Network connectivity between anxiety, depressive symptoms and psychological capital in Chinese university students during the COVID-19 campus closure.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wang, Wei Wang, Jingjing Zhang, Xiaoning Pei, Yifei Tang, Jie Zhu, Yiyang Liu, Xin Xu, Haibo
Copyright Year	2023
Abstract	BackgroundIn the context of the outbreak of COVID-19 within mainland China, to understand the mental health status of university students during campus closure, this study analyzes the relationship between anxiety, depressive symptoms, and psychological capital and to reveals their central symptoms.MethodsA total of 12,945 university students were included in this study from April 10 to 19, 2022. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured by the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and two-item Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ-2). Psychological capital was measured using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24). The centrality and bridge centrality indexes were used to identify central and bridge symptoms, respectively. Network Comparison Test (NCT) was also administered to check whether network traits differed by gender and place of residence.ResultsThe most influential node in this study was Trouble relaxing (GAD4), followed by Uncontrollable worry (GAD2) and Excessive worry (GAD3). The main bridging symptoms were Depressed mood (PHQ2), Psychological capital. There are no differences in the network structure of students by place of residence, while there are more significant differences in the network structure of students by gender.ConclusionCentral and bridging symptoms may be the core symptoms that trigger or maintain the development of anxiety and depression among university students during the COVID-19 campus closure. Timely and reasonable interventions targeting these symptoms may help reduce depression and anxiety in this population. In addition, improving university students' psychological capital may likewise contribute to the development of their good mental health.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC9951030&blobtype=pdf
ISSN	01650327
Journal	Journal of Affective Disorders [J Affect Disord]
Volume Number	329
DOI	10.1016/j.jad.2023.02.087
PubMed Central reference number	PMC9951030
PubMed reference number	36841295
e-ISSN	15732517
Language	English
Publisher	Elsevier B.V.
Publisher Date	2023-02-24
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Subject Keyword	Depression Anxiety Psychological capital Network analysis COVID-19
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Clinical Psychology Psychiatry and Mental Health