Predictors of personal depression stigma in medical students in China: differences in male and female groups

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of participants.

Participant characteristics	N = 2,186
	n	%
Age (Years) (Missing = 10)	24.08 ± 1.70
Gender (Missing = 10)
Male	838	38.51
Female	1338	61.49
Whether only-child (Missing = 4)
Yes	716	32.81
No	1466	67.19
Self-rated academic core competitiveness (Missing = 4)
Extremely/Very competitive	681	31.21
Competitive	946	43.35
Not at all/Somewhat competitive	555	25.44
Self-rated academic performance level (Missing = 18)
Far above average/somewhat above average	591	27.26
Average	1116	51.48
Somewhat below average/far below average	461	21.26
PHQ-9 score ranges
None, minimal, mild 0–9	1829	83.67
Moderate to severe 10–27	357	16.33

Table 2. Percentage of participants who ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with statements about their attitudes toward the person in the vignette.

Statement about personal belief (DSS)	Total (N = 2,186)		Gender					Whether only-child
	n	%	Male (n = 838)		Female (n = 1,338)		P-value	Yes (n = 716)		No (n = 1,466)		P-value
			n	% (95% CI)	n	% (95% CI)		n	% (95% CI)	n	% (95% CI)
1. The person could snap out of the problem (Missing = 5)	105	4.81	50	5.99 (4.38, 7.60)	54	4.04 (2.99, 5.10)	0.0389	23	3.23 (1.93, 4.52)	81	5.53 (4.36, 6.70)	0.0179
2. Problem is a sign of personal weakness (Missing = 5)	674	30.9	254	30.42 (27.30, 33.54)	417	31.21 (28.73, 33.70)	0.6971	210	29.45 (26.11, 32.8)	463	31.63 (29.24, 34.01)	0.3033
3. Problem is not a real medical illness (Missing = 5)	291	13.34	121	14.49 (12.10, 16.88)	169	12.65 (10.87, 14.43)	0.2199	90	12.62 (10.19, 15.06)	200	13.66 (11.90, 15.42)	0.5034
4. People with this problem are dangerous (Missing = 5)	449	20.59	179	21.44 (18.65, 24.22)	269	20.13 (17.98, 22.29)	0.4657	147	20.62 (17.65, 23.59)	301	20.56 (18.49, 22.63)	0.9754
5. Avoid people with this problem (Missing = 7)	192	8.81	116	13.89 (11.55, 16.24)	75	5.62 (4.39, 6.86)	<.0001	82	11.53 (9.19, 13.88)	109	7.45 (6.10, 8.79)	0.0016
6. People with this problem are unpredictable (Missing = 5)	670	30.72	232	27.78 (24.75, 30.82)	435	32.56 (30.05, 35.07)	0.0190	225	31.56 (28.15, 34.97)	444	30.33 (27.97, 32.68)	0.5597
7. If I had this problem, I would not tell anyone (Missing = 5)	377	17.29	150	17.96 (15.36, 20.57)	224	16.77 (14.76, 18.77)	0.4722	121	16.97 (14.22, 19.73)	256	17.49 (15.54, 19.43)	0.7653
8. I would not make friends with him if I knew he had been depressed (Missing = 5)	358	16.41	193	23.11 (20.25, 25.97)	162	12.13 (10.38, 13.88)	<.0001	158	22.16 (19.11, 25.21)	200	13.66 (11.90, 15.42)	<.0001
9. I would not vote for a class cadre if I knew they had been depressed (Missing = 5)	679	31.13	311	37.25 (33.97, 40.52)	363	27.17 (24.79, 29.56)	<.0001	279	39.13 (35.55, 42.71)	400	27.32 (25.04, 29.61)	<.0001
DSS total score (mean ± SD)	13.71 ± 5.35		14.85 ± 5.41		12.99 ± 5.17		<.0001	14.38 ± 5.22		13.38 ± 5.38		<.0001

Note: Boldface indicates statistical significance (P < 0.05).

Table 3. Multivariate linear regression analysis of factors associated with stigma.

Variables	Model 1: Female (n = 1,338)					Model 2: Male (n = 838)				Model 3: P-value interaction between gender and variables
	Estimate	SE	t Value	P-value		Estimate	SE	t Value	P-value
Constant	12.97	2.11	6.16	<.0001		17.63	2.70	6.52	<.0001	<.0001
Age	0.00	0.09	−0.02	0.9806		−0.18	0.11	−1.65	0.0987	0.1964
Whether only-child (Ref = No)
Yes	0.20	0.34	0.61	0.5420		1.01	0.38	2.65	0.0083	0.1098
Self-rated academic core competitiveness (Ref = Extremely/very competitive)
Competitive	−0.46	0.31	−1.46	0.1451		1.29	0.49	2.63	0.0088	0.0024
Not at all/Somewhat competitive	−0.32	0.42	−0.76	0.4503		1.04	0.50	2.08	0.0381	0.0367
Self-rated academic performance level (Ref = Far above average/somewhat above average)
Average	0.18	0.33	0.54	0.5913		0.57	0.46	1.23	0.2177	0.4876
Somewhat below average/far below average	−0.27	0.41	−0.65	0.5136		−0.78	0.56	−1.40	0.1612	0.4530
Depression (PHQ-9) (Ref = None, minimal, mild 0–9)
Moderate to severe 10–27	1.75	0.38	4.60	<.0001		1.12	0.52	2.17	0.0302	0.3190

Note: Boldface indicates statistical significance (P < 0.05).