Facing the truth – A report on the mental health situation of German law students

Rabkow, Nadja; Pukas, Lilith; Sapalidis, Alexandra; Ehring, Emilia; Keuch, Lea; Rehnisch, Carolin; Feußner, Oskar; Klima, Isabell; Watzke, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101599

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, a study among medical and psychology students in Germany demonstrated that students with financial worries had a higher depression score than their counterparts without financial worries ( 40 ). This finding is also supported by Rabkow et al ( 41 ) who identified financial burden as one of the key risk factors for depressive symptoms in German law students. Similarly, a study assessing financial difficulties and student health among Norwegian college and university students found that students often experiencing financial difficulties reported more mental health problems, including depression compared to those never experiencing financial difficulties ( 4 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Worsened Financial Situation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Was Associated With Depressive Symptomatology Among University Students in Germany: Results of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Previous findings suggest that university students are at an elevated risk to experience financial hardship and to suffer from depressive symptoms. This vulnerability may have substantially increased during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic which might have affected students' socio-economic situation but possibly also their mental well-being. We examined whether the financial situation changed during the COVID-19 pandemic among German university students, and whether changes were associated with mental well-being.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey in May and July 2020 at five German universities. Participants were asked, if they had sufficient financial resources to cover monthly expenses before and during the pandemic. The answer options were dichotomized into worsened and no change/better financial situation compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the CES-D 8 scale. For examining associations between sociodemographic, study-related, and financial factors and “worsened financial situation,” we ran a generalized linear mixed model. To assess associations between depressive symptoms and worsened financial situation, we performed a linear mixed model.Results: We included 7,199 participants in the analyses (69% female, 30% male, 1% diverse, mean age: 24 years, standard deviation: 4.7). Overall, 25% of the participants reported to have a worsened financial situation at the time of the survey than in the time before COVID-19. Factors associated with a worsened financial situation were migration background, parents not being academics, not being able to borrow money, and payment of tuition fee by student and loan [odds ratios (OR) ranging from 1.20 to 2.35]. Factors associated with lower odds were: being single, living with others, studying a health-related field, being enrolled in a doctoral/Ph.D. or state exam program, and publicly funded tuition/tuition paid with a scholarship (OR ranging from 0.42 to 0.80). A worsened financial situation was associated with 1.02 points more on the CES-D 8 scale (95% CI: 0.80–1.24).Conclusion: Our results suggest that the pandemic put a number of students under financial strain with detrimental consequences for their mental well-being. Renewed attention must be paid to this vulnerable group to prevent the potentially damaging effects on their mental health.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Worsened Financial Situation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Was Associated With Depressive Symptomatology Among University Students in Germany: Results of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We excluded studies that focused on graduate students in non-doctoral degree programs (e.g., Master of Public Health) or professional degree programs (e.g., Doctor of Medicine, Juris Doctor) because more is known about mental health problems in these populations 30,[108][109][110] and because Ph.D. students face unique uncertainties. To minimize the potential for upward bias in our pooled prevalence estimates, we excluded studies that recruited students from campus counseling centers or other clinic-based settings.…”

Section: Eligibility Criteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Satinsky

Kimura²,

Kiang

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

123

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

University administrators and mental health clinicians have raised concerns about depression and anxiety among Ph.D. students, yet no study has systematically synthesized the available evidence in this area. After searching the literature for studies reporting on depression, anxiety, and/or suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students, we included 32 articles. Among 16 studies reporting the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression across 23,469 Ph.D. students, the pooled estimate of the proportion of students with depression was 0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.18–0.31; I2 = 98.75%). In a meta-analysis of the nine studies reporting the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety across 15,626 students, the estimated proportion of students with anxiety was 0.17 (95% CI, 0.12–0.23; I2 = 98.05%). We conclude that depression and anxiety are highly prevalent among Ph.D. students. Data limitations precluded our ability to obtain a pooled estimate of suicidal ideation prevalence. Programs that systematically monitor and promote the mental health of Ph.D. students are urgently needed.

show abstract

“…Other studies did not directly evaluate the prevalence of suicidal ideation among vocational students, but identified vocational education as a main risk factor (Silviken and Kvernmo 2007). Comparing our prevalence rate with other student populations in Germany, for example, medical university students (Rotenstein et al 2016) with prevalence rates between 11 and 12% or law university students with a prevalence rate of 17.7% (Rabkow et al 2020), our study shows higher prevalence rates for suicidal ideation in vocational education. This suggests that in vocational education, suicidal ideations are more frequent than in university students of similar age and even in similar geographic regions.…”

Section: Prevalencementioning

confidence: 45%

“…The present paper uses equivalent methods that are also reported by Rabkow et al (2020), Kindt et al (2021), Rehnisch et al (2021), Ehring et al (2021), andPukas et al (2022).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Suicidal ideations among students attending vocational school in Germany: a cross-sectional study to identify prevalence and associated risk factors

Lamlé

Keuch

Pukas

et al. 2022

J Public Health (Berl.)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim Even though students attending vocational school are very vulnerable to the development of mental health problems, few studies identify the correlation between suicidal ideations and vocational education. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated risk factors for suicidal ideations among vocational students in Germany. Methods We conducted a cross sectional survey with a total of 555 pupils. The pupils received a standardized questionnaire, assessing sociodemographic data, the use of protective factors, possible risk factors, traits for neuroticism and depressive symptoms. For our study, we excluded item 9 from the Beck depression index (BDI-II) to identify the prevalence of suicidal ideation. Results Our results show that the prevalence of suicidal ideation among students attending vocational school is 23.2%. A combination of feeling lonely, male sex, low importance of religion, little time for hobbies and BMI scores outside the norm show the highest risk for suicidal ideation and can be identified as significant predictors. Conclusion This cross-sectional study highlights the mental burden vocational students in Germany are confronted with and underlines the necessity of paying special attention to this group of young adults. Furthermore, it emphasizes the necessity of further studies on this topic, especially including larger student populations. The results should be used to decrease the significant loss of life caused by suicidal behavior in young adults.

show abstract

Facing the truth – A report on the mental health situation of German law students

Cited by 12 publications

References 72 publications

Worsened Financial Situation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Was Associated With Depressive Symptomatology Among University Students in Germany: Results of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study

Worsened Financial Situation During the COVID-19 Pandemic Was Associated With Depressive Symptomatology Among University Students in Germany: Results of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study

Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Suicidal ideations among students attending vocational school in Germany: a cross-sectional study to identify prevalence and associated risk factors

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About