Abstract: Epidemiological data show cross-national variations in the prevalence rates of depression. Whether these variations in prevalence reflect actual differences in symptomatology or differential importance of depression symptoms across nations is unknown. Unlike more commonly applied methods, the network approach offers a viable framework for examining symptomatology across populations. We used regularized partial correlation network models to compare the structure and connectivity of depression symptoms between the United States (US; N = 1,169; M age = 22.20 years, SD = 5.02; 66% = female) and South African (RSA; N = 917; M age = 21.23 years, SD = 3.02; 64% = female) university students. The Network Comparison Test (NCT) revealed statistically significant differences in the depressive symptom network structure between US and RSA students. Our findings demonstrate how network analysis may inform the understanding and treatment of psychological disturbance across populations and cultural groups. These findings provide insight for researchers and interventionists to create individualized and culturally-adapted diagnostic assessments and evidence-based interventions to accurately treat depression for culturally-diverse populations.
Brooks et al. (2025) studied this question.