Depression. Does it affect the comprehension of receptive skills?

Objective: To compare the comprehension of depressed and non-depressed male and female Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in receptive skills, and to investigate whether inefficiency in learning English could be due to depression.

Methods: We selected 126 boys and 96 girls aged between 15 and 18 by simple random sampling from 2 high schools in Kerman, Iran to examine whether there was any significant relationship between depression and comprehension of receptive skills in males and females. We undertook this descriptive, correlational study between January and May 2011 in Kerman, Iran. After administration of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), we found that 93 students were non-depressed, 65 had minimal depression, 48 mild depression, and 16 suffered from severe depression.

Results: The correlation between participants` scores on listening and reading test with depression level indicated a significant relationship between depression and comprehension of both listening, and reading. Males had higher scores in both reading and listening. In listening, there was no significant difference among the levels of depression and males and females. Regarding the reading skill, there was no significant difference among levels of depression; however, the reading comprehension of males and females differed significantly.

Conclusion: Learners who show a deficiency in receptive skills should be examined for the possibility of suffering from some degree of depression.