Test Anxiety and Academic Stress as Predictors of Depression among Undergraduate Students of University of Ilorin

Depression is one of the leading causes of mental health-related challenges globally wish affect well over 300 million people worldwide (Patel et al., 2016). Incidentally, depression has been reported to be highly prevalent among students and despite current intervention measures, depression continues to persist at substantially high levels in this population. However, several factors have been associated with depression prevalence rates among students, but very little has been done about the relationship between test anxiety academic stress and depression among university undergraduates. It is to this end that this study aimed to study test anxiety and academic stress as predictors of depression among undergraduates of University of Ilorin, Kwara State. The study adopted cross sectional survey method. Using purposive sampling technique; 390 undergraduates were selected across the eight faculties in University of Ilorin. The sample comprised of 176 males and 214 females aged between 17-44years (Mean =21.58; SD =2.99). The participants responded to measures on test anxiety, academic stress factors. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested with Multiple Regression and ANOVA. The findings showed that test anxiety and academic stress had significant joint prediction on depression among university undergraduates [F (2,388) = 95.61, p< .01]. Also, there was a significant positive prediction of test anxiety on depression among university undergraduates (β= .50, p< .01). Similarly, academic stress had a significant prediction on depression (β= .16, p< .01). In conclusion, test anxiety and academic stress were found to independently and jointly predict the level of depression among undergraduates. The study therefore recommends that tertiary institutions especially University of Ilorin should consider implementing stress management programmes that provide students with effective coping mechanism and techniques in managing academic stress and test anxiety.