RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EIGHTEEN ARAB COUNTRIES: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY

Abstract

To gain more understanding of the relationship between anxiety and depression, the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale (KUAS; Abdel-Khalek, 2000) and the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II; Ghareek, 2000) were administrated to 9168 participants (4230 males and 4938 females) in 18 Arab countries, their ages ranging from 18–25 years. Findings indicate that depression is positively significantly correlated with anxiety (mdn= 0.66 p< 0.01). This finding may be because anxiety and depression are often found correlated positively with depression even in nonclinical samples. Findings are discussed in terms of previous research.