Symptoms Of Depression In Students Research Articles

Public health unit engagement in school mental health programs and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: COMPASS, 2018-2022.

Public health unit (PHU) engagement in schools is important for promoting wellness in students. We aimed to investigate if PHU engagement with schools may have provided protection against the risk of depression and anxiety in students during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used longitudinal data from the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental health, Physical activity, Alcohol use, Smoking and Sedentary behaviour survey between the 2018/19 and 2020/21 academic years. Multilevel models were used to assess the association between PHU engagement with school mental health programs prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and depressive (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale Revised) and anxiety symptoms (Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample included 23894 students across 104 secondary schools in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. In confounder-adjusted models, PHU engagement before the pandemic was not associated with student depressive symptoms (B=-0.01, 95% CI=-0.04, 0.02), but was protective against anxiety symptoms (B=-0.03, -0.06, 0.001) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results highlight that PHU engagement with mental health programming in schools was protective against anxiety for students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings support the importance of PHU engagement for improving student mental health and pandemic recovery.

Visual environment in schools and student depressive symptoms: Insights from a prospective study across multiple cities in eastern China

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of the school visual environment on depressive symptoms in children and adolescents based on cohort study in eastern China. The school visual environment-related indicators included in this study comprise personal factors (visual impairment) and school-related factors (classroom lighting, school green spaces and school air quality). MethodThe follow-up cohort comprises 15,348 students from 283 primary and secondary schools in eastern China. This represents the one-year outcomes of a school-based myopia-mental health cohort study. Data collection includes basic demographics (age, gender, region, etc.), physical examination indicators, behavioral indicators, and school visual environment-related indicators. ResultAfter a one-year follow-up, we found that compared to the more severe vision impairment group (≤4.0), healthy vision group (≥5.0) had a positive effect against the occurrence of depressive symptoms during consecutive follow-ups, with an RR value of 0.61 (95% CI: 0.57–0.66). Higher values of blackboard illumination appear to be associated with greater positive effects, with an RR (Q75%∼Q100% range) value of 0.87(95% CI: 0.81–0.93). School green spaces seem to exhibit relatively good positive effects when in the Q25%∼Q75% range. The combination of physical activity (Weekly high-intensity exercise) with school air quality(PM2.5≤50%)showed a better positive effect, with an RR value of 0.51(95%CI:0.48–0.55). ConclusionWhen addressing students' depressive symptoms, it is crucial to improve the visual environment both at the school level and in students' personal level. Paying appropriate attention to modifiable behaviors, like regular participation in high-intensity exercise sessions, can help alleviate students' depressive symptoms.

Investigating Rhythmicity in App Usage to Predict Depressive Symptoms: Protocol for Personalized Framework Development and Validation Through a Countrywide Study.

Understanding a student's depressive symptoms could facilitate significantly more precise diagnosis and treatment. However, few studies have focused on depressive symptom prediction through unobtrusive systems, and these studies are limited by small sample sizes, low performance, and the requirement for higher resources. In addition, research has not explored whether statistically significant rhythms based on different app usage behavioral markers (eg, app usage sessions) exist that could be useful in finding subtle differences to predict with higher accuracy like the models based on rhythms of physiological data. The main objective of this study is to explore whether there exist statistically significant rhythms in resource-insensitive app usage behavioral markers and predict depressive symptoms through these marker-based rhythmic features. Another objective of this study is to understand whether there is a potential link between rhythmic features and depressive symptoms. Through a countrywide study, we collected 2952 students' raw app usage behavioral data and responses to the 9 depressive symptoms in the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The behavioral data were retrieved through our developed app, which was previously used in our pilot studies in Bangladesh on different research problems. To explore whether there is a rhythm based on app usage data, we will conduct a zero-amplitude test. In addition, we will develop a cosinor model for each participant to extract rhythmic parameters (eg, acrophase). In addition, to obtain a comprehensive picture of the rhythms, we will explore nonparametric rhythmic features (eg, interdaily stability). Furthermore, we will conduct regression analysis to understand the association of rhythmic features with depressive symptoms. Finally, we will develop a personalized multitask learning (MTL) framework to predict symptoms through rhythmic features. After applying inclusion criteria (eg, having app usage data of at least 2 days to explore rhythmicity), we kept the data of 2902 (98.31%) students for analysis, with 24.48 million app usage events, and 7 days' app usage of 2849 (98.17%) students. The students are from all 8 divisions of Bangladesh, both public and private universities (19 different universities and 52 different departments). We are analyzing the data and will publish the findings in a peer-reviewed publication. Having an in-depth understanding of app usage rhythms and their connection with depressive symptoms through a countrywide study can significantly help health care professionals and researchers better understand depressed students and may create possibilities for using app usage-based rhythms for intervention. In addition, the MTL framework based on app usage rhythmic features may more accurately predict depressive symptoms due to the rhythms' capability to find subtle differences. DERR1-10.2196/51540.

