title: Student anxiety and depression: comparison of questionnaire and interview assessments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent reports note a reliance on self-report measures and a lack of information about diagnosable mental disorder in university students. Professional concern about perceived increases in student mental health problems raises questions about whether questionnaire assessments can provide valid approximations of such disorders in this group. The aim of this study was to validate the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) against DSM-IV diagnoses in university students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-nine students were administered with the HADS followed by the Structured Interview for DSM-IV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At recommended cut-offs HADS anxiety and depression scales both showed good sensitivity in detecting DSM-IV anxiety and depression disorders, and the depression scale showed good specificity and overall efficiency. The HADS anxiety scale showed poor specificity and moderate overall efficiency. In the absence of an anxiety diagnosis, high HADS anxiety scores were not significantly associated with other measured indicators of serious mental health problems.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further research is needed to investigate whether the current findings hold for student populations with higher social diversity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HADS depression scale is likely to be a reasonably accurate indicator of depressive conditions in university students at the recommended cut-off but the HADS anxiety scale overestimates the extent of clinical anxiety. Students' self-reported higher symptom levels in comparison to general population norms cannot be assumed to indicate higher levels of more serious mental health conditions. However this is not to deny the genuine distress and severe problems that some students experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham Surrey TW20 OEX, United Kingdom. b.andrews@rhul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Bernice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.forename: Jennie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hejdenberg
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities