A network analysis of depressive symptoms, psychosocial factors, and suicidal ideation in 8686 adolescents aged 12–20 years

Suicide has aroused global concern, and a better understanding of the complex interactions between suicide ideation and various psychopathological features is critical. We aimed to explore the complex interplays among adolescents. This study adopted a multistage stratified cluster sampling method and recruited adolescents aged 12 to 20 year-old from 8 middle and high schools between December 2020 and September 2021 in Guangzhou, China. We assessed loneliness, social support, bullying victimization, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. We used network analysis to examine the network structure of the correlates of suicidal ideation and identify central symptoms and bridge symptoms. We used case-drop bootstrapping and correlation stability coefficients to examine the stability of the network. Among 8686 adolescents, 347 (4 %) adolescents reported suicidal ideation in the past two weeks. Network analyses identified 'hopeless', 'psychomotor', and 'failure' were the three strongest edges linked to suicidal ideation. The most central nodes were identified as 'hopeless' being the most central node, followed by loneliness and verbal bullying victimization, while sexual bullying victimization, sex, and relational bullying were the strongest bridging symptoms. The findings shed light on the complexity of associations of suicidal ideation and could provide insight into school-based suicide risk assessment and prevention for adolescents.