Orchid or dandelion: network analysis of social and psychological factors that promote mental health in adolescents at risk

Mental illness leads to great suffering for affected individuals and is one of societies’ largest challenges. Despite numerous studies of risk and protective factors, very few studies have used naturalistic models of covarying social, psychological and biological factors. Furthermore, most studies analyze data from individuals who have developed mental illness, and thus little is known about what makes individuals resilient and thrive, against all odds.
The proposed project will address these knowledge gaps by using the Swedish conscription cohort of 49 132 adolescent males, linked to national registers containing data of psychiatric disorders and causes of death. Recent methods in machine learning and network analysis will be used to characterize resilience networks of the so-called dandelions, orchids, and dandelion-orchids, i.e, adolescents who do not develop mental ill-health despite social and psychological risk factors.