Relationship of mild depression to psychological deficit in college students.

Twenty-five mildly depressed and 25 nondepressed college students, identified on the basis of their scores on two self-report depression measures, were distinguished by a discriminant analysis of their scores on six measures of psychological deficit. The significant function correctly identified 88% of the nondepressed group of 92% of the mildly depressed group with four variables: Paired easy associates, a digit symbol test, a writing speed task, and Neckar Cube reversals. A measure of short term memory and paired hard associates did not load on the discriminant function. Results were interpreted as suggestive evidence that mild depression is associated with a deficit in energy during both initial preceptual processing, and organization and execution of psychomotor tasks.