Prevalence of Anxiety, Stress and Depression Symptoms in University Students of South Punjab: Its Relationship with Socioeconomic Factors

Abstract

Background: Psychiatric disorders as Depression, anxiety and stress have huge burden on productivity and economy of any nation. Identification of symptoms and impending disease in future workforce is essential for national progress. Objective: To determine frequency and correlate Depression, Anxiety and Stress (DAS) symptoms with socioeconomic factors among undergraduate students of Science and Arts group in South Punjab, Pakistan. Study type, settings & duration: This cross sectional descriptive study was carried out at Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB), Institute of Southern Punjab Multan (ISP), and Bahaudin Zikria University, Multan (BZU) from March to July 2021. Methodology: Total 491 students of science and arts subjects participated in the study (M= 332, F=159). After taking approval from ethical committee, sampling was done through nonprobability convenient sampling technique. Written informed consent was taken from each respondent. Questionnaire included DASS-21 scale and questions related to socioeconomic status. Standardized Urdu version of DASS-21 was used. Questionnaire was tasted for validity and reliability. Results: The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms in our study sample was 48.5%, 41.1% and 31.2% respectively. Depression and stress symptoms were more prevalent in males and science students than females and arts students. Chi-Square tests suggest that depression was significantly associated with academic satisfaction, economic satisfaction and job worry. Conclusion: The high predominance of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms among university students is catastrophic and it demands measures to treat the sufferers and prevent others from developing this serious morbidity.

Keywords

• depression
• anxiety
• stress
• socioeconomic
• university
• students
• pakistan