The authors administered a questionnaire concerning mental health and functioning to freshmen at a state university. They found a relationship between students' self-ratings for depressive symptoms and their academic performance in the semester following the test. The higher the number of depressive symptoms students admitted to, the lower their grade-point average; however, chronic feelings of inadequacy did not correlate with grade-point average. This suggests the importance of distinguishing a depressive syndrome from conditions such as chronic inadequacy.Abstract Teaser