Developmental trajectories of depression, anxiety, and stress among college students: a piecewise growth mixture model analysis

• DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02252-2
• Publication Date: 2023-10-26T08:02:29Z
• Authors: Xinqiao Liu; Yifan Zhang; Wenjuan Gao; Xiaojie Cao
• Keywords: Depression; DASS

Abstract Mental health issues are becoming increasingly common among college students, but not all students follow the same developmental trends of mental health. This study aims to identify trajectories depression, anxiety, and stress related factors for different trajectory classes. The data were collected from a longitudinal survey over four consecutive years, 2473 included in analysis. used piecewise growth mixture model determine subtrajectories, multinomial logistic regression was constructed investigate affecting subtrajectories. results revealed that subtrajectories include low stable class, increasing decreasing then high class. class only presents anxiety stress. Regarding factors, BMI sleep hours identified as depression; gender associated with anxiety; hometown location Extroversion personality, relationship classmates, siblings, father’s education level other Considering experience multiple stress, psychological intervention should be carried out each