Sexual Activity and Depression among College Students

According to the most recent American College Health Association's National Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA, 2005), 19.6% of college students report experiencing depression. In addition, there is evidence that depression in college students may be linked to other high-risk health behaviors such as drinking, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors. To date, there have been few studies that have investigated the link between high-risk sexual behaviors and depression. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sexual activity and depression among college students. A secondary analysis of a locally-administered ACHA-NCHA was completed in which sexual behavior and depression were specifically examined. The independent variables were sexual behavior (i.e., oral, vaginal, and anal sex) and number of sexual partners. The dependent variable was depression. Data were limited to include only undergraduate students ages 18-30. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test for trend, and Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated. The final sample consisted of 706 students (age = 21.11 ± 3.11 years, 46% male, 56% female, 87% white). Results indicated that there was not a significant association between depression and number of times that students had engaged in oral sex (χ²[5] = 1.93, p = 0.86), vaginal sex (χ²[2] = 5.35, p = 0.07), or anal intercourse (χ²[3] = 2.49, p = 0.48) during the past 30 days. Spearman correlation coefficients indicated that most of the depressive symptoms shared no association with the number of sexual partners during the past school year [i.e.,“felt helpless” (r = .04, p = 0.30), “felt overwhelmed” (r = .04, p = 0. 43), “felt exhausted” (r = .04, p = 0.34), “felt very sad” (r = .01, p = 0.96), “felt depressed” (r = .06, p = 0.12), and “attempted suicide” (r = .02, p = 0.66)]. However, a small positive correlation was observed between those who “felt suicidal in the last 12 months,” and the number of sexual partners during the last school year (r = .08, p = 0.04). This study represents one of the few that investigated the relationships between sexual activity and depression among college students. Additional research is needed to further elucidate this issue.
Keyword(s): college level issues, health education college/univ, research