Abstract:
In this study, we identified the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptomatology, and examined the relationships between these symptoms and socio-demographic characteristics in a sample of undergraduates in Southern Sri Lanka. A self-report, anonymous questionnaire was used. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) and Spiel Berger’s Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI) were utilized to measure depressive and anxiety symptoms respectively. A total of 1082 university undergraduates (mean age 22.5 years, SD = 1.36) was surveyed. Medical undergraduates reported the highest prevalence of elevated (CES-D scores greater than 15) depressive symptomatology (69.2%, n = 146) followed by Business Administration (63.2%, n = 91), Science (60.4%>, n = 84), Agriculture (59.6%, n = 122), and Humanities (54.3%, n = 208), x* (4, 1082) = 13.25, p < .01. There was an interaction between gender and age [F (2, 1076) = 3.45, p < .05]. Junior female undergraduates were more depressed than their male counterparts, but senior female undergraduates were less depressed than their male counterparts. Gender was a significant predictor of trait anxiety scores [F (1, 1076) = 7.33, p = 0.007], but the mean values of TAI scores (female: mean = 46.46, SD = 7.32; male: mean = 45.24, SD = 7.42) indicated no risk Family income was not associated with either depressive or anxiety symptoms. Depressive, but not anxiety, symptoms seem to pose a great threat to the personal well-being of the participants. Implications of these mental health issues on students’ learning skills need to be further investigated
