Prevalence, Severity and Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms and Insomnia in College

Undergraduates

Alexis Bookard

Department of Psychology: Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

PSY 2206: Research Methods I

Dr. Karri Verno

November 1, 2021
Gress. S. J. L., Roubinov, D. S., Andreotti, C., Compas, B. E., & Luecken, L. J.(2015).

Prevalence Severity and Risk Factors for Depressive Symptoms and Insomnia in College

Undergraduates. Stress & Health: Journal of the International Society for Investigation

of Stress, 31(1), 66-30.

1. Give a brief overview of the purpose of the article. State a sentence or two about what

the authors mention in their literature review followed by the purpose of their article.

The formatting should look something like this:

In the literature review, Gress-Smith et al. (2015) state that the risk for insomnia

and depressive symptoms happen to increase among students that experience greater

levels of childhood adversity. Two studies are conducted to compare between depression

and insomnia, as well as childhood adversity and perceived stress.

2. Directly quote the hypothesis and then state the hypothesis in your own words.

Gress-Smith et al. (2015) hypothesized that “hypothesized that reports of

childhood adversity would be associated with higher current depressive symptoms and

insomnia severity in young adulthood.”(Gress-smith)

The authors hypothesized that it is expected that childhood adversity would be

linked to more severe contemporary depressed symptoms and insomnia in young

adulthood.

3. Give a brief overview of the methodology, including participants, materials, and

procedure. Make sure it is all in your own words to convey your understanding.

One thousand three hundred and thirty-eight undergraduate students participated

in the introductory psychology class. They completed the survey the survey during class
 and online. There was study one that had 1,338 participants and study two that had 447

participants that were undergraduate students.

They measure the depression of the first group and insomnia. by having them rate

it on a scale. They also measure insomnia on a 5-point scale to explain the severity. For

study two they measured childhood adversity and perceived stress. They were asked 14

items to see the experience of adversity. For perceived stress they did a 10-item perceived

stress scale.

4. Was the hypothesis supported?

The was not hypothesis was supported. “A chi‐square difference test was not

significant [∆x2 ( 1) = .63, p = .99], confirming that the relations are not moderated by

school. Therefore, the universities were combined for all analyses.”; Both alternative

models had higher AIC values as compared with the original model (∆AIC = 4.98 and

∆AIC = 85.55, respectively), suggesting depressive symptoms and insomnia are more

appropriately modelled as concurrent outcomes.

According to the results both insomnia and depression are concurrent. However,

the second alternative models, about stress and depression wasn’t fit for data.

5. What are the major conclusions and implications of this research? How does it make the

world a better place?

The major conclusion was that the data show that depressed symptoms and

insomnia are common among college students, and that childhood adversity is a risk

factor for depressive symptoms and insomnia. Adversity in childhood was also linked to
 higher levels of contemporary felt stress. The idea that heightened stress may represent a

pathway linking early adversity to symptoms of depression and insomnia was supported

by a route model. The current study's findings suggest that stress perceptions could be a

key target for interventions targeted at lowering depressive symptoms and sleeplessness

in young adults who experienced a traumatic upbringing.

This study could make the world a better place by focusing on what makes

college students have depressive symptoms as well as insomnia. Also, focus on what

causes children to have high stress levels. Knowing could help solve the problem of what

causes it.

6. What type of experimental design was used in this study? (True experiment,

nonexperimental/descriptive, weak/strong, developmental [cross sectional, longitudinal,

sequential)

Non- experimental