Li K, Ren X, Ren L, Tan X, Zhao M, Liu C, Luo X, Feng Z, Dai Q. The Ripple Effect: Unveiling the Bidirectional Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Depressive Symptoms in Medical Cadets.
Psychol Res Behav Manag 2023;
16:3399-3412. [PMID:
37664139 PMCID:
PMC10473435 DOI:
10.2147/prbm.s419991]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
Previous studies have explored the relationship between negative life events and depression, but little is known about the bidirectional relationship between negative life events and depression, particularly in specific groups of medical cadets.
Purpose
This study aimed to explore the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms among medical cadets during their four years of college.
Methods
An analysis of 4-wave longitudinal data collected from 2015-2018 was conducted using a cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) model to explore the complex causal relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in medical cadets (N=433).
Results
We found differences in negative life events and depressive symptoms among medical cadets across four network models over four years of university. Nodes A-21, A-20, A-23 and A-24, and depressive symptoms D-6 showed greater lagged effect values.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that there is a lagged and mutually causal interaction between negative life events and depressive symptoms in medical cadets over 4 years of college, but that the predictability of negative life events is more important. However, more attention needs to be paid to the predictive role of depressive symptoms, especially those in early life which are often overlooked. Our study provides new insights into the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in university students and helps to refine strategies for prevention and intervention of depression.
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