Psychosocial factors and depressive symptoms

The relationship of four psychosocial factors (family history of psychiatric illness, early loss of a nurturing relationship, stressful life events, and low social support) to depressive symptoms was investigated in university students using a cross-sectional design. A depressed group (N = 160), selected from a consecutive sample of students diagnosed depressed and attending a university psychiatric service, was contrasted with a nondepressed group (N = 206) randomly selected from the general university population within three strata (sex, academic level, and month of the year) to match the clinic group. Depression was measured by the Beck Depression Inventory. It was found that family history of psychiatric illness, stressful life events, and lack of a confidant all had a significant, independent direct effect on the occurrence of depressive symptoms, but early loss was not associated. An interaction effect among the psychosocial factors was not demonstrated.