A study of association between depression and self-esteem among dental students of Udaipur

Background: Depression is a strong mood involving sadness, discouragement, despair, or hopelessness that lasts for weeks, months, or even longer and tends to have negative and self-critical thoughts. The purpose of the present study was to explain the correlation between depression and self-esteem among dental students of Udaipur. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and fourteen students participated in the study. Self-esteem was estimated using Rosenberg method using 4-point Likert scale format ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Beck depression inventory is a 21-question multiple-choice self-report inventory and was used for measuring the severity of depression with a 4-point scale ranging on severity. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate means. T-test and Pearson's correlation were used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean scores of depression and self-esteem were found to be 9.11 ± 10.11and 20.11 ± 5.17, respectively, and a negative correlation was found between depression and self-esteem (r = −0.38). The mean score of self-esteem of male participants was higher, i.e., 22.24 ± 5.16 and the mean depression score was lesser, i.e., 10.12 ± 7.82 and the findings were statistically significant. Conclusion: The present research suggests that low self-esteem and depression have strong negative correlation. Improving self-esteem reduces risk of depression regardless of whether the individual is enduring stressful or nonstressful life experiences.