Running Head: CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 1

How Trauma, Social Media, Socioeconomic Status, and Stigma Correlate With Depression

Chris Martinak, Nicholas Stewart, Katarina Glavinic, Ire Ayoola

University of Michigan
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 2

Abstract

The question posed by this study was to understand if there was a correlation between an

individual's relative deprivation, social media usage, history of trauma or experience of stigma

surrounding mental health and their incidence of depression. This study was an association study

which utilized the survey building program Qualtrics to build and administer a self-report survey.

There was no statistically significant result yielded from the relative deprivation, social media or

trauma tests. The stigma test came back statistically significant with a negative association. This

gives evidence to support the claim that increased incidence of individual stigma is correlated

with decreased depressive symptoms.

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 3

How Trauma, Social Media, Socioeconomic Status, and Stigma Correlate With Depression

In this study, the connection between culture and depression was analyzed. As shown in

statistical studies, the use of antidepressants has increased greatly over the past two decades

(Pratt et al., 2017) indicating some increase in the incidence of depression in America and across

the world. The reason for this increase has made psychologists come up with a series of theories

running the creative gamut but after much research, the answer seems to show that rather than

just one probable cause, there is a menagerie of contributing factors. Some of which will be

investigated in this study. Obviously, the significance of research in this area is massive: Our

World In Data estimated that in 2017, 264 million people globally were afflicted with this

disease (Ritchie et al., 2020). With research into the causes, prevention and then the most

effective treatment of depression, millions of people across the world could potentially be

benefitted.

One of four aspects of culture that this group analyzed was the relationship between

stigma of mental illness treatment and incidence of depression. As people are treated for

depression, their depressive symptoms often decrease so many researchers work to try to identify

variables which lead people not to seek treatment. One such deterrent to treatment was studied in

Castaldelli-Maia et al. (2011) where the prevalence of stigma surrounding mental health in

modern culture was discussed and exemplified by a few commonly held beliefs about depression

such as its association with ‘emotional weakness.’ Additionally, they reported that often stigma

leads to under reporting of depression and that stigma serves as an effective location of

intervention in order to ensure better treatment adherence by patients. In another study (Beshai,

2019), researchers showed that a very short amount of education on the effectiveness of

cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) did not work in decreasing participants' stigma and distrust
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 4

of mental health treatment. However, it did show that long-term education and understanding of

science did increase its credibility amongst participants. This shows evidence for long-term

education of mental health decreasing stigma among people which in turn increases credibility of

treatment options. In Benuto et al. (2019), this empirical study analyzed if providing

psychoeducation about CBT for depression would increase their perceived acceptability and

credibility of this therapy. This study also studied if there was a change in perceptions about

CBT between Latinx and non Latinx people. Similar to the previous experiment, the results

showed a slight malleability in perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptance of this therapy

but that long-term exposure was really needed to drastically change the participants’ perception

of current mental health treatments as being an illegitimate solution to mental illness.

In a final article (Salerno et al., 2016), the researcher compiled several studies to analyze

if mental health awareness programs in schools were effective in improving the mental health of

its students. One possible effect of programs like this might be the decrease in stigma in these

young students or perhaps a form of attitude inoculation where they are introduced to the

effectiveness of these treatments before the stigma actually roots in their mind. The results

showed that all school programs did show improvement to some degree. However, the researcher

did say that there needed to be more longitudinal studies to further investigate if these findings

were significant or long lasting.

There were several limitations to most of these studies. First, every article admitted to

needing more evidence and research in the area to be more confident in their claims. Also,

though there were studies on how education affected stigma, there were not any studies found

which directly showed the exact relationship between stigma and depression. The following
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 5

study seeks to expand this field’s knowledge about how stigma can actually be related to higher

levels of depression.

