Impact of Academic Stress on Depression Among Nursing Students: Testing for the Moderating Effect of Social Support

Abstract

This study aimed to verify the moderating effect of social support in the relationship between academic stress and depression in nursing students. Therefore, 261 nursing students were recruited from October to November 2017. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 22.0 program with the Johnson-Neyman method in PROCESS. The effect of academic stress on depression was not statistically significant among nursing students with high social support. It was found that high social support can alleviate the effects of academic stress on depression in nursing students. To prevent depression among nursing students, it is necessary to continuously monitor the level of social support that nursing students were received.