Selective care, anxiety, depressive symptomatology and academic performance in adolescents

Introduction. In this transversal descriptive research we studied the relation between three psychological variables (anxiety, depression and attention) in order to analyzing the possible association and predictive power of the same on the academic achievement (reflected in the school grades) in a medium grade students sample. Method. For this purpose we worked with a sample of 98 randomly selected students aged 12-16 years old, studying at two secondary schools in the city of Granada. Results. The results indicate a significant association between depression an anxiety in parts of the sample, as well as a significant inverse association between depression and academic performance. The analysis of gender differences showed significant differences between men and women in the overall average of academic grades (higher in women than in men) as well as in depression, with more depressive symptoms in boys. There were not significant differences in anxiety or attention deficit between men and women. Regression analysis indicates that moderate levels of anxiety are associated with better academic performance, without being observed an association between this variable and selective attention. Discussion and Conclusion: The attention to the levels of depressive symptomatology and emotional alteration in students of medium grade would be important. The premature detection of depression would enable to put in action an adequate attention and to reduce the association of these variables with the academic failure or to improve the academic achievement.