Introduction

Depression refers to a state when a person is experiencing sadness, desolation, or not is

exceptionally cheerful (Kanter et al., 2008). Depression is categorized upon the severity or
seriousness of observed symptoms. Depressive disorder can be unspecified, mild, recurrent, or
severe (Paykel, 2008). As COVID-19 is outspreading, people have confined themselves to the
solitude of their homes. With quarantine period not being defined, such circumstances have
prompted up unemployment, monetary or financial losses, and majorly uprooted depression.

The psychological well-being of people has been sorely compromised because of quarantine
which has increased tremendous level of concern and worries within health departments (Bueno-
Notivol et al., 2020; Sharma et al., 2020). Generally, the younger generation is becoming
distressed or affected by quarantine (Bueno-Notivol et al., 2020). Family or financial help can
play a focal role in pulling the younger generation out of depression. The current study is
intended to study the occurrence of depression and its percentage among students in quarantine
and also to note whether financial or family support assists in lowering or diminishing depression
among students quarantine or not.

My biological hypothesis supports that quarantine is flaring up depression among students and
there is a significant contribution of family or financial support in alleviating depression. I
predict that financial or family support has a positive effect on mental health and it can relieve
students from taking extra stress which will in consequence lower depression rate. Also,
quarantine and covid-19 pandemic are a causal factor to depression and has escalated depression
rate among students.

Methods

The undergraduate students having ages within 18 to 23 would be brought under survey. The
depression percentage or severity of depression would be assessed non-clinically through
analyzing the filled questionnaires by students. Questionnaires developed will include questions
that resemble depression Inventory model II as introduced by Beck (Vause et al., 2007; Gebauer-
Bukurov et al., 2019). Questionnaires availability would be made online by involving social
media so that students can access and fill them easily and in time.

Moreover, the statements of questions would be kept simple to make it easy for students to
comprehend. The questionnaires will likewise include questions related to the time scale or
during what expected time frame students started experiencing depression, did they face them
before quarantine, during or after quarantine? Also, questions included would implore the cause
or reason that has made depression to upsurge in quarantined students. Additionally, questions
will be related to financial or family support and did students felt relieved or how much their
depression level drop-down when given that support. To limit the confounding variables that can
influence or damage the results, only the students who faced depression or not felt depressed
because of quarantine would be brought up for the study.

Additionally, t-test along with ANOVA will be utilized to evaluate whether changing
independent variables that include family or financial support, the dependent variable (i.e.
depression) increases or diminishes (Weissgerber et al., 2018; Nayak & Hazra, 2011).

The depression levels will be checked according to inventory model II scores as set or measured
by beck. The students meeting scores in between 0 to 9 will have exceptionally low or negligible
depression rate while students with scores in between 14–19 will have gentle or mild depression.
Students with values in between 20–28 and 29–63 would be tolerating moderate and extreme
depression respectively (Gebauer-Bukurov et al., 2019; AlFaris et al., 2019). The becks
inventory model outcomes correlation with depression incidence in undergraduates will be
tested. Also, family or financial support and inventory model II values correlation will be
assessed in students using above tests (AlFaris et al., 2019; Gebauer-Bukurov et al., 2019).

Variable that is being assessed and is dependent is depression. Family support and financial
support are variables whose effects on depression are being assessed and therefore are
independent. While, Age, race, gender, mental maturity, emotional intelligence, general mental
health, physical health, genetics, home and family environment would surely be confounding
variables. To restrict the confounding factors influencing the study, the questionnaires will be
specific and ask for details that are relevant to the current study. Likewise, the study will proceed
for a defined period.

Results

If my hypothesis is true, students who were quarantined during the pandemic will have higher
depression scores than others. Also, people having family and financial support will have lower
depression scores than others. Beck depression inventory scores are assessed to measure
depression levels.

