Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2016 May;33(5):400-14.
doi: 10.1002/da.22461. Epub 2015 Dec 18.

PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION IN COLLEGE STUDENTS: A METAANALYSIS

Pim Cuijpers  1   2 , Ioana A Cristea  3   4 , David D Ebert  5 , Hans M Koot  1   2 , Randy P Auerbach  6 , Ronny Bruffaerts  7 , Ronald C Kessler  8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION IN COLLEGE STUDENTS: A METAANALYSIS

Pim Cuijpers et al. Depress Anxiety. 2016 May.

Abstract

Background: Expanded efforts to detect and treat depression among college students, a peak period of onset, have the potential to bear high human capital value from a societal perspective because depression increases college withdrawal rates. However, it is not clear whether evidence-based depression therapies are as effective in college students as in other adult populations. The higher levels of cognitive functioning and IQ and higher proportions of first-onset cases might lead to treatment effects being different among college students relative to the larger adult population.

Methods: We conducted a metaanalysis of randomized trials comparing psychological treatments of depressed college students relative to control groups and compared effect sizes in these studies to those in trials carried out in unselected populations of depressed adults.

Results: The 15 trials on college students satisfying study inclusion criteria included 997 participants. The pooled effect size of therapy versus control was g = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.66∼1.11; NNT = 2.13) with moderate heterogeneity (I(2) = 57; 95% CI: 23∼72). None of these trials had low risk of bias. Effect sizes were significantly larger when students were not remunerated (e.g. money, credit), received individual versus group therapy, and were in trials that included a waiting list control group. No significant difference emerged in comparing effect sizes among college students versus adults either in simple mean comparisons or in multivariate metaregression analyses.

Conclusions: This metaanalysis of trials examining psychological treatments of depression in college students suggests that these therapies are effective and have effect sizes comparable to trials carried out among depressed adults.

Keywords: behavioral activation therapy; cognitive behavior therapy; college students; depression; metaanalysis; psychotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of inclusion of studies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of effect sizes of randomized trials comparing psychological treatments for college students with control groups: Hedges’ g.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

References for trials comparing psychological treatments for adult depression and control groups (N = 79)

    1. Allart-van Dam E, Hosman CMH, Hoogduin CAL, Schaap CPDR. The coping with depression course: short-term outcomes and mediating effects of a randomized controlled trial in the treatment of subclinical depression. Behav Ther. 2003;34(3):381–396.
    1. Andersson G, Bergström J, Holländare F, Carlbring P, Kaldo V, Ekselius L. Internet-based self-help for depression: randomised controlled trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2005;187:456–461. - PubMed
    1. Barber JP, Barrett MS, Gallop R, Rynn MA, Rickels K. Short-term dynamic psychotherapy versus pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2012;73(1):66–73. - PubMed
    1. Barrera M. An evaluation of a brief group therapy for depression. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1979;47(2):413–415. - PubMed
    1. Berger T, Hämmerli K, Gubser N, Andersson G, Caspar F. Internet-based treatment of depression: a randomized controlled trial comparing guided with unguided self-help. Cogn Behav Ther. 2011;40(4):251–266. - PubMed

References

    1. Ibrahim AK, Kelly SJ, Adams CE, Glazebrook C. A systematic review of studies of depression prevalence in university students. J Psychiatr Res. 2013;47(3):391–400. - PubMed
    1. Zivin K, Eisenberg D, Gollust SE, Golberstein E. Persistence of mental health problems and needs in a college student population. J Affect Disord. 2009;117(3):180–185. - PubMed
    1. Reavley N, Jorm AF. Prevention and early intervention to improve mental health in higher education students: a review. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2010;4(2):132–142. - PubMed
    1. U.S. Department of Education NCfES . The Condition of Education 2007 (NCES 2007–064) U.S. Government Printing Office; Washington, DC: 2007.
    1. Berndt ER, Koran LM, Finkelstein SN, et al. Lost human capital from early-onset chronic depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2000;157(6):940–947. - PubMed

Publication types