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Park and Jang: Impact of Stress on Depression among University Students: Testing for Moderating Effect of Social Support
Original Research

Korean J Adult Nurs 2013;25(5):549-558.

Published online: 18 October 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7469/KJAN.2013.25.5.549

Impact of Stress on Depression among University Students: Testing for Moderating Effect of Social Support

Young Rye Park1, Eun Hee Jang2,

1Department of Nursing, Kunsan National University, Gunsan

2Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Jang, Eun Hee Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, 221 Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-756, Korea. Tel: +82-10-4256-5034, Fax: +82-2-824-7961, E-mail: cartooneh@hanmail.net

Received 7 July 201318 August 2013       Accepted 18 October 2013

© 2013 Korean Society of Adult Nursing

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to identify impact of stress on depression among university students and the moderating effect of social support in the relationship between stress and depression in university students.

Methods

A total of 445 subjects were participated from May to July 2011. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaires and t-test, ANOVA, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 20.0 were used to analyze the data.

Results

The results indicate that depression was increased by stress and decreased with social support. Social support included four type of social support behavior; emotional support, informational support, material support, and appraisal support. Multiple regression analysis showed that moderating effect of emotional support was significant when provided by friends but not by parents.

Conclusion

These finding indicate the importance of emotional support of friends on depression in university students.

Keywords: Stress, Depression, Social support, Student

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Table 1.
General Characteristics of Subjects (N=445)
Characteristics Categories n (%) or M±SD
Gender Male 227 (51.0)
Female 218 (49.0)
Age (year)   21.46±2.47
Grade Freshman 119 (26.7)
Sophomore 85 (19.1)
Junior 129 (29.0)
Senior 112 (25.2)
Type of residence Own home 179 (40.2)
Self-boarding/lodging 146 (32.8)
Dormitory 111 (24.9)
Etc 9 (2.0)
Religion None 204 (45.8)
Others 241 (54.2)
Sleeping hours ＜6 hr 37 (8.3)
6~＜8 hr 274 (61.6)
≥8 hr 134 (30.1)
Smoking Non-smoker 323 (72.6)
Ex-smoker 30 (6.7)
Present smoker 92 (20.7)
Drinking frequency None 212 (47.6)
1~2 times/week 179 (40.2)
≥3 times/week 54 (12.1)
Exercise None 38 (8.5)
≥1 times/week 407 (91.5)
Satisfaction with school life Satisfied 218 (49.0)
Moderate 184 (41.3)
Dissatisfied 43 (9.7)
Subjective health status Healthy 286 (64.3)
Moderate 119 (26.7)
Unhealthy 40 (9.0)
Present disease state Yes 43 (9.7)
No 402 (90.3)
Table 2.
Differences of Stress, Depression, and Social Support by General Characteristics (N=445)
Characteristics Categories Stress t or F (p) Depression t or F (p) Social support t or F (p)
Gender Male 2.06±0.62 -3.70 0.46±0.38 -4.46 4.29±0.49 3.50
Female 2.28±0.67 (＜.001) 0.64±0.46 (＜.001) 4.13±0.46 (＜.001)
Grade† Freshmana 2.14±0.62 0.51 0.57±0.41 0.40 4.07±0.45 5.02
Sophomoreb 2.16±0.72 (.679) 0.57±0.47 (.754) 4.21±0.51 (.002)
Juniorc 2.14±0.60   0.53±0.40 4.29±0.47 a＜b, c, d
Seniord 2.23±0.68   0.53±0.45 4.27±0.47  
Religion None 2.13±0.58 -1.17 0.54±0.40 -0.45 4.24±0.47 1.06
Others 2.20±0.71 (.244) 0.55±0.46 (.652) 4.19±0.47 (.290)
Type of residence Own home 2.14±0.67 1.04 0.57±0.44 1.78 4.15±0.50 2.94
Self-boarding/lodging 2.13±0.67 (.376) 0.49±0.42 (.151) 4.30±0.48 (.033)
Dormitory 2.26±0.60   0.57±0.43 4.18±0.44  
Etc 2.13±0.48   0.71±0.41 4.26±0.43  
Sleeping† hours ＜6hra 2.38±0.52 2.60 0.73±0.40 4.14 4.14±0.48 0.43
6~＜8hrb 2.13±0.63 (.075) 0.55±0.44 (.016) 4.22±0.46 (.649)
≥8hrc 2.19±0.65   0.50±0.41 b,c＜a 4.22±0.52  
Smoking Non-smoker 2.19±0.65 0.43 0.56±0.44 0.24 4.19±0.48 1.52
Ex-smoker 2.11±0.74 (.649) 0.52±0.53 (.788) 4.24±0.44 (.220)
Present smoker 2.13±0.61   0.53±0.37 4.28±0.77  
Drinking frequency† Nonea 2.24±0.66 2.46 0.59±0.45 3.21 4.14±0.47 4.31
1~2 times/weekb 2.11±0.64 (.087) 0.53±0.43 (.049) 4.27±0.50 (.014)
≥3 times/weekc 2.09±0.63   0.43±0.33 c＜a 4.30±0.43 a＜c
Exercise None 2.40±0.92 2.14 0.61±0.46 0.88 4.20±0.49 -0.20
≥1 times/week 2.15±0.62 (.104) 0.54±0.43 (.379) 4.21±0.48 (.844)
Satisfaction with school life† Satisfieda 2.01±0.58 16.44 0.42±0.35 29.83 4.36±0.43 26.33
Moderateb 2.27±0.66 (＜.001) 0.61±0.44 (＜.001) 4.11±0.48 (＜.001)
Dissatisfiedc 2.54±0.72 a＜b＜c 0.90±0.51 a＜b＜c 3.90±0.48 c＜b＜a
Subjective health status† Healthya 2.04±0.60 17.75 0.45±0.36 27.25 4.29±0.46 12.87
Moderateb 2.33±0.65 (＜.001) 0.67±0.43 (＜.001) 4.11±0.45 (＜.001)
Unhealthyc 2.57±0.76 a＜b＜c 0.89±0.60 a＜b＜c 3.96±0.54 c＜b＜a
Present disease state Yes 2.41±0.75 2.68 0.73±0.58 2.27 4.00±0.47 -3.01
No 2.14±0.63 (.008) 0.52±0.40 (.028) 4.23±0.48 (.003)