The goal of this research team was to understand how stigma and education of mental

health affects incidence of depressive symptoms. Considering the increase in cases of depression

in recent years, this study hypothesizes that people can develop depressive symptoms for the

following reasons: if they have experienced trauma, if they are of a lower socioeconomic status

than their peers, if they are avid users of social media, and if they hold stigmas about mental

health treatment.

Method

Participants

For our survey, college students (aged 18-25) were asked to participate in an online

google forms survey. The participants are going to be asked personally by us to participate and

participation is voluntary. The team pulled from personal friends and family as a convenience

sample. Using the application G*Power, the goal sample size came out to be 115 or greater

participants. As part of the survey, the participants were asked a series of demographic

information such as age, gender, race and ethnicity. For age, participants input their age; for

gender, they chose from four provided options (male, female, gender-nonconforming, and perfer

not to answer). For race, participants were provided the same options that are offered on the

United States census questionnaire (White, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or

Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native) (Race & Ethnicity, 2017). For ethnicity,

they were asked to choose between options offered on the United States census questionnaire

(Europe, Middle East, North Africa, Africa, North America, South America, Central America,

Far East Asia, Southeast Asia, India, Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, Pacific Islands) (Race & Ethnicity,
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 6

2017). The studies final overall sample size was 124 with 53% being female and 46% being

male. The average age of participants was 21 with a standard deviation of 1.872. To see ethnicity

demographics, see Table 1. To see race demographics, see Table 2.

Measures

The Depression Stigma Scale (DSS) is an 18 item self report measure of both personal

and perceived stigma (Griffiths et al., 2004). Individuals rate their agreement with a series of

statements about personal stigma toward depression and how they believed other people would

respond to the statement, measuring perceived stigma. The DDS uses a 5-point likert scale from

scale 0 (they did not agree with the statement) to 4 (they agreed with the statement). To see the

full list of 18 statements, go to Appendix A. The subsequent scores are then added up and scored

as a total ranging from 0 to 36. There are not specific discrete ranges associated with traits except

that higher on the scale means a higher level of stigma. There was not a measure of validity

given for this test in the article or through further investigation on the database PsycTest. This

test has great reliability because the Cronbach values were all above 0.7 (Total = 0.78, Personal

= 0.76, Perceived = 0.82) (Griffiths et al., 2004).

The Personal Relative Deprivation Scale -- Modified Version (PRDS--M) is a five-item,

self-report measure of how deprived one feels when comparing oneself to others in terms of

prosperity, privilege, and outcomes (Callan et al., 2011b). See Appendix B to see the five items.

The PRDS--M uses a 6-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree)

(Callan et al., 2011b). The score from each item is added together which ranges from 5 to 30. As

one’s score increases, their perceived status in comparison with others decreases. The PRDS--M

is similar to the PRDS except that a fifth item was added and the other four items were reworded

to increase internal reliability to a coefficient alpha of .78 (Callan et al., 2011b). Although there
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 7

are no empirical verifications for the validity of either the PRDS or PRDS--M, the PRDS--M has

predicted behaviors that are associated with those who believe they are relatively deprived, such

as an urge to gamble (Callan et al., 2011a), which attests to its convergent validity. Moreover,

other studies have used the PRDS--M as a sufficient measure of perceived relative deprivation

(Mishra & Meadows, 2018; Beshai et al., 2017; Callan et al., 2015). This shows that the PRDS--

M has substantial face validity.

The Social Media Use Questionnaire (SMUQ) is a 9-item questionnaire, self-report

measure of the social network sites (SNS) dependence that asks participants to rate the time

spent on social media during the past month (Xanidis & Brignell, 2016). For the full measure see

Appendix C. This developed questionnaire indicates withdrawal and compulsion as two distinct

but correlated aspects of possible dependence on SNS (Xanidis & Brignell, 2016). The SMUQ is

based on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 (never) to 4 (always). Examples of the

statements include “I feel better after I have checked my social network account” and “I feel

anxious, when I am not able to check my social network account.” Possible scores could range

from 0 to 36. All items are averaged into one mid-index, where a higher score implies greater use

of social media. The SMUQ has great internal reliability with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of

0.83 for the withdrawal component and 0.82 for the compulsion component for a total of 324

participants. Additionally, SMUQ’s withdrawal component was positively associated with

Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire (r = 0.65) and SMUQ’s compulsion component was

positively associated with Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire (r = 0.72) which

demonstrates strong convergent validity.

