The Symptom Structure of Depression, Anxiety and Suicidal Ideation Among Chinese Shidu Parents — A Network Analysis

Background

In China, Shidu parents, who have experienced the pain of losing their only child, are more likely to suffer from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation compared to other bereaved groups. Currently, the relationships between symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Shidu parents remain unclear, necessitating further research to elucidate these connections. Our study aims to estimate the network of depression and anxiety symptoms and identify the bridge symptoms between depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation based on network analysis.

Methods

This study was conducted in five urban districts and one rural district in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, China. Data collection was conducted from March 2017 to February 2020. Network analysis was implemented by using the R packages qgraph and bootnet.

Results

‘Felt depressed’ and ‘felt sad’ were central symptoms of depression, while ‘feeling fainting and passing out’ and ‘afraid for no reason’ were central symptoms of anxiety. Two pairs of bridge symptoms and one overlapping symptom were found in the transdiagnostic network. In addition, one depressive symptom and one anxiety symptom were identified to be significantly associated with suicidal ideation.

Conclusions

The current study is the first to conduct a network analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Chinese Shidu parents. The association among disease symptoms were found, and the most central symptoms were identified. Results of the present study can provide some new intervention and treatment ideas for corresponding diseases, which lays a theoretical foundation for the future longitudinal research.