ArticleBMC public health2023
How loneliness linked to anxiety and depression: a network analysis based on Chinese university students.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Loneliness as an Interface Between Alzheimer's Disease and Suicidal Behaviour: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis and Meta-Analytic Factor Analysis.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2026Pooled it
- A socially assistive robot to support mental wellbeing in LGBTQ+ young people at risk of self-harm: a randomized controlled trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- A Survey to Assess Loneliness and Predictive Factors Among Students at a US Medical School.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Measuring loneliness at a national scale: The measuring loneliness in England (INTERACT) study's approach and initial findings.BMC global and public health · 2026Article
- Network analysis of mental health literacy and depressive/anxiety symptoms in patients under maintenance hemodialysis: a cross-sectional study of multicenter data.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Eating Together, Eating Alone: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Associations Between Social Eating Contexts, Mealtime Emotions, Technology Use, and Loneliness in UK University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Contextual stressors and multidimensional mental health among university students during the COVID-19 period: a construct-level network analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Social functioning, loneliness, and psychosis phenotype in the general population: a network analysis perspective.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Impacts of affiliated stigma on depression and anxiety in Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorders: roles of parental burnout and spouse support.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Low-Burden Digital Phenotyping of Affective Risk: Positive Emoji Usage, Speech Rate, and Sleep Relate to College Student Mental Health.Research square · 2026Article
- Loneliness, Anxiety Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in the All of Us Dataset.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Anhedonia and its sub-component processes predict clinically significant symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and loneliness in young people.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- The relationship between freshmen's perceived social support and learning flow: the chain mediating role of perceived stress and depression.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Both family and peer relationships matter in late adolescence: a network analysis of loneliness and social connection in a UK cohort.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Reciprocal effects between loneliness and sleep disturbances from adolescence to mid-adulthood: the HUNT study.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Depressive symptoms precede and drive problematic smartphone use in Chinese medical students: a longitudinal network analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Network analysis of loneliness and mental health among Chinese first-year medical college students: the role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Network Analysis of Depressive Symptoms and Meaning in Life and Their Association with Health-Related Quality of Life Among South Korean Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Loneliness and analgesic overuse among low-dose estrogen-progestin users in Japan.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- A network analysis study of anxiety, depression and loneliness among middle-aged and elderly people in Xining area.BMC psychology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThere is conclusive evidence of a multifaceted and bidirectional relationship between loneliness and depression and anxiety. Nonetheless, more extensive research is needed to examine their relationships at a more granular level. This study employed a network analysis approach to identify the pathological mechanisms underpinning those relationships and to identify important bridge nodes as potential targets for intervention.
methods941 University students were included in this study. The ULS-6 (the short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale) was used to assess loneliness, the PHQ-9 (Patient Health questionnaire-9) and GAD-7 (Generalized anxiety disorder 7-item) scales were used to assess the symptoms of depression and anxiety. We constructed two network structures of loneliness-anxiety and loneliness-depression and computed bridge expected influence for each symptom. In addition, we showed a flow network of "Suicide" containing symptoms of depression and loneliness.
resultsAll edges were positive in both networks constructed and the strongest edges were present within disorder communities. The overall connection between loneliness and depression was stronger compared to anxiety. The results demonstrated that the loneliness item "People are around me but not with me" was identified as bridge symptom in both networks. Furthermore, "Suicide" was directly connected to five symptoms of depression and four items of loneliness, with the strongest connections being between it and "Feeling of worthlessness" and "Psychomotor agitation/retardation".
conclusionsOur findings provide a more nuanced explanation of the link between loneliness and depression and anxiety. The results identified the bridge symptom "People are around me but not with me", which had the strongest effect on enhancing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Clinical improvements based on the findings of this study and the impact of the intervention are discussed.
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