Symptoms of depression and related factors among Spanish university students

Psychol Rep. 2006 Oct;99(2):583-90. doi: 10.2466/pr0.99.2.583-590.

Abstract

A 554-member stratified random sample of students at a Spanish university (65.9% women; aged 18-34 years) was screened for symptoms of depression using a new Castilian Spanish translation of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) that had been validated by back-translation. Mean CES-D score was 14.2 (SD = 10.3, range 0-54), with a significant difference between the scores of women (M = 15.5; SD = 10.9) and men (M = 11.8; SD = 8.4; t552 = 4.06, p < .0005). Some 33%, of the sample screened positive with the usual CES-D screening threshold of 16, and 16% with the threshold of 24 recommended by Clarke and coworkers. The symptoms most commonly experienced all or most of the time were hopelessness, given the maximum rating by 18.8% of students, difficulty in concentration (17.7%), fatigue (13.9%), inadequacy (13.0%), and disturbance of sleep (12.4%).

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Depressive Disorder / diagnosis
  • Depressive Disorder / epidemiology*
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Language*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Spain
  • Students / psychology*
  • Students / statistics & numerical data*
  • Translating