Clinical Depression

Factors Affecting Clinical Depression and its Effect on Academic Performance among Undergraduates: A Literature Review

Abstract

Madhura Perera*, Jacquline Tham and Ferdous Azam

This paper explores into the empirical literature related to the factors affecting clinical depression and on the impact of clinical depression on academic performance among undergraduates. Hereby a series of past empirical studies in the fields of depression and academic performance have been examined and their findings have been summarized. There is a dearth of empirical literature pertaining to these fields currently and more studies are required to strengthen the existing body of knowledge. This paper mainly aims to summarize the widely spread empirical literature on these two domains into a single summary to facilitate future researchers undertaking research in exploring factors affecting clinical depression and its effects on academic achievement among undergraduates. The prevailing literature summarized here highlights that physical exercises, excessive internet use, recent life changing crisis, domestic violence, substance abuse, family and personal history of depression, study year, academic demands, living conditions, parental expectations, financial difficulties and unemployment can lead towards clinical depression and it can adversely affect towards the academic performance among undergraduates.