General Health and Depression Outcomes Related to Cumulative Indicators of Unmet Social Determinant of Health Needs for College Students

ABSTRACT

Unmet social determinants of health (SDOH) needs impact college students’ general and mental health, however research is lacking in the cumulative impact of unmet SDOH needs. Utilizing a cross-sectional research design, researchers investigated SDOH, depression, and mental and general health with college students (N = 301). Thirty-seven percent of the variance found in depression was accounted for by unmet SDOH needs and negative self-assessed general health (SAGH). As unmet SDOH needs increase, depression severity and negative SAGH also increase. Furthermore, students are 2.64 times more likely to have unmet SDOH needs, and 3.14 times more likely to have negative SAGH if in the moderate to severe depression group. College students are entering universities with more depression symptomology and our study found that factors related to social determinants of health may be a significant contribution. For college mental health professionals charged with preventing and treating mental health issues such as depression, increased attention to social factors is indicated.

KEYWORDS:

• Social health needs
• depression
• general health
• health disparities
• college students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.