DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN ROMANIAN MEDICAL STUDENTS: PREVALENCE AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH PERSONALITY

Medical students have long been considered a population at high risk for depression and anxiety. Personality traits are important contributing factors, either increasing or decreasing the vulnerability to such emotional difficulties. We aimed to assess the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in Romanian medical students and we tested whether personality factors increased the risk for mental health problems among them. A sample of 315 Romanian medical students completed a series of questionnaires regarding their personality and their level of depression and anxiety. Approximately 8% of the students were identified with a severe level of depression and 9% with a severe level of anxiety. Depression and anxiety were strongly correlated. Conscientiousness negatively correlated with both depression and anxiety and neuroticism positively correlated with the two clinical symptoms. These findings highlight the need for prevention and treatment programs in medical schools, in order to effectively identify and treat at-risk medical students.