Comparing the centrality symptoms of major depressive disorder samples across junior high school students, senior high school students, college students and elderly adults during city lockdown of COVID-19 pandemic-A network analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Recently, in the view of network analysis, depression has been conceptualized as a complex and dynamic network model combining individual symptoms. To date, no studies have systematically examined and compared depressive symptom networks across different populations. METHODS: A total of 36,105 participants were recruited and asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among junior high school students, senior high school students, college students, and elderly adults who were more susceptible to depression during the COVID-19 lockdown in China. In the analysis, we applied the optimal cutoff score ≥ 8 for students and a score ≥ 6 for elderly adults to identify 5830 participants who were likely to be depressed. The index of "strength" was used to identify central symptoms in the network structure. RESULTS: The results showed that Sad Mood was the most central symptom among junior high school students, senior high school students, and college students, but the most central symptom in the elderly was Guilt. Among the top three central symptoms, Suicide Ideation was unique to senior high school students, while Anhedonia was most prevalent among college students. Guilt - Suicide Ideation, Anhedonia - Energy, Anhedonia - Sad Mood, and Sleep - Energy showed the strongest association among junior and senior high school students, college students, and elderly adults, respectively. NCT (i.e., Network Comparison Test) suggested that the network's global connectivity was ultimately inconsistent, but the network structure remained roughly intact. CONCLUSION: In treatment, targeting central symptoms may be critical to alleviating depression.

Seeking bridge symptoms of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance among the elderly during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic-A network approach.

Background: Besides physical changes, elderly adults are prone to have mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance, and the pandemic of COVID-19 worsened the situation. However, internal relationships and co-occurrence of psychopathologies were scarcely examined. Therefore, in the current study, through network analysis, we inspected relationships among symptoms of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbance and identified key symptoms that espoused the disease. Methods: We asked 1,302 elderly adults to fill in Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (depressive symptoms), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-2 (anxiety symptoms), and the Youth Self-rating Insomnia Scale (sleep disturbance) and then constructed three networks for elderly adults, male elderly, and female elderly. Via network analysis, we accomplished four goals. First, we identified symptom with the highest centrality (i.e., strength) index for each network; then, we found the strongest correlation (i.e., edges) in each network; thirdly, we confirmed specific nodes that could bridge anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance; the last was to compare networks based on genders. Network stability and accuracy tests were performed. Results: Networks of elderly adults, male elderly, and female elderly were stable, accurate, and intelligible. Among all networks, "Nervousness"- "Excessive worry" (GAD-1- GAD-2) had the strongest correlation, and "Nervousness" (GAD-1) had the highest strength and bridge strength value. When we made a comparison between female elderly's and male elderly's networks, except for the significant difference in the mean value of "Difficulty initiating sleep" (YSIS-3), the findings showed that the two networks were similar. Network stability and accuracy proved to be reliable. Conclusions: In networks of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance, anxiety played a conspicuous role in comorbidity, which could be a target for practical intervention and prevention.

Does Goal Conflict Necessarily Undermine Wellbeing? A Moderated Mediating Effect of Mixed Emotion and Construal Level.

Development occurs through the process of setting and working toward goals, in which individuals are often working toward multiple goals that are likely to conflict with one another. Although motivation theories hold that goal conflict is a kind of potential stress that may damage individuals' mental health and wellbeing, the empirical research results on the relationship between goal conflict and wellbeing are quite different. There may be unknown factors affecting the relationship between the two. Against this background, we conducted the exploration of the relationship between goal conflict and life satisfaction, mainly by analyzing the moderated mediating effect of mixed emotions and construal level. The results showed that the goal conflict did not directly affect life satisfaction (ß = -0.01, p > 0.5) but indirectly influenced life satisfaction through mixed emotions (ß = -0.17, p < 0.001). The construal level moderated the relationship between mixed emotions and life satisfaction (ß = -0.08, p < 0.01), and the higher construal level will predict higher life satisfaction especially when mixed emotions were low (M - SD) or medium (M). Therefore, the hypothesis of moderated mediating effect is verified, and we can draw the following conclusions: (1) Goal conflict does not necessarily impair life satisfaction. (2) Goal conflict impairs life satisfaction conditional on the fact that it triggers mixed emotions. Since mixed emotions are often accompanied by feelings of ambivalence and discomfort, they reduce the individual's evaluation of life satisfaction. (3) In the path of goal conflict reducing life satisfaction through mixed emotions, the higher construal level mitigates the adverse effects of mixed emotions to some extent.

Self-Esteem and Academic Engagement Among Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model.

As an important predictor of academic achievement and an effective indicator of learning quality, academic engagement has attracted the attention of researchers. The present study explores the relationship among adolescent self-esteem and academic engagement, the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy, and the moderating effect of perceived social support. Four-hundred and eighty adolescents (M age = 14.92) from the Hebei Province of China were recruited to complete anonymous questionnaires. The results show that self-esteem positively predicted adolescent academic engagement through the indirect mediating role of academic self-efficacy, and the percentage of this mediation effect of the total effect was 73.91%. As a second-stage moderator, perceived social support moderated the mediating effect of academic self-efficacy. Specifically, when students felt more perceived social support, the impact of academic self-efficacy on their academic engagement was greater. Our findings suggest that adolescent self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and perceived social support are key factors that should be considered together to improve adolescent academic engagement. Therefore, parents and school educators should actively guide adolescents to improve their self-esteem and academic self-efficacy. Parents and educators should also construct an effective social support system to improve students' perceived social support and enhance their academic engagement.