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Family dynamics on mental health: a network analysis
Zixin Jiang1, Irena Tetkovic2, Sharon Neufeld2
1Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Npj Mental Health Research
|October 23, 2025
Summary
Family mental health is interconnected. This study found that symptoms in one family member, especially older siblings and maternal depression, can predict issues in others, highlighting a significant spillover effect.
Area of Science:
- Child Psychology
- Family Studies
- Network Analysis
Background:
- Limited research systematically explores dynamic mental health links between children, parents, and siblings.
- Understanding intra-family mental health symptom associations is crucial for holistic treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate concurrent and longitudinal associations of mental health symptoms within families.
- To identify bridging and predictive symptom pathways among children, parents, and siblings.
Main Methods:
- Utilized network analysis on data from 3750 families in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).
- Assessed mental health problems in children, mothers, fathers, and older siblings across two waves, two years apart.
- Examined contemporaneous and temporal network structures to understand symptom interconnections.
Main Results:
- Extensive associations found between intra-individual and inter-individual symptoms within families.
- Older siblings' symptoms acted as key bridges connecting to younger siblings' symptoms.
- Directional effects observed from parents to children, fathers to mothers, and older to younger siblings.
- Maternal depressive feelings showed the strongest predictive effect in the family network.
Conclusions:
- Mental health problems exhibit a significant spillover effect within families.
- Interventions should consider the psychological well-being of all family members.
- Network analysis reveals complex, dynamic interplay of mental health across family members.
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