The Influence of Coping Strategy, Loneliness, and Sleep Quality on Student’s Depression During Covid-19 Pandemic

This study aims to examine the effect of the variable coping strategy, loneliness, and sleep quality on symptoms of depression in college students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors hypothesized that coping strategy, loneliness, and sleep quality had significant effects on symptoms of depression in students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The population in this study was students who domiciled in Greater Jakarta and were undergoing online lectures during the Covid-19 pandemic. A sample of 203 students were recruited using purposive sampling. The measuring instrument consisted of the Beck Depression Inventory-II scale, The Brief COPE scale, the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scale. We tested the validity of the instrument using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) technique. The data were analyzed using multiple regression techniques. The results of hypothesis testing indicated that four variables, namely problem-focused coping, emotional loneliness, social loneliness, and sleep quality, significantly influenced symptoms of depression. This study's results showed significant effects of coping strategy, loneliness, and sleep quality on depression symptoms in college students during the Covid-19 pandemic, 52.3%. Meanwhile, avoidant, emotionfocused, and socially-supported coping did not significantly affect students' depression symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Factors contributing to depressive symptoms among undergraduate nursing students: A cross-sectional study.

To investigate predictive factors of student's academic year, interest in the field of nursing, stress, self-efficacy, and problem-focused and emotion-focused coping on the depressive symptoms among undergraduate nursing students. As the burden of depression among students has increased worldwide, depressive symptoms have become a standard part of mental health problems in college and university students. Among the various fields of medical sciences, nursing students face more stressors during their study period and are more at risk of suffering depressive symptoms than other students. A cross-sectional design. A total of 230 undergraduate nursing students from a university in Myanmar were recruited from August to September 2021. The data were collected using standard research instruments, including a Demographic Questionnaire, Student Nurse Stress Index Questionnaire, General Self-efficacy Scale, Brief COPE Inventory, and Center for Epidemiology Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Inferential statistics were used to identify the predictive effect of academic year, interest in the field of nursing, stress, self-efficacy, problem-focused coping, and emotion-focused coping on depressive symptoms, using multiple linear regression analysis. Academic year, interest in the field of nursing, stress, self-efficacy, and problem-focused and emotion-focused coping accounted for 31.5% of the variance of depressive symptoms (F(8, 221) =12.704, p<.001) with an R2 =.315. Stress was the factor that most influenced student's depressive symptoms (β =.407, p<.001). Self-efficacy (β =-.244, p<.001) and emotion-focused coping (β =.199, p<.05) were also critical factors contributing to depressive symptoms among undergraduate nursing students. The results of this study provide insight and knowledge about depressive symptoms and factors that can contribute to depressive symptoms among undergraduate nursing students. Results suggest that nurse educators and community mental health nurses should focus on reducing stress, increasing self-efficacy, and enhancing proper coping strategies among students to prevent depressive symptoms.

Classmates' Discrimination Experiences and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Evidence From Random Assignment of Students to Classrooms in South Korea

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the association between classmates' discrimination experiences and an individual student's depressive symptoms. A set of social-psychological and behavioral variables were considered as potential mechanisms underlying this association. MethodsThe data came from the Gyeonggi Education Panel Study of seventh graders in South Korea. This study leveraged quasi-experimental variation generated from random assignment of students to classes within schools to address the endogenous school selection problem and account for the unobserved school-level confounders. To formally test for mediation, Sobel tests were conducted and peer attachment, school satisfaction, smoking, and drinking were explored as mechanism variables. ResultsAn increase in classmates' discrimination experiences was positively associated with an individual student's depressive symptoms. This association remained statistically significant even after adjusting for personal discrimination experience, a myriad of individual- and class-level covariates, as well as school fixed effects (b = 0.325, p < .05). Classmates' discrimination experiences were also associated with a decline in peer attachment and school satisfaction (b = −0.386, p < .01 and b = −0.399, p < .05, respectively). These psychosocial factors explained about one-third of the association between classmates' discrimination experiences and individual students' depressive symptoms. DiscussionThe findings of this study suggest that exposure to peer-level discrimination experience leads to friend detachment and school dissatisfaction, which in turn increases an individual student's depressive symptoms. This study reaffirms the importance of fostering a more cohesive and nondiscriminatory school environment to promote adolescents' psychological health and well-being.

Gender-Sexuality Alliance Advisors' Self-Efficacy to Address Transgender Issues: An Interpersonal Protective Factor for Transgender Student Depression.

