SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION AMONG FEMALE NURSING-STUDENTS

This study examines the extent to which depressive symptoms in female nursing students are affected by specific stressors and coping styles. Three hypotheses were examined for differences in symptoms of depress ion scores and a model was tested for predicting depression in female nursing students, Responses were gathered from three questionnaires (H assles and Uplifts Scales, Symptoms of Stress Inventory, and Coping St yles) From 408 female baccalaureate, master's and doctoral students fr om a major Midwest research university, Symptoms of depression were no t significantly different among the students and were as high as a com parative group of stress management clients, path analysis was used to examine the patterns of stressors (hassles, uplifts, personal and stu dent-related stress), coping (coping styles, habits, quitting school, and drug use), and a biological factor (depression around the menstrua l cycle) that predicted symptoms of depression. All hypothesized varia bles had direct paths to symptoms of depression; the path model explai ned 58% of the variance, Results from this study support the biologica l and psychological theories of depression in women and raise importan t questions of particular relevance to women, nursing students and edu cators. Copyright (C) 1995 by W.B. Saunders Company