Depression and Missouri Western Students

Diana M. Corzine
Missouri Western State College
December 5, 1996

Abstract

Major depressive disorder, which is the most serious category of depression, afflicts 15% of the U. S. patient population sometime in their lives (Rakow, 1995). No one is sure of the etiology--it could be a chemical imbalance, a product of genetics, a combination, or something else entirely. Because of this lack of exact etiological information, there are many explanatory theories. From a cognitive psychology point of view, there are three concepts which explain depression--the cognitive triad, schemas, and faulty information processing (Beck, 1979). The purpose of this study is to compare participants' levels of depression before and after taking an exam and to compare levels of depression in male and female participants. I collected data from 113 participants. Sixty-four were students in psychology and business classes at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Missouri, and the remainder were residents of St. Joseph and Southern California near the Pasadena area. St. Joseph is a small city in the northwestern section of Missouri. The 16-item paper and pencil scale described below was constructed to measure the existence of depression in the participants of this study. The participants were instructed to answer the questionnaire as accurately as possible after filling in gender information and the final four digits of his/her social security number. I administered the questionnaire twice--once the class period before the students took an exam and once the class period after taking the exam but before it was returned. After recording all the data from the participants, a dependent groups t-test was conducted on the pre- and post-exam scores, and an independent t-test was done on the male/female participants' scores. The results of the dependent t on the 35 participants who had pre- and post-exam scores did not show a significant relationship, t (34) = .97, p > .05. The results of the independent t-test comparing male and female participants' scores did show a significant relationship, t (109) = 2.79, p <.05. I expected the threat of an impending exam to act as a stressor. However, since the second time I administered the questionnaire was directly before the participants' graded exams were returned, it is possible the same level of stress was being experienced as before taking the exam. I may have received significant results on the pre-exam/post-exam relationship if the second questionnaire had been administered after the participants received the graded exams.

Introduction

According to Mendels (1970), depression has been around as long as people have walked the earth. It is chronicled in history and literature. In fact, there are some people who feel we would not have some of the world's great tragic literature, music, and art without it, that without depression we would be less than human (Kline, 1969). Despite this romanticized view of depression, it can be a severe illness.

Major depressive disorder, which is the most serious category of depression, afflicts 15% of the patient population sometime in their lives. But only one-third to one-half of such cases are detected by physicians according to the clinical practice guidelines, which the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research published in 1993 (Rakow, 1995). And, it is apparent that, even though more is known about depression than in years past, we're not any closer to discovering its etiology. It could be a chemical imbalance, a product of genetics, a combination, or something else entirely. Because of a lack of exact etiological information there are many explanatory theories.

From a cognitive psychology point of view there are three concepts which explain depression--the cognitive triad, schemas, and faulty information processing (Beck, 1979).

The cognitive triad refers to the idiosyncratic manner with which the depressed person views himself/herself, experiences, and views the future. The depressed person views himself/herself unworthy, inadequate, and unable to obtain happiness. Daily experiences represent obstacles or excessive demands by the world. He/she expects nothing from the future except failure.

Although all people utilize schemas--selectively recognizing certain stimuli, integrating them into a pattern, and envisioning the results--a depressed individual finds this more difficult to do objectively. A mildly depressed individual is able to discern when interpreting a situation negatively. However, if the depression becomes more severe he/she is unable to do so. Faulty information processing by depressed individuals compared to non-depressed is likened to the thinking patterns of children as described by Piaget--with the early developmental stages compared to the later stages.

Although there are many theories about depression proposed by the various disciplines, most agree on what represents major depressive disorder. The American Psychiatric Association defines major depressive disorder as an episode in which five of nine symptoms are present most of the day, nearly everyday, for at least two weeks with at least one of the symptoms being depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities. The remaining seven symptoms are: significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue or loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, diminished ability to think or concentrate, or recurrent thoughts of death (Rakow, 1995). The exact effects of depression are not the same in any two people because of the different degrees of depression possible and the personality of the person. However, there are some similarities among depressed people. As the depression progresses, a person has less energy, an inability to accomplish tasks, and becomes increasingly less efficient, ambitious, and motivated (Mendels, 1970).

