Association of chronic stress during studies with depressive symptoms 10 years later.
Tobias Weinmann, Razan Wibowo, Felix Forster, Jessica Gerlich, Laura Wengenroth, Gudrun Weinmayr, Jon Genuneit, Dennis Nowak, Christian Vogelberg, Katja Radon, Britta Herbig
Author Information
Tobias Weinmann: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. tobias.weinmann@med.lmu.de. ORCID
Razan Wibowo: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. ORCID
Felix Forster: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. ORCID
Jessica Gerlich: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany.
Laura Wengenroth: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. ORCID
Gudrun Weinmayr: Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Jon Genuneit: Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Dennis Nowak: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. ORCID
Christian Vogelberg: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. ORCID
Katja Radon: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany.
Britta Herbig: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich, Ziemssenstr. 5, 80336, Munich, Germany. ORCID
The long-tern implications of stress during university for individuals' mental health are not well understood so far. Hence, we aimed to examine the potential effect of stress while studying at university on depression in later life. We analysed data from two waves of the longitudinal Study on Occupational Allergy Risks. Using the 'work overload' and 'proving oneself' scales of the Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), participants reported chronic stress during university (2007-2009, mean age 22.2 years, T1) and depressive symptoms ten years later (2017-2018, mean age 31.6 years, T2). We performed linear regression analyses to explore the association between stress during university (T1) and later depressive symptoms (T2). Participants (N = 548, 59% female) indicated rather low levels of stress and depression (PHQ-2 mean score: 1.14 (range: 0-6)). We observed evidence for a linear association between overload at T1 and depression at T2 (regression coefficient (B) = 0.270; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.131 to 0.409; standardised regression coefficient (β) = 0.170). Our analyses yielded evidence for an association between chronic stress while studying and risk of depressive symptoms later in life. This finding underlines the importance of implementing sustainable preventive measures against stress among students.
