Factors Predicting Mental Health Problems among Vocational Education Students in Eastern Thailand: A Cross-sectional Study

Vocational education is studying courses that allow students to learn specific, practical skills for the establishment. However, both the curriculum courses and the lifestyles of students may be affected by multiple factors that influence their mental health. Understanding various factors predicting the mental health status of these students is necessary to evelop programs for preventing mental health problems. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify biopsychosocial factors predicting depression, anxiety, and stress among vocational education students in the East of Thailand. Multistage cluster sampling was applied to recruit 1,474 voluntary participants. Data was collected using six questionnaires, including Sociodemographic Data, the Brief-Alcohol, Smok­ing, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, The Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, The Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-short form, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. Multivariable logistic regression was employed for data analyses. The findings revealed that students reported depression (11.6%), anxiety (20.8%), and stress (3.9%), all classified at a mild level. The strongest predicting factor of depression was the hopelessness personality profile. At the same time, anxiety was a predictor of victim and bullying behavior patterns, and stress was a predictor of substance use behaviors. In addition, the difficulty of emotional regulation was associated with all their mental health problems. The results suggested that personnel in educational institutions and community nurses should promote students’ abilities to regulate emotions and personality development and prevent bullying behaviors. Through the use of nursing process to screen for these significant factors and monitor at-risk students based on our findings should help to reduce the incidence rate and severity of mental health problems.