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Cited by 30Mental Health Treatment and AccessStudent Stress and CopingChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Prevalence of Depression Among College-Goers in Mainland China: A Methodical Evaluation and Meta-Analysis

Open access
Jiang, Cai Xiao, Li, Zhan Zhan, Chen, Peng, Chen, Li Zhang·2015·Medicine
DOI 10.1097/md.0000000000002071PMC PMC5058888
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Abstract

There are no proper statistics available to assess how much of a burden it is to them. This study was conducted to gauge the pooled prevalence and offer evidence in support of few prevention and regulation strategies. A methodical literature search was conducted with the help of the Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Chinese Web of Knowledge, Wanfang, and Chongqing VIP databases. Furthermore, articles published from 2000 to 2014, reporting about the estimated prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China, were covered as well. In this study, a meta-analysis was deployed to approximate the overall prevalence of depression among college-goers in mainland China. A total of 45 studies were conducted on 50,826 participants. The average pooled prevalence of depression was 30.39% (26.38-34.55%). Subgroup analyses showed that 29.45% (22.88-36.48%) were men and 28.65% (23.44-34.16%) were women. Furthermore, 28.10% (22.83-33.70%) were from the northern part and 32.44% (26.67-38.48%) were from the southern. The prevalence of depression was 30.45% (23.96-37.36%) for sample sizes of <500 subjects, 30.99% (25.08-37.23%) for samples with 500 to 1000 people, and 29.54% (33.32-37.33%) in case of samples with >1000 people. Publications between 2000 and 2006 showed a depression prevalence of 8.45% (22.34-35.00%), whereas 30.52% (21.30-40.61%) and 31.79% (27.31-36.45%) were the corresponding values according to publications during 2007 to 2011 and 2012 to 2014. The prevalence of depression among college students in mainland China had reached the world's epidemic level.

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Authors
Jiang, C. X., Li, Z. Z., Chen, P., & Chen, L. Z.
Affiliations
Central South University (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Li, Zhan Zhan
  • Chen, Peng
  • Chen, Li Zhang
ORCID
Chen, Peng
Venue
Medicine
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2015-12
Volume
94
Issue
50
Pages
e2071
ISSN
0025-7974 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1097/md.0000000000002071
PMC
PMC5058888
OpenAlex
W2333470290
Cited by
30
References
53
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
FWCI
0.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Central South University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
depression, prevalence, university students, mainland China, sex differences, regional variation, sample size, temporal trends
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, China, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Residence Characteristics, Students, Universities, Prevalence, Sex Distribution, Young Adult, Observational Studies as Topic

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