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COLLEGE SPECIFIC DEPRESSION: ANALYZING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLASS YEAR AND RACIAL/ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS

Abstract

Depression is a well-known mental health problem for college students. Many factors are considered when determining who is more susceptible for college specific depression and why. For the purpose of this research, we are specifically interested in students of different class years (first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, other) and those of different ethnic backgrounds (Whites, Blacks, Latinix, Asians, and Other demographic groups). Participants were 1,428 Georgia Southern University students, consisting of various ages, genders, class years and ethnic backgrounds, who completed an anonymous online survey containing both demographic and Wooster-Wickline College Adjustment Test (WOWCAT) questions. The WOWCAT measure is a new measure of college adjustment which can be generalized to the population of interest. Two hypotheses were presented. First, we hypothesized that there would be a difference in college specific depression across different classes (first-year, sophomore, junior, senior, other). From running a one-way between-subjects ANOVA we did not find significant differences in depression among the class years. Secondly, we hypothesized that there would be a difference in college-specific depression and different racial and ethnic groups (Whites, Blacks, Latinix, Asians, and Other demographic groups). We then ran a one-way between-subjects ANOVA and found that there was no significant difference between the two variables. The results differ from previous research studies which produced significant differences in depression among class years and racial/ethnic groups. The study would be improved with more resources, a diverse campus, and a factorial design.

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