The bar graph constructed below is demonstrating the connection between beck's inventory
model results and depression rates in students during quarantine time. The bar graph is indicating
the depression types faced by the students in quarantine. Some students faced no depression
during the quarantine. Students with borderline depression are more in number compared to
other students with other depression types.
 Beck’s depression inventory BDI II
40

35

30

25
Average Index

20

15

10

0
normal and no borderline clinical Moderate severe depression extreme
depression depression depression depression

Beck’s depression inventory BDI II

Discussion

If my hypothesis is supported by the study, then it is a matter of concern as quarantine is leading

towards depression among students. It can have damaging consequences on student's overall
health and well-being. There is a need to involve family support to diminish depression levels.
Students should be assured that they need not worry as their future is secure. Moreover, students
should be provided access to counselors (Bueno-Notivol et al., 2020). Also, the government
should take initiative and launch programs using social media to encourage and motivate
students in this hour of need. Moreover, the government can promote ads that encourage
exercising activities through promoting exercise-at-home videos on YouTube, or DIY or hobby
videos as well.

The studies conducted by researchers in the COVID-19 pandemic supports my hypothesis. It has
been observed that the depression rate among the general population has increased 7 or multiple
times during quarantine. According to the analysis conducted previously during the time of the
Ebola and SARS outspread, the depression rate was lower in comparison to the current COVID-
19 pandemic (Bueno-Notivol et al., 2020). As indicated through studies, the younger population
is negatively getting affected by the quarantine (Rajkumar, 2020; Xiong, 2020). Because of
quarantine, students are confronting depression and are unable to focus on academic work
because of which their results are negatively been affected (Kanter et al., 2008)

However, if my hypothesis and results don’t back each other, then it surely means that students
are enjoying their time in quarantine. They are feeling pleased to have been given some time off
whereby they could relax and engage in activities indoors that they were planning throughout
their study time. It means students were wanting some time off and quarantine time has proven a
leisure time for them. (Nayak & Hazra, 2011).

References

AlFaris, E., AlMughthim, M., Irfan, F., Al Maflehi, N., Ponnamperuma, G., AlFaris, H. E., ... &
van der Vleuten, C. (2019). The relationship between study skills and depressive symptoms
among medical residents. BMC medical education, 19(1), 435.

Bueno-Notivol, J., Gracia-García, P., Olaya, B., Lasheras, I., López-Antón, R., & Santabárbara,
J. (2020). Prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 outbreak: a meta-analysis of
community-based studies. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology.

Gebauer-Bukurov, K. E., Nikolasevic, Z. D., Hajder, D. S., Zivanovic, Z. D., & Ignjatovic, V. V.
B. (2019). Evaluation of symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents with epilepsy in a
tertiary-level medical center in Serbia. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 22(4), 419.

Kanter, J. W., Busch, A. M., Weeks, C. E., & Landes, S. J. (2008). The nature of clinical
depression: Symptoms, syndromes, and behavior analysis. The Behavior Analyst, 31(1), 1-21.

Nayak, B. K., & Hazra, A. (2011). How to choose the right statistical test?. Indian journal of
ophthalmology, 59(2), 85.

Paykel, E. S. (2008). Basic concepts of depression. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 10(3),

279.

Rajkumar R. P. (2020). COVID-19 and mental health: A review of the existing literature. Asian
journal of psychiatry, 52, 102066.

Sharma, K., Saji, J., Kumar, R., & Raju, A. (2020). Psychological and Anxiety/Depression Level
Assessment among Quarantine People during Covid19 Outbreak. Journal of Drug Delivery and
Therapeutics, 10(3), 198-201.
Vause, T., Yu, C. T., & Martin, G. L. (2007). The assessment of basic learning abilities test for
persons with intellectual disability: A valuable clinical tool. Journal of Applied Research in
Intellectual Disabilities, 20(5), 483-489.

Weissgerber, T. L., Garcia-Valencia, O., Garovic, V. D., Milic, N. M., & Winham, S. J. (2018).
Meta-Research: Why we need to report more than'Data were Analyzed by t-tests or ANOVA'.
Elife, 7, e36163.

Xiong, J., Lipsitz, O., Nasri, F., Lui, L. M., Gill, H., Phan, L., ... & McIntyre, R. S. (2020).
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review.
Journal of affective disorders, 277, 55-64