Running Head: Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

Depression Differences in Gender of College Students

Nicholas Kraynyk
Psych 105
Westminster College
December 10, 2014

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

Abstract
The question I ultimately tried to answer was what the differences in depression expressed in college
students was due to gender. I expected results something like males using alcohol and drugs more than
women as well as women having greater social interaction and ability to freely express feelings better
than men. What I was looking at was coping mechanisms and social interactions as a basis for cause
and/or treatment of depressed feelings. My findings showed most college students believed they were
more depressed than their fellow students as well as males having a higher than expected ability to
express emotion as well as higher drug abuse. As I mentioned this study disproved my hypothesis of
males being less likely to experience social interaction but it furthered the hypothesis of drugs being
used at least once to counter depressed feelings.

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

Depression Differences in Gender of College Students
For my study I would like to see the differences in depression, suicide rates and admittance
from one gender to the other. Specificity the college crowd of 18-22 years old in the United States. I
predict the depression and the lack of admittance to family members or friends will be much higher in
males while the diagnosed depression numbers will be much higher for women. The hypothesis I
persued is Do men and women experience depression differently, as well as self treat the depression
differently?. The literature review I studied did not mention suicide it was more about alcohol and
social expectations but it does state that 36% of college students are affected (by depression)(Merrill,
2014, Page 2) and 39% said it has affected their academic performance.(Merrill, 2014, Page 2). This
high number of depression cases and actual problems in school it causes is the reason why I am
choosing to study this topic. This study is important because society today does not accept depression
as a mental illness and treat it as such. The stereotype of a depressed kid for most people is just
someone who is just sad and not suffering from an illness or mental issue.
The study I chose for this part of my paper has to do with Brief Motivational Interventions and
the factors that diminish or enhance their effectiveness in this study they chose gender and depression.
Their expectations were that depression would lower the effectiveness of BMIs and that gender would
swing the results in one direction even more). The participants in this study were 330 heavy drinking
student volunteers at a university. 65% were female and the average age of the participants was 19.26
years old and most (86%) of these identified as white. They used a quantitative study by using the
amount of drinks peer week and comparing it 3-ways with the control group, depression and gender
results and expectations. The results showed that depression lowered in the effectiveness of BMIs,
which would make sense since being told of the damage you are doing and the consequences is not
something that is as big of a deal to a depressed person as it would be to a normal person. But more
surprising is that the studies showed women are more prone to depression, which may or may not be

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

accurate, but BMIs had a much lower effect on them compared to depressed males. I think the research
did not do a well enough job trying to pinpoint the depression and trying to truly figure out the amount
of males that have depression. They also lowered the amount of drinks in the study compared to what
the students told them they drank which I believe was a mistake since you would be surprised how
much drinking you will see at the bar or a college party. This study also considered 4+ 12oz beers to be
heavy drinking so I feel as if this study has some very basic problems in perception and there is strong
personal bias or uneducated or unfamiliar people trying to tackle a subculture of society they do not
understand.
Method
Sample
The demographic for the study was mostly male (80% male 20% female), all participants were
18-24 and in college. To recruit the participants I simply put my survey on facebook as well as
reddit.com and asked for participation. It was only a few minutes until I had reached the data limit set
from the survey website I was using. A lot of people filled the survey out in a short time indicating
there could be some problem with being able to express depressed feelings and seeing this survey as an
outlet for that. I also insured anonymity by not including anything specific to a person or group of
people, no names were asked, the college they were attending was not asked and even the city, state or
country were all excluded leaving no way for me to track who specifically answered the surveys
without tracing the IP addresses. This anonymity is important to a survey dealing with depression and
mental illness as it can affect lifestyles as well as career aspirations.
Research Method, Design and Procedure
To collect data I have chosen a more quantitative approach with a descriptive design. I have
chosen this method because it preserves a higher anonymity and for an issue such as depression and
suicide to get honest answers being anonymous can be critical. So I will evaluate, as you can see in my

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

survey, answers such as strongly agree or strongly disagree and the in between to make assumptions
that could answer my hypothesis. I also will include a sort of short answer section which would allow
people who want to convey their emotions better the ability to do so. My including these boxes in my
questions I am hoping the question trigger emotions and the box below to write a short answer is a way
to express their true feeling when it contains more than just a strongly agree or strongly disagree
option. The independent variable of gender will test the dependent variable of depression. So by
choosing this studying I can evaluate the differences in depression and gender which will answer my
research question.
Results
In the data I collected I used ten questions and they are attached at the end of this paper and the
break down of gender is as follows:
Men:

80% of total participants

Women:

20% of total participants

Undergraduates-

60%

100%

Unfulfilled social life-

40%

100%

More depressed than friends- 80%

100%

Marijuana-

20%

0%

Alcohol-

40%

50%

Tobacco-

20%

0%

None-

30%

50%

Someone to talk to about

50%/50%

0%/100%

their problems- (Yes/No)

My interpretation of this study was that males are more unexpected in their solutions as their
answers varied dramatically compared to females responses. It also seems females are much more
likely to not be satisfied in their social life and much less likely to have a close person in their life to

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

share their feelings with. It is also interesting to see than almost everyone that answered felt as if they
were more depressed than the next person which may be causing people to feel more lonely than they
actually are. In regards to answering my research question I think I have answered half of it by
showing males are more likely to use drugs than females which was an expected result, but my theory
that women would use social interaction more is still unanswered due to sample size and limitations a
multiple choice survey brings. It is easy to answer a question such as Do you use alcohol? in a survey
but asking if someone is satisfied with their social interaction in a yes or no question will not bring the
whole picture to the table. I would say that my main limitation was choice of data collection as well as
sample size in regards to the females.
Discussion
In regards to my literature I did not take a step in the direction it talked about and studied. The
literature was much more focused on methods of controlling drinking and therapy to prevent over
consumption while a small bit was related to depression. The paper did state 36% of college students
are effected by depression (Merrill, 2014, Page 2), but my findings were much higher than that. So I
believe the gap I filled that was not present in this survey was more focused on the depression aspect of
the study instead of the alcohol abuse and treatment side. The limitations I faced in my survey and
interpretation was mostly lack of female participants. My survey was limited to a set amount of
answers and that limit was reached before enough females were able to participate. Although I feel that
the answers I received were extremely honest and straightforward and because of that my small sample
is very accurate to my age group and life style.

Nicholas Kraynyk: Depression In College Students

Resources
Merrill, J. E., Reid, A. E., Carey, M. P., & Carey, K. B. (2014). Gender and Depression
Moderate Response to Brief Motivational Intervention for Alcohol Misuse Among College
Students. Journal Of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, doi:10.1037/a0037039