Meaning in life as a central pathway in depression: A network and causal discovery study of psychological resources among university students.

BACKGROUND

Depressive symptoms are prevalent and influenced by various protective factors among university students. While meaning in life (MIL), particularly the presence of MIL, has emerged as a core psychological construct associated with depression, its precise position within the network of interconnected psychological resources remains unclear. This study aimed to understand how psychological resources of mental health interact and to explore statistically compatible directional pathways associated with depressive symptoms.

METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2216 Chinese university students. Outcome measures included depression, MIL, mindfulness, self-control, social support, and resilience. Psychological network analysis was employed to estimate associations among variables, with additional directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) used to explore directional structures compatible with the observed data.

RESULTS

The network showed the presence of MIL as the central, highest-bridging node, strongly connecting a cluster of protective factors negatively to depression. DAG-based modeling suggested that family support, mindfulness, and self-discipline were directionally associated with the presence of MIL, which, in turn, was linked to lower depression both directly and indirectly via resilience, with a potential mediating role.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight the presence of MIL as a central and modifiable factor within the psychological resources network against depression among university students. The results generate testable hypotheses suggesting that MIL interventions, integrated with mindfulness, social support, and self-control, may be promising directions for alleviating depression, with a need for testing in future longitudinal and experimental research.