The Brief Trama Questionnaire (BTQ) is a 10-item self-report questionnaire that was

created to gauge life threatening experiences with trauma, addressing criterion A of the PTSD
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 8

diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 (Schnurr et al., 1999). Individuals that take the BTQ answer

“no” or “yes” to whether they’ve had a specific experience, thought their life was threatened

during it, or were seriously injured because of it for each event in the test. Since the BTQ is used

to assess PTSD symptoms, an individual has had traumatic exposure if a respondent answers

“yes” to events 1-3 and 5-7 being life threatening or seriously injuring, life threatening for event

4, seriously injuring for event 8, or answers “yes” to experiencing event 9 and 10. The full

questionnaire can be found in Appendix D. The fact that PTSD symptom severity was

appropriately positively correlated to the BTQ’s assessment of the number of types of traumas

and presence of Criterion A experiences supports its criterion validity (Schnurr et al., 2002). In

addition, its internal reliability was good in almost all categories, with kappa coefficients for 25

PTSD screening interviews ranging from .74-1.00 for all events except one.

The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) is a 10-item rating scale measure of

depression and anxiety (Kessler et al., 2002). The test was developed using the main DSM

domains of depression and anxiety to compile a series of statements. For each of the 10

statements (full list in Appendix E), the participants were to choose one of the following choices:

“1. all of the time,” “2. most of the time,” “'3. some of the time,” “4. a little of the time,” and “5.

none of the time.” After completion, the number answers from each statement was added up to

get a sum total in the range of 10-50. If the participant scores under 20 then they are labeled

“Likely to be well.” If the participant scores 20-24, they are labeled “Likely to have a mild

mental disorder.” If the participant scores 25-29, the participant is labeled “Likely to have a

moderate mental disorder.” If the participant scores 30 or over, the participant is labeled “Likely

to have a severe mental disorder.” This test has excellent internal reliability with a Cronbach

alpha score of 0.93. Additionally, to test for criterion validity, this test was administered to a
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 9

sample who subsequently underwent a SCID screening. Researchers found that the K10 was very

effective in predicting to what extent the SCID would find depressive symptoms in a subject

(Kessler et al., 2002).

Procedure

The researchers reached out to participants by sharing a Qualtrics survey. The study

employed a convenience sampling procedure because a large sample size was needed and it was

the best way to maximize our pool of participants. The researchers started by sending the survey

to family and friends who fit the demographic criteria and promoted continued sharing of the

survey to their friends and so on. The Qualtrics survey included questions from our different

measurements as well as questions about the demographics of the individual. Before actually

taking the survey, the participants went through a consent process that informed and assured

them that the information they provide will remain completely anonymous. Additionally, the

consent form included important information about what they would be tested about and what

the risks associated with participating might be. Finally, resources were given to mental health

resources if they felt like they needed it after completing the survey. To see the entire

abbreviated consent form see Appendix F. The survey was divided into five different sections.

Each section was dedicated to measuring one of the aforementioned measurements. The order of

each section was randomized for every participant to mitigate any potential priming effect that

may influence the results.

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 10

Results

A correlation coefficient was calculated to determine if symptoms of MDD were

positively associated with trauma exposure. It was hypothesized that people with more exposure

to trauma events would be correlated with more MDD symptoms experienced, while people with

less exposure to trauma events would be correlated with less MDD symptoms. Results indicate a

non significant correlation - r(102) =.043, p = .669 - which suggests there isn’t a correlation

between trauma exposure and MDD symptom expression.

