Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Physical Illness in College Students

Abstract

The interrelationships among measures of stress, anxiety, depression, and physical illness in a proportional sample of college undergraduates (N = 184) were examined. Significant correlations were found in the stress-illness, anxiety-illness, depression-illness, and anxiety-depression relationships. Partial correlations demonstrated that the stress-illness relationship remained significant, though lowered, when first anxiety and then depression were held constant. In the second phase of the research the indices of stress, anxiety, depression, and illness were predicted to vary by both year in school and gender within this sample. Significant differences in reported stress and anxiety by year in school and in reported illness incidence by gender were found. Possible ties between these results and research on coping, social support, and gender roles are discussed.