Institutional and socioeconomic factors associated with depression among undergraduates at a Nigerian university

Depression among university undergraduates remains a crucial public mental health concern, particularly within low and middle-income contexts where structural stressors intersect with academic demands. Guided by biopsychosocial and cognitive vulnerability-stress frameworks, this study examined the associations between institutional and socioeconomic factors and depressive symptoms among undergraduates in Ibadan, Nigeria. A cross-sectional correlational design was employed with 397 students from a public and a private university. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a modified Lecturer Competence Scale, and a subjective SES measure. Findings indicated a notable prevalence of depressive symptoms. Perceived lecturer competence was not significantly associated with depressive symptoms (F(1, 394) = 0.835, p > .05). In contrast, perceived SES showed a statistically significant association (F(2, 394) = 5.094, p < .01); students reporting lower SES exhibited higher depressive symptomatology. The association reflects a moderate, clinically meaningful effect. Although causal inferences are limited by the cross-sectional design, the findings highlight the importance of situating undergraduate depression within broader socioeconomic and institutional ecologies. This study contributes to global depression research by demonstrating that structural socioeconomic disadvantage outweighs perceived instructional competence in shaping depressive outcomes in non-Western university contexts, emphasizing the need for equity-sensitive approaches to student mental health.