Purpose: Our purpose was to assess the association between Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) advisors' self-efficacy to address transgender issues and their students' depressive symptoms, by students' gender identity (i.e., transgender vs. cisgender). We predict that higher advisor self-efficacy will be associated with decreases in student depressive symptoms for transgender students, though not necessarily for cisgender students. Methods: Data come from surveys of student members (n = 366) and advisors (n = 58) of 38 purposively sampled GSAs in Massachusetts high schools, in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. We used a linear mixed-effects model to assess the association between advisor self-efficacy to address transgender issues and student change in Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression-10 scores between the beginning and end of the school year by gender identity, adjusting for student covariates. Results: Students were 10-20 years old (mean = 15, standard deviation [SD] = 1.4); 28% were transgender, 28% were students of color, and 86% were lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer/questioning or other non-heterosexual identity. The GSA advisor self-efficacy scores ranged from 13 to 25 with a mean of 20.4 (SD = 3.0). Greater advisor self-efficacy to address transgender issues was associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms for transgender students (estimate = -0.47, p = 0.01), but not for cisgender students. Conclusions: GSA advisor self-efficacy to address transgender issues could be protective for transgender student depressive symptoms. Thus, increasing advisor self-efficacy to address transgender issues may help decrease depressive symptomatology for transgender youth, and intervention work in this area is needed to bolster this claim.

After-School Extracurricular Activities Participation and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Early Adolescents: Moderating Effect of Gender and Family Economic Status.

Although Western studies showed that participation in extracurricular activities was intimately linked to adolescents’ psychological adjustment, very few studies have addressed this issue among early adolescents in China. Based on a nationally representative sample of 9672 Chinese junior high school students (Mage = 14.54 years, SD = 0.70 years), this study investigated the relationship between participation in different extracurricular activities and depressive symptoms among Chinese early adolescents, and the moderating role of gender and family economic status. Results indicated that time spent completing homework, attending extracurricular tutoring, and playing online games after school was positively related to students’ depressive symptoms, whereas time spent on participating in physical exercise was negatively associated with students’ depressive symptoms. Besides, the relationships between after-school activities participation and student depressive symptoms were moderated by gender and family economic status. The theoretical and practical implications for the arrangement of after-school activities for Chinese early adolescents are discussed.

Evaluation of an electronic clinical algorithm to improve screening and evaluation of college students for depressive symptoms.

Depression is higher among college students compared with the general population, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning/queer (LGBTQ+) persons have higher rates than heterosexuals. Evidence supports the implementation of automated depressive symptoms screenings to improve provider compliance. A student health clinic at a private, catholic university did not consistently collect Patient Health Questionnaire 2 (PHQ-2) and Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) depressive screening scores or sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data. The Plan-Do-Study-Act method of quality improvement was used to improve depressive symptom screenings and SOGI data collection. Baseline assessment included a review of patient medical records during a 10-week period before the intervention. Patient Health Questionnaire 2 data were collected electronically and PHQ-9 data were collected automatically when indicated. Sexual orientation and gender identity data were added to the electronic intake form. The project was evaluated by: (1) comparing preimplementation and postimplementation compliance of PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 screenings; (2) assessing SOGI data collection; and (3) comparing LGBTQ+ and heterosexual student's PHQ-2 scores. Preimplementation data revealed a PHQ-2 compliance rate of 44.3%, with 0% PHQ-9 compliance, and no self-reported SOGI data collection. Postimplementation, PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 compliance increased to 93.2% and 100%, respectively. Patient Health Questionnaire 2 scores did not differ between LGBTQ+ and heterosexual students. The electronic clinical algorithm increased PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 data collection, supporting automated screenings for depressive symptoms. Collection of SOGI data also improved, thus potentially improving health outcomes. No differences between LGBTQ+ and heterosexual student's depressive symptoms were identified.

Influence of positive development opportunities on student well-being, depression and suicide risk: the New Zealand Youth Health and Well-being Survey 2012

ABSTRACTThis study explores the association between neighbourhood opportunities for Positive Youth Development (PYD) and adolescent depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. A 2-stage random sample of 8500 students(years 9–13) from 91 high schools from throughout New Zealand was collected in 2012. Analyses were restricted to neighbourhoods with more than 10 students resulting in a final sample of 5191 adolescents within 266 neighbourhoods. Multilevel models linked data from neighbourhoods to individual student data to explore the association between neighbourhood opportunities for PYD and student depressive symptoms, well-being and suicide risk. Neighbourhoods with a high proportion of students involved in activities that help others, attend church groups, or participate in sports teams were associated with significantly increased well-being among students living in these neighbourhoods. No neighbourhood-level measures were found to significantly alter rates of depressive symptoms or suicide risk. Findings suggest that providing neighbourhood opportunities for PYD may enhance adolescent well-being.