Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 17;24(1):619. doi: 10.1186/s12888-024-05982-y.
Anxiety and depression often co-occur, exhibiting high comorbidity, with their trends evolving over time. However, the specific pathways through which comorbid symptoms of anxiety and depression evolve and interact remain unclear. To investigate these questions, this study employed Network Analysis (NA) and Longitudinal Network Analysis (LNA) to explore the central symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as the temporal evolution of these central symptoms.
The study focused on 606 high school students who were not in their final year in Shandong of China, with assessments conducted from March to September 2022. The bootnet package in R was used for establishing NA and LNA models, as well as for conducting accuracy analysis and node stability analysis.
The results of the NA indicated that adolescent highly susceptible to anxiety and depression. And uncontrollable worry was a common central symptom, while irritability emerged as a central bridging symptom across all three NAs. The LNA results revealed that suicidal ideation and worthlessness were key central symptoms in the LNA. Furthermore, worthlessness played a pivotal role in the developmental pathway of "suicidal ideation → worthlessness → anxiety and uncontrollable worry." A reduction in suicidal ideation was associated with decreased severity in other symptoms.
The findings suggest that adolescent anxiety and depression are in a state of vulnerability, and that irritability, worthlessness, and suicidal ideation are potential targets for interventions to address adolescent anxiety and depression.
焦虑和抑郁经常同时发生，表现出高度共病性，其趋势随时间演变。然而，共病性焦虑和抑郁症状演变和相互作用的具体途径仍不清楚。为了研究这些问题，本研究采用网络分析（NA）和纵向网络分析（LNA）来探讨焦虑和抑郁的核心症状，以及这些核心症状的时间演变。
本研究关注的是中国山东的 606 名非高三高中生，评估时间为 2022 年 3 月至 9 月。R 中的 bootnet 包用于建立 NA 和 LNA 模型，以及进行准确性分析和节点稳定性分析。
NA 的结果表明，青少年极易患焦虑和抑郁。无法控制的担忧是常见的核心症状，而易怒则是所有三个 NAs 中的一个核心桥梁症状。LNA 的结果表明，自杀意念和无价值感是 LNA 的关键核心症状。此外，无价值感在“自杀意念→无价值感→焦虑和无法控制的担忧”的发展途径中起着关键作用。自杀意念的减少与其他症状的严重程度降低有关。
研究结果表明，青少年的焦虑和抑郁处于脆弱状态，易怒、无价值感和自杀意念是干预青少年焦虑和抑郁的潜在目标。
