the impact of personality on depression among university students in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
Depression in Taiwanese university students is a significant problem in terms of life and financial costs. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of four selected personality traits, namely interpersonal problems, ideas of being persecuted, social students in introversion, and self depreciation, on the inclination to be depressed among students in Taiwanese university.


METHODS
A self-report survey was administered to students at a Taiwanese university and consisted of three parts: demographics, the Chinese version of the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI), and the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire. The level of depression among students was assessed, and the relationships among the various variables were explored using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression.


RESULTS
Altogether, 255 students successfully completed the survey. Overall, 37.62% of students were suffering from depression, including 4.7% who indicated that they were severely depressed, 18.30% who were moderately depressed, and 14% who were mildly depressed. In a multiple-regression model, ideas of being persecuted and self depreciation were both significant when predicting an inclination to be depressed.


CONCLUSIONS
Depression is a problem for many university students in Taiwan. Understanding which personality traits are related to depression in Taiwanese students is important for student affair administrators and medical professionals and will help them to prevent and treat this debilitating illness.
Center of General Education; Graduate Institute of Business and Management, College of Management, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Shu-Man
SM
Chang
Daniel W
DW
Law
Her-Kun
HK
Chang
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities