Prevalence of depression and anxiety and correlations between depression, anxiety, family functioning, social support and coping styles among Chinese medical students

Ruyue Shao,Liangsheng Kong,Lu Xu,Ping He,Li Tan,Bin Ling,Yanhua Hou,Yongqiang Yang

doi:10.1186/s40359-020-00402-8

Abstract

BackgroundMedical students experience depression and anxiety at a higher rate than the general population or students from other specialties. While there is a growing literature on the high prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms and about potential risk factors to the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among medical students, there is a paucity of evidence focused on the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms and associations with family function, social support and coping styles in Chinese vocational medicine students. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among Chinese medical students and assess the correlation between depression/anxiety symptoms and family function, social support and coping styles.MethodsA sample of 2057 medical students from Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College in China was investigated with a self-report questionnaire, which included demographic information, Zung self-rating depression scale, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Family APGAR Index, Social Support Rating Scale and Trait Coping Style Questionnaire.ResultsThe prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms among the medical students was 57.5 and 30.8%, respectively. Older students(≥20 years) experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety. More depression and anxiety symptoms were exhibited among students with big financial burden, big study-induced stress and poor sleep quality. Students with large employment pressure showed more anxiety symptoms. Students who live alone or had bad relationship with their lovers or classmates or friends showed higher depression and anxiety scores. Depression and anxiety symptoms had highly significant correlations with family functioning, social support and coping style.ConclusionsAcademic staffs should take measures to reduce depression and anxiety among medical students and to provide educational counseling and psychological support for students to cope with these problems.

Highlights

Medical students experience depression and anxiety at a higher rate than the general population or students from other specialties
The results of this study revealed a high prevalence of depression (57.5%) among Chinese medical students from Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College
Multiple factors were related to depression and anxiety symptoms

Summary

Introduction

Medical students experience depression and anxiety at a higher rate than the general population or students from other specialties. Many studies have reported high prevalence of anxiety symptoms among medical students [5,6,7,8]. Brazilian studies reported a similar rate, in which 20 to 50% of medical students were found to present with mental disorders [11]. According to a qualitative-quantitative study conducted at a medical college from August 2016 to March 2017, academic pressure was the major concerns identified by the students when asked about the reasons for psychological distress [15]. Depression and anxiety symptoms can adversely influence medical students, including poor academic performance, school dropout, alcohol and substance abuse, internet addiction and suicidal ideation and attempts [19,20,21,22,23]

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