Depression Contagion and Network Charactersitics
There is a multitude of empirical evidence supporting the existence of “depression contagion,” a phenomenon in which individuals who have friends with high levels of depressive symptoms are more likely to become depressed. One potential mechanism for depression contagion was elucidated by examining the population with the highest risk: adolescent females. Adolescent female friendships exhibit high levels of co-rumination (extensive and repetitive discussion and revisit action of problems and negative emotions), given that this behavior is associated with feelings of closeness and connection. However, co-ruminating with friends has the potential to lead to rumination in isolation—a major risk factor for some depressive disorders.
The study conducted by Guan & Kamo examines the association between network characteristics such as network density/mutuality and depression contagion. The study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (consisting of three “waves” of surveys), which measured the presence of depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale and constructed ego networks based off of “friend nominations” which were part of the survey. Confounding variables such as grades, parent attachment, household type and income, age, race, and school-type were controlled for using a mixed effects regression model.
Overall, the study found statistically significant relationships between depression contagion and network density and mutuality. Most notably, these effects were consistent at both the microsocial and macrosocial scale; both schools and individuals with high levels of network density and mutuality were associated with higher levels of depression contagion. Hence, high “popularity” seems to increase individuals’ susceptibility to depression contagion, and school characteristics appear to also play a role in contagion as well. The results of this study have important implications for public mental health interventions, given that they further elucidate the mechanism of depression contagion.
Contextualizing Depressive Contagion: A Multilevel Network Approach