INTRODUCTION:

Performance in academic life demands all aspects of well-being, those that include physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and psychological well-being (Crystal, 1994; Naha, et al., 2012). Students who are physically and psychologically stable are expected to perform better compared to those who are not physically, mentally and psychologically fit. In other words, those who are experiencing psychological problems, such as depression, anxiety and stress, may face problems in managing their academic performance. Psychological stability is indeed an important predictor that could contribute to high academic achievement. Hence, it is very much crucial to review and examine the psychological well-being of the students. The findings of such research may be used to develop strategies and approaches to help students to excel in their academic life (Emdadul, 2015).

Depression, stress, and anxiety are among the psychological problems that are common among students.

According to Porter (1990), up to 60% of university students left university without finishing their degrees; the majority of these students leave within the first two years due to inability to manage these psychological conditions, especially to cope with stress. Steinberg and Darling (1994) mentioned that 50% of university students who consulted mental health service complained of difficulties in study, anxiety, tension, and depression. They reported that these conditions contributed to poor grades in courses (Rao, 2015; Shinhong and Yun, 2017).

Depression is an illness that affects both the mind and the body and is a leading cause, most of people have felt sad or depressed at times (Young andPark, 2017). Feeling depressed can be a normal reaction to loss, life’s struggles, or an injured self-esteem (Hyun-Jung and Mi-Kyung, 2017; Prasanna and Gheena, 2016). But when feelings of intense sadness including feeling helpless, hopeless and worthless last for many days to weeks and keep you from functioning normally, depression may be something more than sadness.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Many students suffered from psychological problems, which in turn affected their academic performance (Abu et al., 2014; Shammin et al., 2017). Many studies were conducted to address this issue and it was found that psychological problems, i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress do have influence on the academic achievement of the students (Ravichandran, 2015). Williamson, Birmaher, Ryan, and Dahl (2005), for example, reported that stressful life events are significantly elevated in anxious and depressed youths, thus could lead to low performance in academic achievement. A study by Ariset al., (2010) also indicated the same results. They found that depression, anxiety and stress negatively correlate with academic achievement. The higher the depression, anxiety and stress level, the lower the academic achievement among students (Prasanna and Gheena, 2016). Keeping in view the above findings, the present study attempts to study the depression among college students with respect to their demographic variables.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The problem for the present study is stated as:

Depression among Degree College Students: A Study with respect to Demographic Variables

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1) To study the effect of income, gender and locality on depression of students

2) To study 1^st order interactional effect on the depression of students of following variables:

Income*Gender

Income*Locality

Gender*Locality

3) To study 2^nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality on the depression of students

HYPOTHESIS:

1) There will be no significant effect of Income, Gender and Locality on depression of students

2) There will be no significant 1^st order interactional effect on the depression of students of following variables:

Income*Gender

Income*Locality

Gender*Locality

3) There will be no significant 2^nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality on the Depression of students

SAMPLE:

All the districts of College division were listed. Out of listed districts, only one college from each district was selected through randomization. Further each district was taken as cluster and the sample of 800 was drawn by cluster sampling technique. The sample breakup is given below in table-I with 1 representing lower Income, Male and Rural respectively whereas 2 represents higher Income, Female and Urban respectively.

Table I: Sample Characteristics

Variable		N
Income	1.00	496
Income	2.00	304
Gender	1.00	408
Gender	2.00	392
locality	1.00	531
locality	2.00	269

DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

1) Present study was delimited to only college level students

2) Present study was studied with respect to only Income, Gender and Locality as demographic variables

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

Table II: Showing effect of Income, Gender and Locality on depression of students

Source	Dependent Variable	Type III Sum of Squares	Mean Square	F	p-value
Income	Depression	1491.247	1491.247	132.842	.000*
Gender	Depression	1.120	1.120	.100	.752
locality	Depression	67.602	67.602	6.022	.014*

*Significant at .05 level

Perusal of the table 2 shows that the calculated value of f ratio for Income and Gender as independent variables came out to be 132.842 and 6.022 respectively which are significant at .o5 level of significance. Moreover, the p-values for Income and Locality were less than .05 level (p-value<.05). Hence, it can be inferred that Income and Locality has a significant effect on the depression of students. However, for Gender as independent variable, the value of ratio came out to be .100 which is insignificant at .o5 level of significance and also the p-value is greater than .05 level. Hence, it is inferred that Gender has no significant effect on the depression of students. Hence, the presumed hypothesis 1 stands rejected in case of Income and Locality and accepted in case of Gender which means it is partially accepted.

Table 3 Showing 1st order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality on depression of students.

Source	Dependent Variable	Type III Sum of Squares	Mean Square	F	p-value
Income*Gender	Depression	3.655	3.655	.326	.568
Income*Locality	Depression	13.747	13.747	1.225	.269
Gender *Locality	Depression	15.978	15.978	1.423	.233

Review of the table 3 shows that the calculated values of f ratio for 1^st order interactional effect of Income* Gender: Income*Locality and Gender *Locality came out to be .325, 1.225 and 1.423 respectively and also the p-values are greater than .05. Hence, it can be inferred that there is no significant 1^st order interactional effect of Income* Gender: Income*Locality and Gender *Locality on the depression of students. Hence, the proposed hypothesis 2 stands accepted.

Table 4 Showing 2nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality on depression of students

Source	Dependent Variable	Type III Sum of Squares	Mean Square	F	p-value
Income* Gender *Locality	Depression	.020	.020	.002	.966

Review of the table 4 shows that the calculated value of f ratio for the 2^nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality came out to be .002 which is insignificant at .o5 level of significance and also the p-value is greater than .05, hence, it is inferred that there is no 2^nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender and Locality on the depression of students. Hence, the hypothesis 3 stands accepted.

FINDINGS:

1) Significant effect of Income and Locality has been found on the depression of students

2) No significant effect of Gender has been found on depression of students

3) No significant 1^st order interactional effect of Income* Gender: Income* Locality and Gender *Locality has been found on depression of students

4) No significant 2^nd order interactional effect of Income, Gender, and Locality has been found on depression of students

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS:

1) Poor, under privileged and rural families are characterized by resource constraints, lack of conducive atmosphere, conservativeness and unadventurous, as a result their children develop depressive tendencies. As it is very wisely said that family is the child’s first school and parents the first teacher. So before thinking of making poor and underprivileged children socio-economically and intellectually sound, the focus should be the illiterate parent. Therefore it is recommended that adult literacy programmes should be launched so as to bring a radical shift in their thinking pattern which in turn will transfer to their offspring’s.

2) Since in the study it was found that students from lower income possess depressive, feel hesitant to speak and low aspirations. The reason for this might be lack of exposure and poor family background. So there is need for starting remedial classes and coaching for competitive exams so as to bring them at par with the students belonging to well-off and well-heeled families.

It is highly recommended that the students belonging to lower income category should be provided every financial incentive either in cash or non-cash so that this ruthless killer (poverty) may no encumber them from achieving towering heights in academic pursuits.

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Received on 03.05.2018 Modified on 18.05.2018

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(3): 585-587.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00098.0