Assessment of psychological distress in university students: A Quantitative study

Abstract

Introduction: Psychological health is the expression of harmonic expression ofhuman’s personality and is often disrupted by multiple factors. Especially duringacademic years human has to confront various stressful situations that endanger hisPsychological health.Purpose: This study aims to assess psychological distress in university students and toexamine possible factors that are associated with it.Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in which 206 universitystudents were participated. Data were collected by the Hospital Anxiety and DepressionScale, HADS and a sheet contain information regarding demographic, social andacademic background special design for the purpose of the study. Spss v. 21 was usedfor analyzing data and the signicant level was set in p≤0,05.Results: From the total of 206 students 76,2% were women (n=157) and 23,8% weremen with a mean age 30.1 ±7.15. Anxiety symptoms were negative associated withcohabitation and marital status (p=.019 and p=.001 respectively). While place ofresidence was also negative associated (p=.000).While monthly income and duration ofwere associated with the experience of anxiety symptoms. One the other handdepression was associated with sex (p=.004) place of residence and origins of students(p=.038 and p=.058 respectively). Finally the number of uncompleted courses andsexual preferences were associated with depression to (p=.009).Conclusions: Within the context of student life that is characterized by anxiety, crises ofinterpersonal relationships and uncertainty maintaining student’s mental health andwellbeing must be a top propriety among university services.