Depression is a serious and widespread mental illness that can occur among all ages and genders. This cross-sectional study investigates the previously disregarded state of mental health of German law students based on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. A sample consisting of N = 306 students was surveyed, showing an increased frequency of depressive symptoms. One-third of the participants reported having depression according to BDI-II scoring criteria. More specifically, in the whole sample there are 16.7% with mild, 11.1% with moderate, and 5.6% with severe depression. About 17.7% reported having suicidal thoughts in the last two weeks before the survey. Moreover, the study reports about the correlation between the BDI-II total score and certain risk factors, stress factors and resilience factors, which were assessed using self-report questionnaires and the NEO-FFI. The self-reported depressive symptoms were higher with every accumulation of risk or stress factors and lower with each accumulation of resilience factors. Finally, based on the test results, recommendations are offered to facilitate the burdened student’s life.

抑郁症是一种严重且普遍存在的精神疾病，可能在所有年龄和性别之间发生。这项横断面研究调查了根据贝克抑郁量表II得出的德国法系学生先前被忽视的心理健康状况。对由N = 306名学生组成的样本进行了调查，结果显示出抑郁症状的频率增加。根据BDI-II评分标准，三分之一的参与者报告患有抑郁症。更具体地说，在整个样本中，轻度抑郁症占16.7％，中度抑郁症占11.1％，重度抑郁症占5.6％。大约17.7％的人表示在调查前的最后两周有自杀念头。此外，研究报告了BDI-II总分与某些危险因素，压力因素和适应力因素之间的相关性，使用自我报告问卷和NEO-FFI进行评估。自我报告的抑郁症状随着风险或压力因素的累积而升高，而随着适应力因素的累积而降低。最后，根据测试结果，提供一些建议，以减轻负担沉重的学生的生活。