PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS BELONGING TO DIFFERENT SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS

Objective: To study the prevalence of depression in University Students who belong to Middle, Upper Middle and Upper Socioeconomic status. Methodology: The present research involved 331 university students (165 males and 166 females). Participants were selected with help of purposive sampling technique from different universities of Karachi, with age range of 19-30 years (Mean = 21.70 ± 2.7). Center for Epidemiological Studies Scale for Depression was used to screen out the level of depression and demographic form was used for Gender and Socioeconomic status. Results: Among 331 participants 50 (15.1%) were not depressed, 75(22.7%) mildly depressed, 111 (33.5%) moderate and 95(28.7%) severely depressed. Males were more depressed than females and there was higher level of depression in upper middle socioeconomic status than other socioeconomic statuses. Conclusion: It is concluded that depression is common in male and female university students belonging to different socioeconomic status in Karachi, Pakistan. There is higher prevalence of depression in Upper Middle socioeconomic status than Middle and Upper socioeconomic statuses. Over all male university students have higher level of depression than female.