A correlation coefficient was calculated to determine if the symptoms of depression were

associated with the dependence on social media. It was hypothesized that individuals who show

more dependence on social media would be positively correlated with increased symptoms of

depression, while individuals who show little or no dependence on social media would be

correlated with low symptoms of depression. Results indicate that there is no correlation between

symptoms of depression and dependence on social media, r(103) = .128, p = .196.

A bivariate correlation coefficient was calculated to determine whether there was a

relationship between depressive symptoms and personal relative deprivation. It was hypothesized

that the more relative deprivation one feels, the more depressive symptoms they also feel.

Meanwhile, those with lower relative deprivation would feel less depressive symptoms. Results

indicated a weak positive correlation. Unfortunately, the results were not significant, r(101) =

.077, p = .437. Therefore, we can not conclude that there is a relationship between personal

relative deprivation and depressive symptoms.

A correlation coefficient was calculated to see if there was an association between the

amount of stigma a person had and their incidence of depression. This research team

hypothesized that an increase in stigma would lead to higher rates of depression due to an
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 11

unwillingness to receive treatment. In other words, a positive correlation between the amount of

stigma and incidence of depressive symptoms was expected. However, results indicated a

statistically significant negative correlation between these two variables. As rates of stigma go

up, the rates of depression tend to go down and visa versa. r(101) = -0.265, p = .007. To

summarize, individuals who report higher levels of personal and perceived stigma tend to have

lower incidences of depression.

Discussion

For relative deprivation, social media usage and trauma; all three tests came back as not

statistically significant indicating that there is not sufficient data to say that any of the three were

correlated with incidence of depression either negatively or positively. However, in the case of

stigma, the test came back as statistically significant with a negative correlation coefficient. This

means that there is enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis and propose that as incidence of

stigma increases, the incidence of depression decreases.

Though there was one statistically significant test, all four of our proposed hypotheses

were incorrect. In the case of the relative deprivation, social media usage and trauma tests; there

were not small enough significance levels to support the hypotheses. In the case of the stigma

test, the results came back statistically significant in the opposite direction as had been proposed.

The hypothesized correlation was positive but the results came back as negative.

These results were surprising and unexpected because all of the previous research

discussed in the introduction operated on the assumption that decreasing levels of perceived

stigma could only be good for the individuals.

This study is incredibly important to the world right now. In a time when reported

depression is at an all time high, getting to the bottom of these health crises means helping huge
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 12

amounts of struggling students. Additionally, another ramification of this study is a large ripple

into the adjacent categories of scientific study. For example, with more knowledge about

personal and perceived stigma in the area of mental health issues, there may be an unexpected

benefit to the study of other forms of stigma research that are at large today from racial stigma to

gendered stigma. On the flip side, knowing about how people live with depression and stigma

help guide psychologists help treat the disease by having a good place to intervene.

This study has many limitations and possible points of error throughout. First, the study

was not an experiment so establishing internal validity was impossible. Second, the test was a

convenience sampling so the external validity also is put into question. Additionally, this test was

administered during the novel coronavirus pandemic which could have easily affected the

responses from participants when they were asked about mental health. To add to the criticism of

survey responses, because the test was administered and completed by participants wherever

they wanted, there is a strong possible error when talking about maintaining a controlled testing

environment. Plus, at a baseline, the effectiveness for self-reporting things such as internal

stigma is definitely not the most accurate as response bias may lead to lackluster data. Also,

when looking at the data and sample sizes, one will notice that the sample sizes vary from test to

test as a result of participants skipping sections. Overall, the total sample size was 124 which was

above our needed sample size. However, when it came to the individual test, the sample sizes

were not big enough. In fact, for the one test that actually did come back as significant, the

sample size was only 103 (a far cry from the needed 115). Finally and most importantly, there

was a disconnect between the intended measurement of internalized stigma and the value

obtained from the run test. Because this test added up both personal stigma and perceived stigma,

a person could gain a higher stigma score by just believing and reporting higher levels of stigma
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 13

surrounding mental health in the world at large. Considering this new metric actually leads to an

interesting discussion about what this study actually found.

