# Prevalence and risk factors of depression in college students in Northeast China during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

## TL;DR

This study found that 32.1% of college students in Northeast China showed signs of depression during the pandemic, with health-compromising behaviors increasing the risk.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into depression prevalence and risk factors among Chinese college students during the early stages of the pandemic.

## Key findings

- Health-compromising behaviors were positively correlated with depression (OR = 1.128).
- Satisfaction with friendships, freedom, school, and environment acted as protective factors against depression.
- The study highlights the need for schools to promote healthy lifestyles and emotional support for students.

## Abstract

The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic spread rapidly worldwide, posing a serious health challenge to the global public. College students, lacking sufficient psychological resilience and coping skills, are more prone to depressive. Social isolation and online learning have led to increased health risk behaviors and decreased life satisfaction among college students. However, few studies exist on the association between health risk behaviors and depression among Chinese college students during the stage. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of depression and its risk factors among college students during the pandemic.

A total of 2150 first and second-year college students (whose age from 16 to 20) were recruited for this study from April to June 2020. Data were collected through the Adolescent Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale, Health Risk Behavior Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale, and Self-rating Depression Scale. A self-administered questionnaire collected other demographic data.Binary logistic regression was conducted to analyze the risk factors of depression.

The prevalence of depressive state of college students was 32.1%. Students with health-compromising behavior (OR = 1.128, p < 0.001) were positively correlated with depression. Furthermore, satisfaction with friendships (OR = 0.941, p < 0.001), freedom (OR = 0.955, p = 0.004), school (OR = 0.966, p = 0.010), and the environment (OR = 0.933, p < 0.001) were protective factors for students’ depression.

To reduce this depression, schools should increase publicity and education to promote a regular diet among college students, channel adolescents’ destructive emotions to prevent them from self-injury and self-harm, enrich their after-school life to strengthen their interpersonal communication, and enhance friendship- building among them.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-025-03944-x.