Depression and Anxiety in Adolescence

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The most prevailing psychological problems in adolescence and early years are depression and anxiety (Kashani, 1988) Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and sense of well-being. (Furr and Westefeld 2001) In reality some forms of depression are serious and deadly. Depression is responsible for the majority of suicide deaths; those most vulnerable to suicide are those who are depressed and lost hope (Minkoff et al., 1973; Wetzel, 1976). Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome. It’s a general term for several disorders that cause nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying. These conditions affect how we behave and feel, and they can make real physical symptoms show on a person. People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something challenging such as a test, examination, recital, or interview. These feelings are easily justified and considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms interfere with a person's ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking, anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally expected in a situation. (Crosta, 2009)
The research of anxiety and depression in relation to university students is one of high importance as university is a place where high performance is required in order to gain good results and plays a role in deciding the future of students who attend. While entrance to a university life or other tertiary education institutions is a joyous time, it can be a stressful life event for some students (Wong et al., 2006) During university, students face a number of new stress...

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...nd if they contribute to students feeling anxious or depressed for example financial problems, academic difficulty and personal issues and therefore could also result in ways of reducing the chance of students feeling this way.
The aim of the study is to find the existence of anxiety and depression in University students. To examine and explore the presence and tendencies associated with anxiety and depression within different University student cohorts. In relation to the aim of the study the hypothesis set for this study is that there will be affects of anxiety and depression on first and second year undergraduate students mostly first years and that overall in gender, males will be more depressed compared to females. Early undergraduate students will be more likely to experience anxiety and depression than final year and postgraduate students (Tartakovsky, 2008).

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