Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42037499›Full record

ArticlePsychological medicine2026

Occupational stress, burnout, and depression: an exploration from a network analysis perspective.

Yiyuan Qiao, Haitao Xu, Yuling Li, Lei Shi, Shiqian Zhen, Shuchang He, XiangYang Zhang

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Psychological medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yiyuan QiaoSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health; Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), https://ror.org/02v51f717Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing100871, China.
Haitao XuSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health; Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), https://ror.org/02v51f717Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing100871, China.
Yuling LiKey Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education; Institute for Brain Research and Rehabilitation, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, https://ror.org/01kq0pv72South China Normal University, Guangzhou510631, China.ORCID 0000-0001-6893-1985
Lei ShiDepartment of Medical Research, The Ninth Medical Center, https://ror.org/04gw3ra78Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing100101, China.
Shiqian ZhenInstitute of Circulation and Consumption, https://ror.org/058dmkn21Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, 28 Donghou Lane, Andingmenwai, Dongcheng District, Beijing100710, China.
Shuchang HeSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health; Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), https://ror.org/02v51f717Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing100871, China.
XiangYang ZhangDepartment of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, https://ror.org/03cve4549Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing100084, China.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China 82171862National Natural Science Foundation of China 82371884
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOccupational stress triggers psychological/physical health issues, elevating the risk of burnout and depression. This study explored the interrelationships among these constructs via network analysis (undirected/directed graphs).

methodsA total of 1363 participants from Beijing hospitals and a university completed House and Rizzo's Work Stress Scale, Zung's Self-Report Depression Scale, and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey. Graphical Gaussian Model and directed acyclic graphs (DAG) identified core/bridge/upstream nodes and causal pathways.

resultsEmotional exhaustion (EE) was the core node (expected influence = 2.11). The strongest edge was D11-D12 (weight = 0.46). EE, occupational stress 11, cynicism (CY), and personal accomplishment (PA) served as key bridging nodes. The network showed high stability (0.75). DAG identified upstream occupational stress 1/7/8, confirming direct occupational stress to depression pathways (emotional dysregulation model) and CY/PA mediated pathways (burnout structural theory).

conclusionsTargeted interventions on core/bridge/upstream nodes may prevent depression onset and progression in occupational settings.

Indexed as

Burnout, ProfessionalDepressionOccupational StressAdultBeijingEmotional ExhaustionFemaleHumansMaleMiddle Agedburnoutdepressionnetwork analysisoccupational stress

Identifiers

PMID42037499
PMCPMC13125937

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.