Table 1.
Demographic and other characteristics of the undergraduates (n = 4671) and mental health experts (n = 37)
| Variables | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduates | ||
| Gender | ||
| Male | 1447 | 31.0 |
| Female | 3220 | 68.9 |
| Faculty | ||
| Medicine | 620 | 13.3 |
| Arts and Educationa | 1198 | 25.6 |
| Law | 616 | 13.2 |
| Management and finance | 1025 | 21.9 |
| Science | 687 | 14.7 |
| School of computing | 524 | 11.2 |
| Year of study | ||
| 1st year | 1946 | 41.7 |
| 2nd year | 1243 | 26.6 |
| 3rd year | 838 | 17.9 |
| 4th year | 530 | 11.3 |
| 5th year (Medicine) | 114 | 2.4 |
| Age group (Mean = 22.17; SD = 1.46) | ||
| 18–20 years | 515 | 11.0 |
| 21–23 years | 3355 | 71.8 |
| 24 and above | 793 | 17.0 |
| Ethnicity | ||
| Sinhala | 4281 | 91.7 |
| Tamil | 193 | 4.1 |
| Sri Lankan moor | 147 | 3.1 |
| Other | 46 | 1.0 |
| Religion | ||
| Buddhist | 4064 | 87.0 |
| Hindu | 161 | 3.4 |
| Islamic | 152 | 3.3 |
| Roman catholic | 215 | 4.6 |
| Other | 73 | 1.6 |
| Residence when going to University | ||
| Home | 1752 | 37.5 |
| Hostel | 1403 | 30.0 |
| Rented place | 1188 | 25.4 |
| Home of friend or relative | 272 | 5.8 |
| Other | 51 | 1.1 |
| Screening positive for major depression (n = 4304) | ||
| No | 3903 | 90.7 |
| Yes | 401 | 9.3 |
| Mental health experts | ||
| Gender | ||
| Male | 9 | 62.2 |
| Female | 23 | 24.3 |
| Age group | ||
| Below 30 years | 2 | 5.4 |
| 30–39 years | 10 | 27.0 |
| 40–49 years | 13 | 35.1 |
| 50–59 years | 4 | 10.8 |
| Above 60 years | 4 | 10.8 |
aThose in the Faculty of Education were 5.6 % of this group