<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p>
<p>University students are a risk group for several mental health problems for their psychological, social and academic demands.&nbsp; The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of symptoms associated to depression, anxiety and stress among university students from northern Chile and their association with specifics socio-demographic characteristics.&nbsp; The study was carried out with 616 participants selected through stratified probabilistic sampling. The depression, anxiety and stress symptoms were assessed with the DASS-21 scale.&nbsp; The reliability of the scale was evaluated with Cronbach's α and for data analysis we performed summary measures, frequencies, ANOVA and Scheffé's test in SPSS 26 ®. Additionally, Cohen's D was calculated for effect size.&nbsp; The results show prevalence of depression was 42.3%, anxiety was 53.5%, and stress was 49.6%.&nbsp; Depression was statistically higher in female than male and students with low socioeconomic income and with another sexual orientation different to homosexual or heterosexual. Anxiety was higher in female and students with low socioeconomic incomes and in the case of stress it most frequents in women. We found a high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress, which highlights the need to develop educational strategies, identify high-risk students and initiate mental health interventions opportunely.</p>
<p><em>Key words: Mental health problems, prevalence, university students, risk factors, Chile.</em></p>