background and self-esteem of university students. Psychiatry Q 87:755–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-016-9423-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hojat M (1998) Satisfaction with early relationships with parents and psychosocial attributes in adulthood: which parent contributes more? J Genet Psychol 159:203–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221329809596146

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inam SN, Saqib A, Alam E (2003) Prevalence of anxiety and depression among medical students of private university. J-Pak Med Assoc 53:44–46

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inglés CJ, Gonzálvez-Maciá C, García-Fernández JM, Vicent M, Martínez-Monteagudo MC (2015) Current status of research on school refusal. Eur J Educ Psychol 8:37–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaur S, Deepti SS, Lal M (2014) Prevalence and correlates of depression among college going students of district Amritsar, India. Int Res J Medical Sci 2:5–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaya M, Genc M, Kaya B, Pehlivan E (2007) Prevalence of depressive symptoms, ways of coping, and related factors among medical school and health services higher Educaon students. Turkish J Psychiatry 18:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Koretz D, Merikangas KR, Rush AJ, Walters EE, Wang PS (2003) The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). JAMA 289:3095–3105

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Khan MS, Mahmood S, Badshah A, Ali SU, Jamal Y (2006) Prevalence of depression, anxiety and their associated factors among medical students in Karachi, Pakistan. J-Pak Med Assoc 56:583–586

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Khanam SJ, Bukhari SR (2015) Depression as a predictor of academic performance in male and female university students. J Pak Psychiatr Soc 12:15–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumaraswamy N (2013) Academic stress, anxiety and depression among college students-a brief review. Int Rev Soc Sci Humanit 5:135–143

    Google Scholar 

  • Lester D (2013) Depression and suicidal ideation in college students: a preliminary study of campus variables. Psychol Rep 112:106–108. https://doi.org/10.2466/12.02.10.PR0.112.1.106-108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McDowell I (2006) Measuring health: a guide to rating scales and questionnaires. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Omokhodion FO, Gureje O (2003) Psychosocial problems of clinical students in the University of Ibadan Medical School. Afr J Med Med Sci 32:55–58

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Riaz A, Kamal S, Butt NS (2013) Psychometric analysis of depression, anxiety and stress among women of Wazirabad City. Caspian J Soc Sci 2:61–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal JM, Okie S (2005) White coat, mood indigo: depression in medical school. N Engl J Med 353:1085–1088

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sarokhani D, Delpisheh A, Veisani Y, Sarokhani MT, Manesh RE, Sayehmiri K (2013) Prevalence of depression among university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis study. Depress Res Treat 2013:373857

  • Shamsuddin K, Fadzil F, Ismail WS, Shah SA, Omar K, Muhammad NA, Jaffar A, Ismail A, Mahadevan R (2013) Correlates of depression, anxiety and stress among Malaysian university students. Asian J Psychiatr 6:318–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2013.01.014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sreeramareddy CT, Shankar PR, Binu VS, Mukhopadhyay C, Ray B, Menezes RG (2007) Psychological morbidity, sources of stress and coping strategies among undergraduate medical students of Nepal. BMC Med Educ 7:26

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley P (2013) Risk factors for depressive illness among elderly Gopd attendees at Upth. IOSR J Dent Med Sci 5:77–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark KD, Brookman CS (1994) Theory and family-school intervention. In: The handbook of family–school intervention: a system perspective. Allyn and Bacon, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart-Brown S, Evans J, Patterson J, Petersen S, Doll H, Balding J, Regis D (2000) The health of students in institutes of higher education: an important and neglected public health problem? J Public Health 22:492–499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Uehara T, Takeuchi K, Kubota F, Oshima K, Ishikawa O (2010) Annual transition of major depressive episode in university students using a structured self-rating questionnaire. Asia Pac Psychiatry 2:99–104. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5872.2010.00063.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verma N, Jain M, Roy P (2014) Assessment of magnitude and grades of depression among adolescents in Raipur City. India Int Res J Medical Sci 2:10–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wadsworth ME, Berger LE (2006) Adolescents coping with poverty-related family stress: prospective predictors of coping and psychological symptoms. J Youth Adolesc 35:54–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yusoff MS, Rahim AF, Yaacob MJ (2011) The prevalence of final year medical students with depressive symptoms and its contributing factors. Int Med J 18:305–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Yusoff MS, Rahim AF, Baba AA, Ismail SB, Pa MN (2013) Prevalence and associated factors of stress, anxiety and depression among prospective medical students. Asian J Psychiatr 6:128–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2012.09.012

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the editor and reviewers for their constructive suggestions in improving this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), National College of Arts Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq

  2. College of Statistical & Actuarial Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Irum Sajjad Dar

  3. Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, 21551, Saudi Arabia

    Muhammad Aslam

  4. Department of Sociology, International Islamic University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Qaisar Khalid Mahmood

Authors
  1. Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Irum Sajjad Dar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muhammad Aslam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Qaisar Khalid Mahmood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Ahsan ul Haq.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Availability of data and materials

This research involved human participants.

Informed consent

Not applicable.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: Due to the existence of another journal with the same name, the Publisher has added a subtitle, “From Theory to Practice.” Effective as of January 2018, the new title of this Journal is Journal of Public Health: From Theory to Practice.

A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0893-1.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

ul Haq, M.A., Dar, I.S., Aslam, M. et al. Psychometric study of depression, anxiety and stress among university students. J Public Health 26, 211–217 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0856-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0856-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation