Cognitive distortions and some variables of the meaning of life as predictors of symptoms of depression among students of the Faculty of Public Health - University of Benghazi

Abstract

The study aimed to know the nature of the interrelationships between symptoms of depression, cognitive distortions, existential anxiety, existential richness, and existential satisfaction in a sample of students from the Faculty of Public Health at the University of Benghazi. The sample consisted of "110" students from the College of Public Health / University of Benghazi. The research concluded with the most important results: the presence of two strong and positive correlations between symptoms of depression, cognitive distortions, and existential anxiety, and the presence of two negative and strong correlations between symptoms of depression and existential richness and existential satisfaction. The results also showed that the correlation coefficient The multiple (R) of prediction variables: cognitive distortions, existential anxiety, existential richness, existential satisfaction combined, had a value of "0.678" with a high level of statistical significance (0.001), and the variables of cognitive distortions and existential anxiety are the best variables (when compared to existential richness and existential satisfaction) and most contribute to predicting depression by "44%". It was also shown, through the semi-partial correlation coefficient and the structural correlation coefficient, that cognitive distortions come first in terms of their impact on depression symptoms, with a correlation coefficient value of "0.929", followed by the contribution of existential anxiety, with a correlation coefficient value of "0.780".