Effectiveness of a brief social network intervention for depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents under major chronic stress

Abstract

BackgroundFriendship networks have been found to protect adolescents from depressive symptoms, yet whether adolescents’ depressive symptoms can be alleviated or reduced by altering the characteristics of their friendship networks remains unknown. ObjectivesThis study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a social network intervention among Chinese adolescents suffering from major chronic stress by evaluating the change of friendship networks and depressive symptoms. MethodsA brief social network intervention, consisting of 4 face-to-face sessions once a month lasting 90 min each, was designed to facilitate friendship network formation and to optimize peer network structures. The participants were allocated to an intervention group (n = 311) or a control group (n = 1062) and were assessed four times over six months. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the intervention effect on network features and depressive symptoms. ResultsLatent growth curve analyses revealed that the students in the intervention group created more ties and dissolved fewer ties during the intervention, and the steep decreases of network density and proportions of reciprocity ties were offset. The intervention group also experienced a slower increase of depressive symptoms and decrease of perceived social support during the intervention. ConclusionsOur findings suggested that a brief social network intervention could effectively act on depressive symptoms among adolescents suffering from chronic major stress. This study shows the potential of network-based interventions to prevent adolescents from experiencing a risk of depression in a stressful context.