One possible reason for this negative relationship between summed personal and

perceived stigma with depression comes in the form of societal awareness. Perhaps as people

become more tuned in to the pressures that exist in the world, they actually experience some

catharsis and their depressive symptoms are alleviated. Alternatively, with awareness of stigma,

perhaps the participants were more likely to seek treatment. Running another test to find a

correlation between this summed stigma and the rate of seeking mental health resources would

be a valuable addition to this field of research.

Another great additional area of research would be to create a better survey that measured

only the levels of personal stigma that one had. In fact, the data in this study could be re-tested to

find a relationship between only the subcategory of questions in the stigma test to the incidence

of depression. Finally, the most important research done in this field will be to help find ways to

alleviate the depression symptoms for people around the world.

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 14

References

Benuto, L. T., Gonzalez, F., Reinosa-Segovia, F., & Duckworth, M. (2019). Mental health

literacy, stigma, and behavioral health service use: The case of latinx and non-latinx

whites. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 6(6), 1122–1130. Doi: 2019-

42485-001

Beshai, S., Mishra, S., Meadows, T. J. S., Parmar, P., & Huang, V. (2017). Minding the gap:

Subjective relative deprivation and depressive symptoms. Social Science & Medicine,

173, 18–25. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.11.021

Beshai, S., Watson, L. M., Meadows, T. J., & Soucy, J. N. (2019). Perceptions of Cognitive-

Behavioral Therapy and Antidepressant Medication for Depression After Brief

Psychoeducation: Examining Shifts in Attitudes. Behavior Therapy, 50(5), 851–863. doi:

10.1016/j.beth.2019.01.001

Callan, M. J., Shead, N. W., & Olson, J. M. (2011a). Personal relative deprivation, delay

discounting, and gambling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(5), 955–

973. doi: 10.1037/a0024778

Callan, M. J., Shead, N. W., & Olson, J. M. (2011b). Personal Relative Deprivation Scale--

Modified Version. PsycTESTS. doi: 10.1037/t07316-000

Callan, M. J., Kim, H., & Matthews, W. J. (2015). Age differences in social comparison

tendency and personal relative deprivation. Personality and Individual Differences, 87,

196–199. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.08.003
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 15

Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., Scomparini, L. B., Andrade, A. G. D., Bhugra, D., Corrêa De Toledo

Ferraz Alves, T., & Delia, G. (2011). Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward

Antidepressants. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 199(11), 866–871. doi:

10.1097/nmd.0b013e3182388950

Furukawa, T. A., Kessler, R. C., Slade, T., & Andrews, G. (2003). The performance of the K6

and K10 screening scales for psychological distress in the Australian National Survey of

Mental Health and Well-Being. Psychological Medicine, 33(2), 357–362. doi:

10.1017/s0033291702006700

Griffiths, K. M., Christensen, H., Jorm, A. F., Evans, K., & Groves, C. (2004). Effect of web-

based depression literacy and cognitive–behavioural therapy interventions on

stigmatising attitudes to depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185(4), 342–349. doi:

10.1192/bjp.185.4.342

Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D. K., Normand, S.-L. T., …

Zaslavsky, A. M. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and

trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32(6), 959–976.

doi: 10.1017/S0033291702006074

Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D. K., Normand, S.-L. T.,

Walters, E. E., & Zaslavsky, A.M. (2002). Kessler Psychological Distress Scale

[Database record]. PsycTESTS. doi:10.1037/t08324-000

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 16

Mishra, S., & Meadows, T. J. S. (2018). Does stress mediate the association between personal

relative deprivation and gambling? Stress and Health: Journal of the International

Society for the Investigation of Stress, 34(2), 331–337. doi: 10.1002/smi.2789

Pratt LA, Brody DJ, Gu Q. Antidepressant use among persons aged 12 and over: United States,

2011–2014. NCHS data brief, no 283. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health

Statistics. 2017.

