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
. 2023 Apr 26:11:1136557.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1136557. eCollection 2023.

Depression symptoms, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate entrance admission seeking students in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

Md Reza-A Rabby  1   2 , Md Saiful Islam  3   4 , Maisha Tahsin Orthy  5 , Ahmad Tousif Jami  6 , M Tasdik Hasan  7   8
Affiliations

Depression symptoms, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate entrance admission seeking students in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study

Md Reza-A Rabby et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Intense academic pressure and unhealthy competition have turned the university entrance exam scenario in Bangladesh into a Pandora's Box, which might cause mental health difficulties among young students. However, there is a severe scarcity of studies concerning such issues of university entrance examination-seeking students in Bangladesh.

Methods: This study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of depression symptoms, anxiety, and stress among undergraduate entrance admission-seeking students in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study design was followed using an online tool including socio-demographic questions, and the 21-item Bangla Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (BDASS-21). The survey form was completed by 452 Bangladeshi students who passed the higher secondary certificate (HSC) examination in 2020 and were planning to get admission to the undergraduate level during the data collection.

Results: The prevalence of mild to extremely severe levels of depression symptoms, anxiety, and stress was 57.7%, 61.4%, and 44.6%, respectively. Females were more likely to have depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms than males. The students from science backgrounds were at higher risk of developing depression and stress symptoms when compared with students from business studies backgrounds. Besides, students with a previous history of mental illness, a preference for getting admitted into the public university, and less monthly family income (<25,000 BDT) were more likely to develop depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. In addition, students with a previous history of neurological disorders were more likely to develop anxiety symptoms than those without.

Conclusion: This study revealed a high level of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms among undergraduate entrance admission-seeking students, which calls for in-depth exploratory investigations. Adequate low-intensity interventions should be designed to support this young population.

Keywords: Bangladesh; anxiety; depression; stress; university admission; young students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The level of respondents (n = 452) experiencing varying levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bass JK, Bornemann TH, Burkey M, Chehil S, Chen L, Copeland JR, et al. . United Nations General Assembly special session for mental, neurological, substance use disorders: the time has come. PLoS Med. (2012) 9:e1001159. 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001159 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hossain MD, Ahmed HU, Chowdhury WA, Niessen LW, Alam DS. Mental disorders in Bangladesh: a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry. (2014) 14:1–8. 10.1186/s12888-014-0216-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hasan MT, Anwar T, Christopher E, Hossain S, Hossain MM, Koly KN, et al. . The current state of mental healthcare in Bangladesh: part 1–an updated country profile. BJPsych Int. (2021) 18:78–82. 10.1192/bji.2021.41 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bayram N, Bilgel N. The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. (2008) 43:667–72. 10.1007/s00127-008-0345-x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, Rhoades D, Linscomb M, Clarahan M, et al. . The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, stress in a sample of college students. J Affect Disord. (2015) 173:90–6. 10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054 - DOI - PubMed