Levels of Depression, Anxiety, Stress and its Relationship with Academic Performance in University Students

Abstract

Introduction: For students, the transition from an educational establishment to the university constitutes an important change, both in social and academic terms, which can affect mental health, considering academic requirements, learning difficulties, and the acquisition of new skills. for professional development, self-management of hours, insertion in a new educational environment, among others.
Objective: To determine the levels of stress, depression and anxiety in first-year university students in the health areas, relating them to academic performance.
Method: A descriptive, exploratory, non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used. The sample was non-probabilistic of 186 students from a public university in southern Chile, of the health department, which was determined considering a confidence level of 95% and an alpha error of 5%. The abbreviated Chilean version of the DASS - 21 depression, anxiety and stress scales were applied, consisting of 21 items, with four response alternatives in a Likert scale format. The research protocol carried out was approved by the Scientific Ethical Committee of the Reloncaví Health Service.
Results: The prevalence of these disorders when shown in a grouped way, for the total of the 186 students consulted; 29.00% have some disorder associated with depression, 53.20% with anxiety and 47.80% with stress. A statistically significant association was observed between the variables anxiety and academic performance.
Conclusions: It can be concluded that there is an association between the academic performance of the students with the anxiety variable, but not with stress and depression disorders.

Keywords: Stress; depression; anxiety; academic performance; university students.