Table 4 Sociodemographic, physical and behavioural correlates of depression from multinomial logistic regression in 2020 and 2021

Sociodemographic

Gender

Female

ref

ref

ref

ref

Male

0.523***

0.332***

0.493***

0.324***

(0.367–0.746)

(0.193–0.570)

(0.318–0.763)

(0.176–0.596)

Ethnicity

Chinese

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Malay

0.872

2.935**

2.794***

3.433***

(0.311–2.441)

(1.250–6.888)

(1.401–5.572)

(1.487–7.927)

Indian

1.417

1.643

1.337

0.799

(0.783–2.566)

(0.690–3.912)

(0.572–3.124)

(0.189–3.373)

Other

1.402

2.770***

2.557***

2.065

(0.744–2.644)

(1.334–5.751)

(1.282–5.099)

(0.850–5.016)

Study level

Undergraduate

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Postgraduate

0.300***

0.081***

0.487***

0.161***

(0.181–0.496)

(0.025–0.260)

(0.284–0.836)

(0.057–0.457)

Major

Social sci

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Medicine & science

0.801

0.842

0.909

1.14

(0.483–1.328)

(0.460–1.541)

(0.523–1.579)

(0.621–2.093)

Engineering

1.420*

0.657

1.054

0.56

(0.981–2.056)

(0.379–1.140)

(0.658–1.689)

(0.276–1.137)

Accommodation

Off campus

ref

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On campus

1.249

0.826

0.354***

1.242

(0.902–1.730)

(0.511–1.333)

(0.177–0.710)

(0.698–2.208)

Physical

Multimorbidity

None

ref

ref

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ref

One chronic disease

1.357

1.942***

1.338

2.378***

(0.930–1.982)

(1.181–3.195)

(0.861–2.078)

(1.361–4.154)

More than one chronic disease

2.556***

2.706***

1.356

2.732***

(1.661–3.933)

(1.473–4.973)

(0.754–2.440)

(1.398–5.340)

Health status

1 (worst)

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2

0.405***

0.402***

0.581**

0.276***

(0.280–0.585)

(0.245–0.659)

(0.383–0.881)

(0.153–0.498)

3

0.400***

0.092***

0.269***

0.163***

(0.231–0.690)

(0.022–0.380)

(0.114–0.632)

(0.050–0.533)

4 (best)

0.222***

0.233***

0.234***

0.218***

(0.129–0.383)

(0.113–0.481)

(0.121–0.454)

(0.096–0.494)

Family history of mental disorder

No

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Yes

1.704*

1.337

2.927***

2.680***

(0.957–3.033)

(0.596–3.000)

(1.651–5.188)

(1.374–5.228)

Behavioural

Alcohol consumption

Never

ref

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Once or less monthly

1.691***

1.588*

1.37

1.258

(1.199–2.385)

(0.969–2.602)

(0.899–2.086)

(0.726–2.182)

Twice or more monthly

1.354

1.782

1.43

1.591

(0.732–2.505)

(0.831–3.819)

(0.642–3.187)

(0.603–4.193)

Smoking

Non-smoker

ref

ref

ref

ref

Ever smoker

0.712

1.586

0.79

2.368

(0.218–2.324)

(0.461–5.461)

(0.237–2.634)

(0.733–7.653)

Current smoker

1.383

4.655***

0.732

1.41

(0.536–3.571)

(1.887–11.481)

(0.170–3.157)

(0.292–6.799)