In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of university students diagnosed with depression, receiving treatment and using medication for depression. Depression is one of the most serious emotional problems faced by college students because it directly and profoundly affects adults and young adults. Because during the university years, young people begin to step into the adult world. In other words, young adults who step into university begin to explore different perspectives, different lifestyles, and realize that they have different roles. While they are trying to be independent, they are also trying to establish close relationships, which is one of the developmental tasks expected of them. College students struggle to balance their own expectations with meeting the expectations of other people (friends and family). In addition, university students try to discover themselves, and this process of self-discovery may cause them to experience ups and downs in their self-esteem from time to time. In addition, university students need to adapt to changing conditions such as the environment and place of residence. Therefore, university life brings with it both possibilities and negative living conditions and stress factors. As a result, university students may become more prone to some psychological symptoms and problems such as anger, anxiety and depression as a result of the pressure they experience.
Purpose of the Research: Depression is quite common among university students and affects their lives negatively. Examining depression is of great importance. Considering the living conditions and developmental characteristics of university students, dissatisfaction with appearance, academic failure and inability to adapt to the place of residence are among the most important risk factors for depression. For this reason, this research was conducted to examine the depression levels of university students in terms of gender, satisfaction with appearance, place of residence and academic success variables. In this research, (1) what are the depression levels of university students?, (2) depression levels of university students are examined according to their external appearance. Do university students' depression levels differ significantly according to their academic achievement?, (4) Do university students' depression levels differ significantly according to gender and place of residence?, (5) Do university students' depression levels differ significantly according to their academic achievement? Do depression levels differ significantly according to gender and place of residence when the variables of satisfaction with appearance and academic success are controlled? Answers to the questions were sought.
Method of the Research: This study was conducted with 440 university students attending Anadolu University. 315 of the participants were women and 123 were men; 102 are first graders, 105 are second graders, 110 are third graders, and 123 are fourth graders. Research data, Beck Depression Inventory, Body 90 A. Aykut Ceyhan et. get. It was collected with the Satisfaction with Organs Scale and the Personal Information Questionnaire developed by the researchers for this research. The Personal Information Form consisted of questions about university students' gender, grade level, academic average and place of residence. In data analysis, t test for independent groups, two-way analysis of variance and two-way ANCOVA (Covariance) analysis were used.
Findings of the Research: The average of the distribution regarding depression levels of university students is 12.63, standard The deviation was found to be 8.21. Depression scores of 25% of university students are seven or lower than seven, 50% of them have scores equal to or lower than 11, and 75% of them have scores of 17 or lower. According to these results, it can be stated that the majority of university students do not have high depression levels. The findings of the study revealed that the depression levels of university students who were dissatisfied with their appearance were higher than the depression levels of those who were satisfied with their appearance. Additionally, students who experienced academic failure were found to be more likely to experience depression than those who were academically successful. The findings of the research show that university students' depression levels vary according to gender, place of residence and It reveals that there is no significant difference according to the interaction of these two variables. Covariance analysis results show that university students' depression levels do not differ significantly according to gender, place of residence and the interaction of the two variables, even when satisfaction with appearance and academic success variables are controlled.
Results of the Research and Recommendations:The findings of the study revealed that the place of residence and gender of university students are not important factors in causing differences in depression levels. These factors did not lead to a significant difference even though university students' satisfaction with their appearance and academic success were controlled. On the other hand, university students' satisfaction with their appearance and academic success have significant effects on their depression levels. Since depression is one of the most important psychological problems faced by university students, effective psychological help services must be provided to university students. For this reason, different depression coping programs can be developed that increase the self-acceptance levels of university students and improve their communication skills and social relations. While designing and preparing these programs, satisfaction with the appearance and academic issues should also be taken into consideration. This study has some limitations, so this research can be repeated with other studies. Due to the limited number of participants in this study, interactions between university students' depression levels and gender, appearance satisfaction, and place of residence can be conducted with larger study groups. Qualitative studies can be conducted to examine university students' depression in more detail.
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