ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Social Pediatrics
This article is part of the Research TopicMental health and wellbeing of childrenView all 13 articles
Network analysis of the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents: A comparison between males and females
Provisionally accepted
Ran Feng1
Qiongzhi Zhang2Lingzhi Wang2Jingyu Lei2
Xuerong Liu2Zhiyi Chen2Yanyan Li3Yujia Liao4Jie Gong4Jidong Ren4
Ncaxy@163.com Ncaxy@163.com4Xuemei Li5*
Zuoshan Li1*- 1Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- 2Army Medical University, Chongqing, China
- 3Southwest University, Chongqing, China, Chongqing, China
- 4Nanchong Psychosomatic Hospital, Sichuan, China, Nanchong, China
- 5Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
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Objective: To examine the network structure linking negative life events and depressive symptoms among adolescents in southwestern China, and to compare network characteristics between genders. Methods: Network analysis was used to assess associations between depressive symptoms and negative life events, identify core and bridge symptoms, evaluate global connectivity strength, and explore gender-specific differences in network structure. Participants completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC). Results: Data were collected from 104,552 adolescents aged 11 to 23 years. In the combined network, disease, academic stress, and being fined were the most central nodes, while flunking, broken heart, and academic stress served as key bridge symptoms between depressive symptoms and negative life events. Within the depressive symptom network, lack of happiness, depressed mood, feelings of failure, and sadness were the most central, with the strongest connection observed between hopelessness and feelings of failure. These core symptoms were consistent across genders. However, significant gender differences were found in network structure, global connectivity, and specific edges, with females exhibiting stronger overall symptom connectivity. Conclusions: The adolescent depression network is characterized by stable core symptoms and gender-specific differences in connectivity and bridge symptoms. These findings highlight the potential importance of bridge symptoms for early identification and for developing gender-sensitive intervention strategies. Keywords: adolescents; depression; negative life events; network analysis; gender difference
Keywords: adolescents, Depression, Negative life events, Network analysis, Gender difference
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Zhang, Wang, Lei, Liu, Chen, Li, Liao, Gong, Ren, Ncaxy@163.com, Li and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xuemei Li, lixuemei613@cqu.edu.cn
Zuoshan Li, 642662213@qq.com
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