The bi-directional influence of social functioning and mental health symptoms during psychological treatment: A cross-lagged analysis in young adults.

Phoebe Barnett, Joshua Ej Buckman, Henry Delamain, Jae Won Suh, Stephen Pilling, Rob Saunders

Abstract read

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Article in International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHP. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Phoebe BarnettCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Joshua Ej BuckmanCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Henry DelamainCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Jae Won SuhCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Stephen PillingCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Rob SaundersCORE Data Lab, Research Department of Clinical, Educational, & Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Young adults (17-25 years old) are at greater risk of experiencing depression or anxiety, and have worse psychological therapy outcomes compared to working-age and older adults. Social functioning and related constructs are valued as outcomes of treatment, and may be particularly important to young adults, who report loneliness and a lack of social support. The relationship between social functioning and mental health during treatment in this group therefore requires further exploration. Four random intercept cross-lagged panel models were fitted to model the session-by-session change in measures of social functioning and mental health symptoms over the course of treatment among patients of NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression services. A total of 19,600 young adults who had received at least three sessions of psychological therapy were included. There was evidence of a significant bi-directional relationship between social functioning and mental health symptoms between the third and sixth session of treatment, although associations between earlier sessions were less stable. As both mental health symptoms and social functioning were predictive of later symptom severity, further research into how support to improve social functioning could improve treatment outcomes could improve experiences of, and outcomes of treatment. Such support may also account for contextual factors relating to employment or education in this population, as some differences according to employment status emerged.

Indexed as

AnxietyDepressionPsychological therapiesSocial functioningYoung adults

Identifiers

PMID40688558

DOI10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100608

PMCPMC12272429

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LicenceCC BY

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