Abstract
Depressive symptoms are prevalent in university students and may impair their social, educational, and economic transition into adulthood. Identifying the factors that determine depressive symptoms is crucial for the design of effective policy interventions. This study aims to examine the associations between health literacy and depressive symptoms among medical students, and to evaluate the effect of different types of social support as a potential mediator. A cross-sectional survey of medical students was conducted through convenience sampling in East China. Associations between variables were explored using OLS and the mediation effect was estimated using the Karlson, Holm and Breen method. A total of 746 valid questionnaires were collected. The prevalence of depressive symptoms among the sample was 32.4%. Higher health literacy levels and social supports were significantly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Social support partially mediated the association between health literacy and depressive symptoms, accounting for a 54.03% of the total effect size. These findings suggest that interventions for medical student mental wellbeing could improve health literacy. Whilst family support reflects greatest impact, Universities can also lead and innovate novel interventions for this critical stage of life. Future research can extend this study by exploring the dynamic interactions between health literacy, depressive symptoms, and other sources of social support. Comparisons of these findings across the different regions of China and in other university subject disciplines are also warranted.
Highlights
Depressive symptoms, which are typically characterized by hopelessness, sadness and/or anxiety, are prevalent among university students globally [1,2,3]
Systematic reviews suggest a prevalence of approximately 33% for depressive symptoms across all university students [4] and slightly less at 27.2% for medical students [5] though the overall prevalence is increasing [6]
We investigate the association between health literacy and depressive symptoms among medical students, using the econometric approaches of OLS regressions with mediation effects for social support
Summary
Depressive symptoms, which are typically characterized by hopelessness, sadness and/or anxiety, are prevalent among university students globally [1,2,3]. Systematic reviews suggest a prevalence of approximately 33% for depressive symptoms across all university students [4] and slightly less at 27.2% for medical students [5] though the overall prevalence is increasing [6]. In China, this pattern is slightly reversed, with an estimated prevalence of. 23.8% among all students [7] but heightened to 29.0% in medical students [8]. When averaged across the lifespan, students tend to have a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms than the general population [7,9]. Pressures may include academic expectations, interpersonal relationships, unfamiliar environments and financial stress
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