As stress levels from exams and mid-terms increase in December, so does the rate of university students experiencing symptoms of depression, says scientist Paul Tremblay.
Tremblay, an adjunct research professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Western Ontario and scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says as academic pressures ramp up in December, stress levels affect the mental health of university students, particularly women.
Tremblay is among several researchers involved in a Three-Year Diary-Longitudinal Study of University Students’ Depressive Symptoms. Results were presented during the Canadian Research Data Centres Network Conference on Health over the Life Course, held at Western Oct. 15-16.
“I was interested in the relationships between depressive symptoms, drinking and aggression in university student populations,” he says, adding the study examined the potential physiological influence of drinking on depression.
With many students leaving home for the first time, facing an intensive academic environment and the challenges of finding a balanced life outside of university life can be overwhelming and wreak havoc on one’s mental health.
Each year, 9.5 per cent of U.S. adults experience a mood disorder, including major depression, says Tremblay, noting the statistics are similar in Canada. Seventeen of every 100 people will experience depression in their lifetime and research has shown women are twice as likely as men to experience depression.
The study began in 2006 and followed a group of students recruited in their first year at Western through their first three years of study. The students submitted 26 weekly diary entries, followed by 24 monthly entries over a three-year period. These entries reported the students’ depressive symptoms and other measures of drinking and conflict situations during that time period.
The study was completed earlier this year in April. The strongest trend was an initial decrease in reported depression symptoms in the first part of the semester, but a different picture was painted at the end of the semester.
“One of the major trends was an increase in December with mid-term exams,” says Tremblay. “We are thinking maybe stressful time periods would increase depression scores (measuring severity) and there is a bit of an increase.
“Females are much higher than males,” he says, adding throughout the study women scored about two points higher, or reported more severe symptoms of depression.
He notes there were females who showed an overall increase in depression over the three years.
Although the study did not show major affects attributed to particular times of year, there are small effects, such as in December with exams.
“We are concerned about that and why does that happen,” he says, noting future research will explore what influences these depression trajectories, including drinking and conflict situations.
The study’s results could be used for planning interventions when students are most in need.
In addition to those who are university-aged, the conference touched on all stages of life, from childhood and adolescence, through young adulthood and later life stages, to the aging population. Participants included researchers from universities throughout Canada and the United States.
In a last-minute change to the lineup, Sylvain Segard, Director General of Canada’s Centre for Health Promotion, offered the keynote address.
Segard spoke about the role of public health in understanding the impacts of physical, social environments on health, to provide leadership on healthy aging and building better lives and better workplaces. He discussed the challenges ahead for public health with a large aging population and major risk factors affecting the health of children, including socio-economic status and development opportunities; abuse and neglect; prenatal risks; mental health and disorders; obesity; and unintentional injuries.
More information on the conference is available at www.rdc.uwo.ca/conference2009/.