Similar to depression, stress is another condition which is not easily defined. One definition given by Hans Selye, M.D., the premier author on the topic, is that stress is "the sum of all nonspecific changes caused by function or damage" (1976). Certain severe stimuli could lead to stress in virtually everyone but anything less severe is not so simple.

Specifically, does depression increase with the amount of stress? For most people the thought of taking an exam creates a great deal of stress. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare participants' levels of depression before and after taking an exam and to compare levels of depression in male and female participants.

Method

Participants

I collected data from 113 participants (47 male, 64 female). Two surveys were discarded because they were incompletely filled out. Sixty-four participants were students in psychology and business classes at Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Missouri, and the remainder were residents of St. Joseph and Southern California near the Pasadena area. St. Joseph is a small city in the northwestern section of Missouri.

Materials

The 16-item paper and pencil scale described below was constructed to measure the existence of depression in the participants of this study (see Appendix A).

To assess the possible presence of depression in participants who completed my questionnaire I used a Likert-type scale. The possible choices were as follows: strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, and strongly disagree. Correspondingly, I assigned the numbers from five down to one to be used in the measurement starting with the number five assigned to "strongly agree." Therefore, if a participant chose "strongly agree" as the answer to a question he/she was considered as registering at the most depressed end of the scale, etc.

Procedure

The participants were instructed to answer the questionnaire as accurately as possible after filling in gender information and the final four numbers of their social security number or a matching number of their own choosing. I administered the questionnaire twice--once the class period before an exam and once the class period after taking the exam but before the graded exam was returned.

Results

After recording all data from the participants, a dependent groups t-test was conducted on the pre- and post-exam scores, and an independent t-test was done on the male/female participants' scores. The results of the dependent t-test on the 35 participants who had pre- and post-exam scores did not show a significant relationship, t (34) = .97, p > .05. The means for this set of data are 39.91 and 40.69. However, the results of the independent t-test comparing male and female participants' scores did show a significant relationship, t (109) = 2.79, p <.05. The means for this set of data are 31.98 and 37.03 (see chart below).

Discussion

The results of the dependent t-test on the 35 participants who had pre- and post-exam scores did not show a significant relationship, t (34) = .97, p > .05. The results of the independent t-test comparing male and female participants' scores did show a significant relationship, t (109) = 2.79, p <.05. This result indicates the female participants were depressed on a greater scale than the male participants.

I expected the threat of an impending exam to act as a stressor. However, since the second time I administered the questionnaire was directly before the participants' graded exams were returned, it is possible the same level of stress was being experienced as before taking the exam. I may have received significant results on the pre-exam/post-exam relationship if the second questionnaire had been administered after the participants received the graded exams. Another factor to aid in retrieval of significant results would be to include a self-reported stress level item at the top of the questionnaire.

Since the pre-exam/post-exam relationship was not significant, the result is not applicable to other studies at this time. However, the significant result from the male/female comparison suggests that my scale is valid and could be used with similar studies in the future.

It is possible the pre-exam/post-exam results are what would be expected because people react to stress and depression differently. Indeed, no two people perceive the same situation as stressful (Monat & Lazarus, 1977). And, the exact effects of depression are not the same in any two people because of the different degrees of depression possible and the personality of the person (Mendels, 1970).

Future studies will include a stress level assessment item on the questionnaire, and a larger number of participants will be surveyed. The questionnaire previously administered before the participants' exams were returned will be administered after the graded exams are returned.

References

Beck, A. T. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression, New York: The Guilford Press.

Kline, N. S. (1969). Depression: Its diagnosis and treatment. New York: Brunner/Mazel, Inc.

Mendels, J. (1970). Concepts of depression. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Monat, A. & Lazarus, R. (1977). Stress and coping. New York: Columbia University Press.

Rakow, Jr. R. (1995) Detecting depression. The D.O. An Official Publication of the American Osteopathic Association, 36 (11), 24-27.

Selye, Hans (1976). The stress of life. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Appendix A

__Male__Female Final Four Numbers of Social Security Number ______

PLEASE CIRCLE THE RESPONSE YOU FEEL IS MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOU AT THIS TIME. THANK YOU!

1. There's too much to do at this point in the semester.