The association between online learning, perceived parental relationship, anxiety, and depression symptoms among secondary school students: insight from symptom network and cross-lagged panel network approach

Abstract

Introduction Anxiety and depression often co-occur in adolescents, with factors from family and school playing a significant role in the comorbidity. However, network analysis has not examined and clarified the detailed bridge and central symptoms of this comorbidity caused by online learning and perceived parental relationships across different COVID-19 times. Methods Over four months, 2,356 secondary school students completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7. Participants were divided into harmonious and disharmonious groups based on their answers to a question about parental conflicts. Results The results indicated that adolescents perceiving more parental conflicts showed a denser comorbidity network after four months of online learning. Significant bridge symptoms decreased from three to two across two waves in the harmonious group, while in the disharmonious group, they increased from two to three. The number of central symptoms increased from one in wave 1 to three in wave 2 for the harmonious group, while four in wave 1 decreased to two in wave 2 for the disharmonious group. Furthermore, the CLPN analysis revealed that the strongest positive cross-lagged edge intensity between symptoms was anhedonia—energy in the harmonious group, with anhedonia being the most trigger symptom. In contrast, for the disharmonious group, guilt—suicide and trouble relaxing—excessive worry were the strongest cross-lagged edge, and trouble relaxing was the most trigger symptom. Conclusion These findings may have implications for interventions designed to promote adolescent mental health in the context of online learning and parental conflicts. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-024-19675-4.