Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Young Adults: Findings from a User Diversity-based Analysis
Authors: Knieling Victoria , Thakur Nirmalya 
Published: August 2024

Young adulthood is a stage of development marked by several changes in social and interpersonal relationships [1]. It is also marked by relatively frequent occurrences of stress, anxiety, and depression [2,3]. Furthermore, during the phase of young adulthood, there is a heightened vulnerability for the development of several mental health-related problems [4]. Early-onset depression is considered a more severe manifestation of the disorder as late-onset depression is linked to fewer psychosocial scars and a lower prevalence of simultaneous mental illnesses [5]. Furthermore, the presence of significant depression or anxiety throughout early adulthood may increase the likelihood of developing drug misuse or dependency later in life [6]. Therefore, analysis of stress, anxiety, and depression in young adults has attracted the attention of researchers from different disciplines in the recent past. However, none of the prior works in this area have focused on the analysis of stress, anxiety, and depression in young adults by considering user diversity with a specific focus on age group and gender. The work presented in this paper aims to address this research gap by presenting the findings of a comprehensive analysis of a dataset [7] that presents the stress, anxiety, and depression levels experienced by 95 young adults, using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). First, for age groups, 18-20, 21-25, and 26-30, average stress and anxiety levels were higher in females as compared to males. Second, for all these age groups, the percentages of females who experienced a higher level of depression as compared to anxiety or stress were 15%, 16%, and 33.33%, respectively - indicating an increasing trend. However, such an increasing trend was not observed for males across different age groups. Third, for all these age groups, the percentages of females who experienced a higher level of stress as compared to anxiety or depression were 80%, 64%, and 66.67%, respectively. The pattern was observed to be different for males as for all these age groups, the percentages of males who experienced a higher level of stress as compared to anxiety or depression were 41.66%, 59.09%, and 28.57%, respectively. Fourth, Pearson’s correlation was used to analyze the nature of correlations between stress, anxiety, and depression for each of these diversity groups of young adults. For the age group of 18-20, the correlation between the DASS Stress Score and the DASS Depression Score was observed to be statistically significant for males but not for females. For the age group of 26-30, the correlation between the DASS Anxiety Score and the DASS Depression Score was observed to be statistically significant for females but not for males. In addition to this, for this age group, the correlation between the DASS Stress Score and the DASS Depression Score was also observed to be statistically significant for males but not for females. Finally, a comparative study with prior works in this field is also presented in this paper to uphold its novelty and relevance.References1.Konstam, V.: Emerging and young adulthood: Multiple perspectives, diverse narratives. Springer International Publishing, Cham (2015).2.Arnett, J.J.: New Horizons in research on emerging and young adulthood. In: Early Adulthood in a Family Context. pp. 231–244. Springer New York, New York, NY (2012).3.Qualter, P., Vanhalst, J., Harris, R., Van Roekel, E., Lodder, G., Bangee, M., Maes, M., Verhagen, M.: Loneliness across the life span. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 10, 250–264 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615568999.4.Kessler, R.C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K.R., Walters, E.E.: Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 62, 593 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.5.Rohde, P., Lewinsohn, P.M., Seeley, J.R.: Are adolescents changed by an episode of major depression? J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry. 33, 1289–1298 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199411000-00010.6.Chilcoat, H.D., Breslau, N.: Posttraumatic stress disorder and drug disorders: Testing causal pathways. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 55, 913 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.55.10.913.7.Senaratne, H., Kuhlmann, L., Ellis, K., Melvin, G., Oviatt, S.: Anxiety Phases Dataset, (2021). Available Online: https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/dataset/Anxiety_Phases_Dataset/15176082 (accessed on 26 September 2023).