Study aims to identify Utahns' ups, downs

Researchers at Utah Valley University are trying to determine why Utahns report being both the happiest and most depressed people in America.

Jack Jensen, director of mental-health services at UVU, and Cameron John, associate professor of psychology, said they've received a government grant to study what unique factors are at play in the Beehive State, as Utah has recently ranked at the top of the scale nationally on rates of both personal well-being and depression.

"How can they both be true?" Jensen asked dozens of students Wednesday, during an Ethics Awareness Week presentation on campus. He said the school experienced a spike of known suicides back in 2003, when eight students took their own lives, but hasn't seen anything like it since.

In a 2008 Gallup Poll, Utah ranked No. 1 in the "well-being" of its residents, yet the Rocky Mountain states all register more suicides per hundred thousand than any other region in the nation. Utah ranked seventh-highest in 2008.

Jensen said Utahns in the Gallup survey rated themselves high in healthy behaviors and happiness with their work environment, as well as emotional and physical health.

Yet a study in 2007 by Mental Health America, using federal data from 2002-2006, showed Utah was the most depressed state in the nation.

"Among adults in Utah, 10.14 percent experienced a depressive episode in the past year, and 14.58 percent experienced serious psychological distress. Among adolescents in Utah, 10.14 (percent) experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. Individuals in Utah reported having on average 3.27 poor mental-health days in the past 30 days," the report said.

After scrutinizing the survey results, Jensen said he and John believe Utahns "are not depressed for the same reasons that (people in) other states are depressed. We have a high rate of anti-depressant use, but also high rates of depression. If we're effectively treating depression with medication, our depression rate should be lower."

When researchers asked the audience for their ideas about why there is such a dichotomy in the Utah data, answers included a variety of topics that likely will be included in the study, such as:

Less use of alcohol and illegal drugs, which means less "self-medicating."

Cultural factors including higher rates of young marriage, more children per household, more postpartum depression, higher expectations for school and job performance.