Race & Ethnicity. (2017, January). Retrieved February 19, 2020, from

https://www.census.gov/mso/www/training/pdf/race-ethnicity-onepager.pdf

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2020). Mental Health. Retrieved January 30, 2020, from

https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health

Salerno, J. P. (2016). Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Mental Health Awareness

Programs Among Youth in the United States: A Systematic Review. Journal of School

Health, 86(12), 922–931. doi: 10.1111/josh.12461

Schnurr, P., Vielhauer, M., Weathers, F., & Findler, M. (1999). Brief Trauma Questionnaire.

PsycTESTS Dataset. doi: 10.1037/t07488-000

Schnurr, P., Spiro, A., Vielhauer, M. J., Findler, M. N., & Hamblen, J. L. (2002). Trauma in the

Lives of Older Men: Findings From the Normative Aging Study. Journal of Clinical

Geropsychology, 8(3), 175–187. doi: 10.1023/A:1015992110544

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 17

Xanidis, N., & Brignell, C. M. (2016). The association between the use of social network sites,

sleep quality and cognitive function during the day. Computers in Human Behavior, 55,

121–126. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.004

Xanidis, N., & Brignell, C. M. (2016). Social Media Use Questionnaire [Database record].

PsycTESTS. doi: 10.1037/t53578-000

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 18

Table 1

Sample Ethinic Demographics

______________________________________________________________________________

Ethnicity: N(%)

Europe 65 (57.52%)

Africa 2 (1.77%)

North America 37 (32.74%)

South America 3 (2.65%)

Central America 1 (0.88%)

Far East Asia 2 (1.77%)

Southeast Asia 1 (0.88%)

Multi-ethnic 2 (1.77%)

______________________________________________________________________________
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 19

Table 2

Sample Race Demographics

______________________________________________________________________________

Race: N(%)

White 96 (75.6%)

Black or African American 10 (7.9%)

Asian 3 (2.4%)

American Indian or Alaska Native 0 (0.0%)

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 (0.0%)

Other or Multi-Racial 4 (3.1%)

______________________________________________________________________________
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 20

Appendix A

Depression Stigma Scale Sample Statements

(Griffiths et al., 2004)

For each statement in column 1 (items 1-9), participants will answer on a 5-point Likert scale the

degree to which they agree with the statement personally. For each statement in column 2 (items

10-18), participants will answer on a 5-point Likert scale the degree to which they think most

people agree with the statement.

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 21

Appendix B

Personal Relative Deprivation Scale--Modified Version

1. I feel deprived when I think about what I have compared to what other people like me have.

2. I feel privileged compared to other people like me.

3. I feel resentful when I see how prosperous other people like me seem to be.

4. When I compare what I have with what others like me have, I realize that I am quite well off.

5. I feel dissatisfied with what I have compared to what other people like me have.

Note. Items 2 and 4 were reverse scored.

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 22

Appendix C

Social Media Use Questionnaire (SMUQ; Xanidis & Brignell, 2015) final items after
Principal Component Analysis
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
1. I struggle to stay in places
where I won’t be able to access 0 1 2 3 4
social network sites.
2. I feel angry, when I
am not able to access my 0 1 2 3 4
social network account.
3. My relatives and friends
complain that I spend too much 0 1 2 3 4
time using social network sites.
4. I lose track of time, when using
social network sites 0 1 2 3 4
5. I use social network sites, when
I am in the company of friends. 0 1 2 3 4
6. I feel anxious, when I am not
able to check my social network 0 1 2 3 4
account
7. I stay online longer 0 1 2 3 4
than initially intended.
8. I spend a large proportion of my 0 1 2 3 4
day using social network sites.
9. I feel guilty about the time that I 0 1 2 3 4
spend on social network sites
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 23

Appendix D

Brief Trauma Questionnaire (Schnurr et al., 1999)

The following questions ask about events that may be extraordinarily stressful or disturbing for
almost everyone. Please circle “Yes” or “No” to report what has happened to you. If you answer
“Yes” for an event, please answer any additional questions that are listed on the right side of the
page to report: (1) whether you thought your life was in danger or you might be seriously
injured; and (2) whether you were seriously injured. If you answer “No” for an event, go on to
the next event.

