The purpose of this study to identify factors affecting depression of nursing students and to find out correlation between self–esteem, depression and academic stress. Methods: Descriptive survey study conducted among 150 nursing students at three colleges of nursing on June 2017. Data were collected by Rosenberg Self–esteem Scale, Self–rating Depression Scale, and academic stress scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t–tests, one–way ANOVA. Results: academic Stress was significantly correlations with self esteem and depression. Conclusion: study finding revealed that, it is necessary to development and investigate a program for managing academic stress, self–esteem and reduce the depression for nursing students.