The Ripple Effect: Unveiling the Bidirectional Relationship Between Negative Life Events and Depressive Symptoms in Medical Cadets

Kuiliang Li,1 Xiaomei Ren,2 Lei Ren,3 Xuejiao Tan,1 Mengxue Zhao,2 Chang Liu,4 Xi Luo,1 Zhengzhi Feng,2 Qin Dai2 1Department of Medical English, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Clinical Psychology, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China; 4BrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health and School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, AustraliaCorrespondence: Zhengzhi Feng, Department of Medical Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 023-68771480, Email fzz@tmmu.edu.cn Qin Dai, Department of Medical Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 16623460852, Email daiqin101@hotmail.comBackground: Previous studies have explored the relationship between negative life events and depression, but little is known about the bidirectional relationship between negative life events and depression, particularly in specific groups of medical cadets.Purpose: This study aimed to explore the relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms among medical cadets during their four years of college.Methods: An analysis of 4-wave longitudinal data collected from 2015– 2018 was conducted using a cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) model to explore the complex causal relationship between negative life events and depressive symptoms in medical cadets (N=433).Results: We found differences in negative life events and depressive symptoms among medical cadets across four network models over four years of university. Nodes A-21, A-20, A-23 and A-24, and depressive symptoms D-6 showed greater lagged effect values.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that there is a lagged and mutually causal interaction between negative life events and depressive sympt