1. Have you ever served in a war zone, or have you ever served in a non combat job that exposed
you to war-related casualties (for example, as a medic or on graves registration duty?)
2. Have you ever been in a serious car accident, or a serious accident at work or somewhere else?
3. Have you ever been in a major natural or technological disaster, such as a fire, tornado,
hurricane, flood, earthquake, or chemical spill?
4. Have you ever had a life-threatening illness such as cancer, a heart attack, leukemia, AIDS,
multiple sclerosis, etc.?
5. Before age 18, were you ever physically punished or beaten by a parent, caretaker, or teacher
so that: you were very frightened; or you thought you would be injured; or you received bruises,
cuts, welts, lumps or other injuries?
6. Not including any punishments or beatings you already reported in Question 5, have you ever
been attacked, beaten, or mugged by anyone, including friends, family members or strangers?
7. Has anyone ever made or pressured you into having some type of unwanted sexual contact?
Note: By sexual contact we mean any contact between someone else and your private parts or
between you and some else’s private parts
8. Have you ever been in any other situation in which you were seriously injured, or have you
ever been in any other situation in which you feared you might be seriously injured or killed?
9. Has a close family member or friend died violently, for example, in a serious car crash,
mugging, or attack?
10. Have you ever witnessed a situation in which someone was seriously injured or killed, or
have you ever witnessed a situation in which you feared someone would be seriously injured or
killed?
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 24

Appendix E

Kessler Psychological Distress Questionnaire

CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION 25

Appendix F

Abbreviated Consent Form

INFORMATION SHEET
CORRELATES WITH DEPRESSION
Co-investigators: Nicholas Stewart, Student at University of Michigan; Chris Martinak, Student
at University of Michigan; Katarina Glavinic, Student at University of Michigan; Ire Ayoola,
Student at University of Michigan
Faculty Advisor: Sarah Jonovich, Ph.D., University of Michigan

You are invited to participate in a research study about the relationship between depressive
symptoms among college-aged individuals and particular aspects in their life. If you agree to be
part of the research study, you will be asked to complete a number of questionnaires in an
online survey for our class project. We anticipate it will take approximately 30 minutes to
complete.

There may be some risk of discomfort from your participation in this research as you will be
asked to complete questionnaires regarding mental health topics. Some of these questions may
trigger negative emotions or thoughts for some participants. You may seek counseling services
if desired at the following:

The mental health hotline (1-800-662-HELP)

We are completing this research project for a class assignment. We will not include any
information that would identify you, so all responses will remain anonymous. Your privacy will be
protected and your answers will remain confidential. All data will be collected on Qualtrics and
downloaded by the research team for educational purposes only. After the project is complete
(expected April 2020), the data will be permanently erased and will not be used in the future.

Participating in this study is completely voluntary. Even if you decide to participate now, you
may change your mind and stop at any time. You do not have to answer a question you do not
want to answer. If you have questions about this research, you may contact any group member
(Nicholas Stewart, stewanic@umich.edu; Chris Martinak, crmart@umich.edu; Katarina Glavinic,
glavinic@umich.edu; Ire Ayoola, ayoola@umich.edu); or our faculty advisor Sarah Jonovich,
Ph.D. at jonovich@umich.edu

By clicking on the “Next” button below, you are agreeing to be in the study. You may print a
copy of this document before clicking next for your records.

I agree to participate in the study. [Next Button Here]