Understanding mental health disparities: a comparative study of depression and anxiety among health and non-health college track students

Psychological problems that are common among college students across the world include depression and anxiety. The purpose of the study is to match the incidence and predictors of depression and anxiety between health and non-health students in college tracks. The cross-sectional design was adopted, and a stratified random sampling was utilized to sample 316 undergraduate students at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University. The GAD-7 and PHQ-9 were used to measure the symptoms, and regression analysis was performed to discover the predictors based on the sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. The findings revealed that more than 70 percent of the respondents experienced anxiety symptoms and depression. However, no notable variation in scores according to the academic track, the study pressure, negative thinking, panic symptoms, lack of social support, poor coping, and environmental stress were found to be noteworthy predictors of the score in results of the regression models. This paper establishes the relevance of social support interventions and psychological support on the campuses of universities.