Symptoms of Depression and Related Factors among Spanish University Students

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%).