Suheir Awadalla|E Bethan Davies|Cris Glazebrook
A longitudinal cohort study to explore the relationship between depression, anxiety and academic performance among Emirati university students
University of Nottingham|University of Nottingham|University of Nottingham
abstract background many university students experience depression anxiety shown affect cognitive function however impact emotional difficulties academic performance unclear study aims determine prevalence depression anxiety university students united arab emirates uae seeks explore relationship emotional difficulties students academic performance methods longitudinal study recruited 404 students aged 1725 years attending one uae university 804 response rate baseline participants completed paperbased survey assess socioeconomic factors academic performance including recent grade point average gpa attendance warnings phq9 gad7 scales used assess depressive anxiety symptoms sixmonth followup 134 participants 333 provided details current gpa results third students 342 cis 297389 screened possible major depressive disorder mdd phq9 10 less quarter 223 cis 182263 screened possible generalized anxiety disorder gad gad7 10 possible mdd group lower gpas p 0003 baseline less satisfied studies p 0015 mdd group also lower gpas followup p 0035 possible gad group lower gpas baseline p 0003 differ followup relationship gad group gpa moderated gender female students possible gad group lower gpas p lt 0001 females nongad group male students possible gad group nonsignificantly higher gpa scores higher levels depression anxiety symptoms scores associated lower gpas baseline phq9 scores gad7 scores independently predicted lower gpa scores followup p 0006 relationship longer statistically significant controlling baseline gpa p lt 009 conclusion study confirms previous findings around third university students likely experiencing depressive disorder one time furthermore provides important evidence regarding negative impacts emotional difficulties students academic performance results support need consider mental health students struggling academically highlight importance signposting students appropriate support including evidencebased therapies