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Risk factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among university undergraduate students
Open accessAbstract
It is well-known that prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression is high among university undergraduate students in developed and developing countries. Students entering university are from different socioeconomic background, which can bring a variety of mental health risk factors. The aim of this review was to investigate present literatures to identify risk factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among university undergraduate students in developed and developing countries. I identified and critically evaluated forty-one articles about risk factors associated with mental health of undergraduate university students in developed and developing countries from 2000 to 2020 according to the inclusion criteria. Selected papers were analyzed for risk factor themes. Six different themes of risk factors were identified: psychological, academic, biological, lifestyle, social and financial. Different risk factor groups can have different degree of impact on students' stress, anxiety, and depression. Each theme of risk factor was further divided into multiple subthemes. Risk factors associated with stress, depression and anxiety among university students should be identified early in university to provide them with additional mental health support and prevent exacerbation of risk factors.
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“Student well-being poses a growing and pressing concern, given increases in rates of depression and suicide among students (Mofatteh, 2021).”
From A Scoping Review of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in Higher Education (2024) · cites this paper as Mofatteh, 2021
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“All these stressors would aggravate the individuals’ risks of anxiety, depression, and even suicidal behaviors [ 23 ].”
From Anxiety and Depression Symptoms among Youth Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Network Analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [23]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mofatteh, M., Lincoln College, U. O. O., Merton College, U. O. O., & Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, U. O. O.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mofatteh, Mohammad
- ORCID
- Mofatteh, Mohammad
- Venue
- AIMS Public Health
- Published
- 2021
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 36-65
- ISSN
- 2327-8994 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7870388
- OpenAlex
- W3118086842
- Cited by
- 561
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 102 · 2025: 190 · 2024: 132 · 2023: 96 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 12
- FWCI
- 51.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- AIMS Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- stress, anxiety, depression, undergraduate students, mental health risk factors, academic stress, financial stress, social stress, lifestyle factors, biological risk factors, psychological risk factors, mental health support, developed and developing countries
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