Reference no: EM131550487

APA format 2 pages with 3 refences 2 from walden university library Due Friday June 30,2017 at 2200

For this discussion, I decided to search for quantitative research studies on depression in the college freshman. After searching the Walden database, I found multiple articles but selected two.

First Article

The first article discusses the role of family support in college freshman, leading to their depression. For this study, the researchers used a descriptive research approach. A descriptive research is used to "observe, describe and document aspects of a situation as it naturally occurs and sometimes to serve as a starting point for hypothesis generation or theory development (Polit&Beck,2017, pg 206)." More specifically, I would classify this study as a descriptive correlation research.

This means that the study was designed based off diagnosis and assessment questions (Polit, et al. 2017, pg 206). During this study, the participants filled out two questionnaires for the researchers. The first questionnaire was about their demographics and the second was about their depressive symptoms and family support (Levens, Elrahal, Sagui, 2016, pg 4). After analyzing the data collected, the researchers discovered that under stress, those who had family support developed less depressive symptoms (Livens, et al. 2016).

I believe that the descriptive correlation research was the most appropriate research approach for this study. This allowed the researchers to compare the data and develop a result.

Second Article

The second article I found involved 308 college freshmen. The research was done to determine if adult attachment, social self-efficacy, self-disclosure and loneliness lead to depression. This study was also a descriptive correlation study. To obtain the results the researchers had the participants answer a survey.

The survey was based off The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale and had answers ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Wei, Russell, Zakalik, 2005, pg 4).

This survey was used to measure romantic relationships, fear of abandonment and rejection along with avoidance of intimacy, discomfort with closeness and self-reliance. This helped the researchers measure self-efficiency, self-disclosure and loneliness. The results of the study showed that social self-efficiency plays a factor in anxiety, loneliness and depression in college freshmen (Wei, et al. 2005).

I believe that the researchers of this article used the correct research method. By having the participants fill out a survey, they could measure how many college freshmen felt socially self-efficient and how many did not, which may have led to their anxiety, loneliness and depression.

References

Levens, S. M., Elrahal, F., & Sagui, S. J. (2016). The Role of Family Support and Perceived Stress Reactivity in Predicting Depression in College Freshman. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 35(4), 342-355.

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

Wei, M., Russell, D. W., & Zakalik, R. A. (2005). Adult Attachment, Social Self-Efficacy, Self-Disclosure, Loneliness, and Subsequent Depression for Freshman College Students: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4),