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Cited by 266Mental Health Research TopicsHealth disparities and outcomesAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Depressive symptoms are associated with social isolation in face-to-face interaction networks

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Elmer, Timon, Stadtfeld, Christoph·2020·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-58297-9PMC PMC6989520
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Abstract

Individuals with depressive symptoms are more likely to be isolated in their social networks, which can further increase their symptoms. Although social interactions are an important aspect of individuals’ social lives, little is known about how depressive symptoms affect behavioral patterns in social interaction networks. This article analyzes the effect of depressive symptoms on social interactions in two empirical settings (N total = 123, N dyadic relations = 2,454) of students spending a weekend together in a remote camp house. We measured social interactions between participants with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) nametags. Prior to the weekend, participants were surveyed on their depressive symptoms and friendship ties. Using state-of-the-art social network analysis methods, we test four preregistered hypotheses. Our results indicate that depressive symptoms are associated with (1) spending less time in social interaction, (2) spending time with similarly depressed others, (3) spending time in pair-wise interactions rather than group interactions but not with (4) spending relatively less time with friends. By “zooming in” on face-to-face social interaction networks, these findings offer new insights into the social consequences of depressive symptoms.

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  • Systemic issues such as linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination contribute to acculturative stress among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants, which can exacerbate mental health difficulties and result in increased social isolation.

    “Other systemic issues such as linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination also contribute to acculturative stress among Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants (Lueck & Wilson, 2011) which can exacerbate mental health difficulties and thus, result in increased social isolation (Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2020).”

    From The protective effects of social support and family functioning on parenting stress among Hispanic/Latino/a American immigrant parents with traumatic life experiences: A mediation analysis (2023) · cites this paper as Elmer & Stadtfeld, 2020

    The Discussion reports that students with more depressive symptoms spent less time in face-to-face interactions, supporting the link between mental health difficulties and social isolation. The study concerns undergraduate student cohorts, not Hispanic/Latino/a immigrants, and does not examine whether acculturative stress exacerbates mental health difficulties. The linguistic and cultural barriers and discrimination in the citing sentence are attributed to a different citation. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Elmer, T., & Stadtfeld, C.
Affiliations
ETH Zurich (CH)
Corresponding author
Elmer, Timon
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-01-29
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
1444-1444
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-58297-9
PMC
PMC6989520
OpenAlex
W3003562473
Cited by
266
References
10
Citations by year
2026: 37 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 1
FWCI
31.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
  • Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • ETH Zürich Research Collection (cc-by)
Funders
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (10001A 169965)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
depressive symptoms, social isolation, social interaction patterns, friendship ties, peer similarity, student camp, RFID tracking, social network analysis
MeSH terms
Computer Simulation, Depression, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Social Isolation, Switzerland, Young Adult, Radio Frequency Identification Device

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