The Relationships Between Affect, Psychache, and Suicidal Ideation: A Network Analysis in 3879 Young Adults

Background: Suicide remains a critical public health challenge for young adults. Although affect and psychache are known correlates of suicidal ideation, research relying on sum scores of corresponding scales has limited fine-grained insights into their specific relationships. To address this gap, this study employed a novel joint network framework to move beyond traditional approaches and perform a dimension-level analysis of these constructs, aiming to elucidate their complex interrelationships and identify potential intervention targets. Methods: A sample of 3879 young adults (mean age = 20.02 ± 1.05 years) completed self-report measures of positive and negative affect, psychache, and suicidal ideation (assessing pessimism, sleep, and despair). We estimated a regularized partial correlation network to examine the associations between dimensions and calculated expected influence (EI) and bridge expected influence (BEI) indices. Results: The prevalence of suicidal ideation in young adults was 8.37%. The network revealed complex relationships between positive and negative affect, psychache, and the dimensions of suicidal ideation. Psychache, sleep, and positive affect were identified as the most central nodes, while psychache and positive affect were the key bridge nodes. Limitations: The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference, and the reliance on self-report measures may be subject to bias. Conclusion: This network analysis provides a fine-grained understanding of the interrelationships between affect, psychache, and suicidal ideation in young adults. The identified central and bridge nodes represent precise and promising targets for clinical intervention. In practice, alleviating psychache, fostering positive emotional experiences, and improving sleep quality are likely to effectively prevent and reduce suicidal ideation among young adults.