Network Analysis of Mental Health Factors in Female Students: The Role of Personality, Social Alienation, and Emotional Blackmail

Abstract

Objective: This study employed network analysis to examine the structural interrelations among key psychological constructs linked to mental health functioning in a sample of female university students. By mapping the interplay between dispositional traits, emotional vulnerabilities, and interpersonal dynamics, the study sought to identify central variables that may serve as leverage points for psychological intervention. Method: A total of 214 female university students completed validated self-report measures assessing goal pursuit, perceived self-esteem, sociability, integration with the opposite sex, social alienation, depression, neuroticism, extraversion, emotional threat, manipulation, and emotional surrender. Data were analyzed using a regularized partial correlation network estimated via EBICglasso in JASP (version 0.19.3). Network centrality metrics, strength, closeness, betweenness, and expected influence, were computed to determine the psychological prominence of each variable. Results: The resulting network was moderately sparse (sparsity index = 0.491), comprising 11 nodes and 28 non- zero edges. Depression emerged as the most central construct, exhibiting the highest strength and expected influence, thereby functioning as a core emotional hub. Manipulation, a dimension of emotional blackmail, also demonstrated substantial centrality, underscoring its role in psychosocial dysregulation. In contrast, variables such as emotional surrender and goal pursuit occupied peripheral positions, indicating limited influence within the psychological perspective. Notably, perceived self-esteem demonstrated a strong negative expected influence, suggesting a protective or buffering role. Sociability and cross-gender integration occupied moderately central positions, potentially contributing to emotional resilience. Conclusion: The network structure revealed a psychologically dense and clinically informative configuration in which depression and manipulation act as central drivers of emotional distress, while self-esteem and sociability may serve as key resilience factors. These findings highlight the utility of network analysis in identifying targets for intervention and advancing personalized approaches to mental health support among young adult populations.