Presentation Schedule
Perceived Stress and Symptom Networks: How Stress Levels Alter Links Between Depression, Anxiety, and Social Ties (102336)
Tuesday, 24 March 2026 16:00
Session: Poster Session 3
Room: Orion Hall (5F)
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Background: Depression and anxiety often co-occur and share psychosocial risk and protective factors. Relationship support and strain are especially salient, yet their symptom-level roles and whether these vary by stress level remain unclear. This study used network analysis to examine the structure of depression–anxiety, its links with perceived stress and relationship-specific support/strain, and whether these associations differ across stress levels.
Methods: Participants were 449 married South Korean adults aged 40–69 with at least one child and sibling. They completed standardized measures of depression (CES-D), anxiety (GAD-7), perceived stress (PSS-10), and social support/strain from spouses, children, friends, and siblings. Regularized partial correlation networks identified central and bridge symptoms and their associations with social factors. Network Comparison Tests compared low stress and moderate-to-high stress groups.
Results: Across the full sample, depressed affect and nervousness were most central, while depressed affect, somatic complaints, and trouble relaxing bridged depression and anxiety. Perceived stress showed strong ties to internalizing symptoms, particularly anhedonia. Spousal support provided the strongest protective effect, especially against anhedonia, while social strain was linked to interpersonal problems. Under moderate-to-high stress, networks showed denser depressive clustering and stronger depression–anxiety cross-links. In this group, spousal and friend support more strongly buffered anhedonia, whereas social strain was more strongly tied to interpersonal problems.
Conclusions: Stress is a pivotal force that reshapes how depression and anxiety symptoms cluster and how social ties protect or strain. Interventions that target central and bridge symptoms while mobilizing close relationships may be effective for individuals under elevated stress.
Authors:
Chaerim Park, Jeonbuk National University, South Korea
Huiyoung Shin, Jeonbuk National University, South Korea
About the Presenter(s)
Chaerim Park is a Ph.D. student in Psychology at Jeonbuk National University, South Korea.
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