Social support, self-esteem and depression among university students at Makerere University Kampala city authority.

Abstract

Depression is a serious problem among university students. This study aimed at examining the relationship between social support, self-esteem and depression among university students. The study employed a correlation research design. A sample of 100 undergraduate students both male and female was selected using simple random sampling technique. Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection and the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science. Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient (rs) was used to test the significance of the hypotheses. Results revealed that there is a significant relationship between social support and self-esteem among University students as well as social support and depression. However, the findings revealed that there was no significant relationship between self-esteem and depression among university students. The findings of this study can serve the function of informing the government, education institutions and NGO's to form programs that can help reduce the prevalent depressive symptoms among students and mainly those at universities who were the focus of this study.