Are students prone to depression and suicidal thoughts?

INTRODUCTION Depression may affect up to 9.8% of adolescents and young adults and is associated with significant life-long consequences. The aim of our study was to assess the association between symptoms of depression and demographic factors such as gender, having brothers or sisters, background (rural/small town or urban permanent place of residence), perceived financial status, current living arrangements, year and major area of study. MATERIAL AND METHODS One thousand one hundred eighty-three students of medical or similar faculties, 71% of whom were females, anonymously answered the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS) and completed a demographic questionnaire. RESULTS We found that 6.5% of all participants (n = 77) had depression according to Kutcher's criteria whereas 1.5% of them (n = 18) reported suicidal thoughts. We also observed the influence of such factors as gender (p < 0.009), year (p < 0.001), major area of study (p < 0.034), and financial status (p < 0.000-0.003), on depression scores. Moreover, depressive symptomatology was most frequent in subjects who were only children, in freshmen and in students of psychology (11.5%, 13.2% and 16.7% respectively). However, we did not observe an impact of such agents as students' permanent place of residence (p = 0.929) or current living arrangements on depressive symptoms (p = 0.940). CONCLUSIONS Susceptibility to depression fluctuates throughout the course of study and depends on factors associated with the study itself such as the student's major or year of study and other socio-demographic agents, i.e. gender or self-reported financial status.