More than the aggregation of its components: Unveiling the associations between anxiety, depression, and suicidal behavior in adolescents from a network perspective

Abstract

BackgroundFacing multiple changes, adolescents are prone to have anxiety and depression concurrently, which would accompany a particularly high risk for suicide. However, most previous studies have ignored the heterogeneity of the components and used latent variable methods to explore the associations between these core variables, resulting in a lack of component-level discussions. MethodUsing a large sample of 9300 adolescents (Meanage = 13.51; SDage = 1.33; 49.82 % females), two network pathways of anxiety and depression and the associations between these variables and suicidal behavior were constructed. The central components and the stability of both networks were also identified. ResultsConsidering the network of anxiety and depression, there were two strong bridging symptoms of sleep problems and palpitation or tachycardia. The symptoms of depression showed a more vital centrality than anxiety, and the central symptoms were tachycardia, worthlessness, fatigue, and feeling of choking. For the network of suicidal behavior and symptoms of anxiety and depression, besides sleep problems, the edge linking lifetime suicide ideation and attempt and the frequency of suicide ideation in the past year was also a strong edge. Worthlessness connected symptoms of anxiety and depression with suicidal behavior. The central components were tachycardia, worthlessness, the frequency of suicidal ideation over the past year, and fatigue. Additionally, both networks had higher stability in terms of edge and centrality. ConclusionBased on the identified relevant strong bridging and central components, effective therapies would target these components first, which would lead to the alleviating effects on other components.