The Impact of Daily Hassles on Depression and Anxiety in College Students

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2025

Presentation Length

15 minutes

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

Student Level

Undergraduate

SPARK Category

Research

Faculty Advisor

Abigail Heller, Ph.D.

SPARK Session

Developmental Psychopathology 1 or 2 (Heller)

Presentation Type

Talk/Oral

Summary

Daily hassles are small events that interfere with daily life and can have a negative impact on mental health (Kanner et al.,1981; Pinquart, 2009). Anxiety is an emotional state characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure (Rabner et al., 2024), while depression is a mental illness associated with impaired functioning and reduced quality of life, with a range of physiological, social and mental symptoms (Greer et al., 2010). College students are at increased risk for excessive stress as well as the development of mental disorders, and daily hassles have been linked to stress, depressive symptoms, and anxious symptoms in this demographic (Lipson et al., 2019; Tajalli & Ganbaripanah, 2010). Because previous studies have found evidence that some personality traits are related to anxious and depressive states (Karsten et al., 2012; Shi et al., 2015), this study aimed to examine daily hassles as predictors of anxiety and depression after controlling for personality. Late adolescent (aged 18-22; M = 21.0; SD = 0.97) college students (N = 95) filled out a survey on Qualtrics that measured demographics, daily hassles, anxiety, depression, and personality. Results indicated that, after controlling for personality, higher daily hassles significantly predicted higher anxiety, b = 3.01, SE = 0.83, t(88) = 3.65, p < .001, 95% CI [1.37, 4.66], sr2 = .08, and depression, b = 0.17, SE = 0.05, t(88) = 3.30, p < .001, 95% CI [0.07, 0.28], sr2 = .07. Results suggest that daily hassles have an overall significant impact on mental health in late adolescent college students.

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