PERSONAL-SOCIAL VARIABLES PREDICTING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AMONGUNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the personal-social variables predicting depression and anxiety among
undergraduate students in Edo State, Nigeria. The study adopted the causal-comparative design. The
population covered all the 56,388 regular students in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma and University of
Benin, Benin City in the 2020/2021 session. The proportional random sampling technique was used to
select 1% of the total number of students across each of the faculties in the institution. Hence, 564 students
were selected from both universities. The instrument that was used for this study was a questionnaire
titled: Prevalence of Depression Questionnaire (PDQ) and Gender Inclination Scale (GIS). The binary
logistics regression was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that
depression was predicted by gender and age related changes among undergraduate students in Edo State,
Nigeria. It was recommended that gender and age-targeted counselling on depression and anxiety
management should be encouraged in higher institutions of learning in Edo State.