Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms in Chinese College Students: Latent Classes and Gender Effect

Shegang Zhou, Lin Jin, Xiaoxian Liu, Xiaosheng Ding and Xiangru Zhu
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Shegang Zhou: Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Lin Jin: Mental Health Center, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Xiaoxian Liu: Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Xiaosheng Ding: Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Xiangru Zhu: Institute of Cognition, Brain and Health, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Depressive symptoms are prevalent in Chinese college students, but little is known about the heterogeneity in the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in China. This study examined heterogeneity in the development of depressive symptoms and examined the effect of gender on the developmental trajectories over a 14-month period among Chinese college students (N = 1163, mean age 20.18, 80.31% female). Three different trajectories, moderate-increasing, high-stable and low-stable, captured the heterogeneity in the development of depressive symptoms. Gender showed significant influence on class membership. Relative to the moderate-increasing class, males emerged as significantly more likely than females to be found in the low-stable class (odds ratio (OR) = 2.73, 95% CI = (1.21, 6.13), p = 0.015) and the high-stable class (OR = 5.10, 95% CI = (1.12, 23.18), p = 0.035). The results provide additional evidence for the conclusion that the trajectories of depressive symptoms are heterogeneous with Chinese samples. Moreover, cultural difference should be paid more attention to when examining the effect of gender and other predictors of the trajectories of depressive symptoms.

Keywords: depressive symptoms; trajectories; college students; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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