Data from: Social network analysis of psychological morbidity in an urban slum of Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study based on a community census

Background Social ties are believed to play important roles in mitigating depression and anxiety, as well as fostering mental health in the population. We test this association for young urban men in Bangladesh.
Methods Using a locally adapted GHQ-12 instrument, we enumerate self-reported mental health outcomes for 824 post-adolescent young men between the ages of 18 and 29 in a low-income urban community in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We further measure the social network for all our subjects and estimate the association of social network of the respondents with self-reported mental health outcomes controlling for possible confounders.
Results We find there are considerable variations in both the mental health outcomes and social network across respondents. The GHQ scores (mean = 9.2, SD = 4.9) suggest significant psychological morbidity among the respondents. However, our findings imply better social ties and connections can potentially mitigate negative mental health outcomes (0.05-0.65 lower standardized GHQ score). Among other factors, being married and a recent migrant are also associated with better mental health status (0.17-0.20 and 0.16-0.17 lower standardized GHQ scores respectively).
Conclusion Our results underscore the importance of social connection in providing buffer against stress and anxiety through psychosocial support from one’s peer in a resource constraint urban setting. Our findings also suggest incorporating social network and ties in designing mental health policies and interventions.

研究背景：学界普遍认为，社会联结在缓解抑郁与焦虑、促进人群心理健康方面发挥着重要作用。本研究针对孟加拉国城市青年男性群体，检验这一关联关系。
研究方法：本研究采用本土化适配的一般健康问卷12项（General Health Questionnaire-12, GHQ-12），对孟加拉国达卡市一个低收入城市社区的824名18~29岁青春期后青年男性进行自我报告式心理健康结局评估。研究进一步收集了所有受试者的社交网络数据，并在控制潜在混杂因素的前提下，估算受访者社交网络与自我报告心理健康结局之间的关联。
研究结果：研究发现，不同受访者的心理健康结局与社交网络均存在显著差异。GHQ得分（均值=9.2，标准差=4.9）提示受访者群体存在较为显著的心理机能异常。然而，研究结果表明，更优质的社会联结与社交关系或可缓解不良心理健康结局（标准化GHQ得分降低0.05~0.65）。在其他影响因素中，已婚状态与近期移民身份同样与更佳的心理健康状态相关（标准化GHQ得分分别降低0.17~0.20与0.16~0.17）。
研究结论：本研究结果凸显了在资源受限的城市环境中，通过同辈群体的社会心理支持，社交联结可作为应激与焦虑的缓冲机制的重要性。研究同时提示，在设计心理健康政策与干预方案时，应纳入社交网络与社会联结相关维度。