Influencing factors, prediction and prevention of depression in college students: A literature review

Table 1 Factors related to depression in college students

Category	Specific variable	Factor positively correlated with high levels of depression
Biological factors	Sex	Inconclusive
	Nationality	Ethnic minorities[18], international student[14,19]
	Family	Low family socioeconomic status[14,18,26,27]
		Non-only child[19], too many siblings[6]
		Parents divorced or having mental problems[29,30], family dysfunction[11]
		Adverse childhood experiences such as injury, physical violence, psychological abuse and lack of family care[30,31]
		Insufficient social support especially family support[11,14,36,39]
Personality and psychological state		Neuroticism[20]
		Presence of psychological illness[21,22]
		High level of psychological stress (including value, aspiration, deprivation, or coping)[23]
		Low self-efficacy[14,24]
		Solitude[25]
College experience	Year of study	Inconclusive
	Academic performance	Poor academic performance[21,30]
	Financial support	Lack of financial resources and support[21]
	Living arrangement	Do not have own room[6,26]
	College satisfaction	Low satisfaction with teachers and low satisfaction with college major[26], low satisfaction with university facilities[22]
Lifestyle	Physical exercise	Lack of physical exercise[11,14,20]
	Substance abuse	Smoking and drinking[6,12,21] (especially alcohol intake[32,33])
	Sleep	Daytime drowsiness[20,34], poor sleep quality[21], sleep too short[35] or too long[10]
	Diet	Unhealthy food intake[30], gluttony[14], skipping breakfast[10], malnutrition[36]
	Network usage	Social networking sites, online game addiction[37,38]