† Duncan test.

Table 3.
Descriptive Statistics of Variables (N=445)
Variables n (%) Range M±SD Cronbach's ⍺
Stress 445 (100) 1.0~5.0 2.17±0.65 .80
   Low 154 (34.6) 1.0~1.8
   Moderate 202 (45.4) 2.0~2.6
   High 89 (20.0) 2.8~5.0
Depression 445 (100) 0~48.0 10.93±8.57 .88
   Low 340 (76.4) 0~15.0
   Likely 69 (15.5) 16.0~24.0
   Definitely 36 (8.1) 25.0~48.0
Social support 445 (100) 32.0~57.5 48.71±5.51 .93
   Parents 445 (100) 28.0~65.0 57.31±7.00 .92
   Friends 445 (100) 20.5~50.0 40.10±5.76 .91
Table 4.
Correlation among Stress, Depression, and Social Support (N=445)
Variables Stress Depression Social support
Social support of parents Social support of friends
r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
Stress   1      
Depression   .68 (＜.001) 1    
Social support Social support of parents -.23 (＜.001) -.27 (＜.001) 1  
  Social support of friends -.29 (＜.001) -.28 (＜.001) .48 (＜.001) 1
Table 5.
Moderating Effect of Social Support between Stress and Depression (N=445)
Variables Social support of parents Social support of friends
B β t p B β t p
(Constant) -0.58   -4.94 ＜.001 -0.54   -4.62 ＜.001
Satisfaction with school life 0.22 0.18 5.09 ＜.001 0.20 0.16 4.59 ＜.001
Emotional support -0.02 -0.02 -0.62 .536 -0.09 -0.10 -2.76 .006
Stress 0.64 0.63 17.81 ＜.001 0.61 0.60 16.95 ＜.001
Stress × Emotional support -0.09 -0.11 -2.90 .004 -0.13 -0.14 -4.15 ＜.001
Adjusted R2=.53, F=123.22, p＜.001 Adjusted R2=.54, F=127.57, p＜.001
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