CHARACTERIZATION OF DEPRESSION IN UNIVERSITY YOUNGSTERS

The purpose of this research was to describe the characteristics of depression among young university students. Beginningwith clinical and psycho-educational work with this group, specific aspects related to depressive disorders were identified.The prevalence of depression in a specific university environment was found, and the clinical evidence and the possiblerelationship with different socio-demographic and personal variables were described. The research was of a nonexperimental,descriptive and trans-sectional nature. The instruments used were Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI),Zung’s Self-Applied Scale (zss) and a questionnaire of complementary data. The sample consisted of 218 young people:135 female and 83 male, from the undergraduate degree courses of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali. Theresults showed significant depression: 30%, according to the BDI, and 25%, according to the zss. Based on the clinicalevidence found, the presence of inherent depression symptoms, as reported in classic studies, was proven. We emphasizethat the differences between different levels of depression are expressed in terms of their frequency and the intensity ofthe symptoms. Finally, a number of specific stress-producing events for young people are described. These, together withthe lack of strategies for dealing with them, play an important role as factors which lead to susceptibility and set offdepression among the people who are the object of this study.