Differences in central symptoms of anxiety and depression between college students with different academic performance: A network analysis

Yu Wang; Shuo Zhang; Xiaogang Liu; Hongye Shi; Xuyang Deng

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071936

Differences in central symptoms of anxiety and depression between college students with different academic performance: A network analysis

Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 28:14:1071936. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071936. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yu Wang¹, Shuo Zhang², Xiaogang Liu³, Hongye Shi⁴, Xuyang Deng^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Mental Health Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
² Centre of Mental Health Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China.
³ School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
⁴ School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms for Chinese college students are high. Academic pressure is one of the prominent risk factors of psychological well-beings for Chinese college students. The application of network analysis provides researchers a more comprehensive understanding of symptom-symptom interaction in mental disorders. This study aims to find out whether there is a difference in central symptoms between students with different academic performance.

Method: A total sample of 1,291 college students was included in our study. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured by PHQ-9 and GAD-7. Central symptoms were identified through centrality indices. Network stability was examined using the case-dropping method.

Results: For the poor academic group, the most central symptom is PHQ-2 (feeling depressed). The most central symptom of the good academic group is GAD-2 (uncontrolled worry). The least central symptom for both groups is PHQ-9 (suicidal thought). Network structure is statistically different between two groups, global strength is not statistically different between two groups.

Conclusion: The pertinent symptom is feeling depressed, followed by uncontrolled worry and poor appetite, and for the good academic group, the pertinent symptom is an uncontrolled worry, theoretical explanation and clinical implications is discussed.

Keywords: academic performance; anxiety; college students; depression; mental health; network analysis.