Psychometric Network Characteristics of Anxiety and Depression Among Chinese Physical Education Teachers

The symptomatic characteristics of anxiety and depression among physical education (PE) teachers have not received sufficient attention in existing research. However, these characteristics are crucial for formulating targeted interventions for such issues. This study aimed to explore the symptomatic characteristics of the comorbid anxiety–depression network among Chinese PE teachers, so as to initially provide a direction for targeted interventions. A total of 519 Chinese PE teachers (69.56% male; Mage = 31.58, SDage = 8.18) were recruited as research subjects, who were asked to complete a set of questionnaires covering demographic information, anxiety scales and depression scales. Both psychometric network analysis and Network Comparison Tests (NCTs) were adopted to identify the core symptoms, bridge symptoms, overlapping items, and gender-specific effects in the anxiety–depression comorbidity network. The results indicated that the psychometric network structure was relatively stable. “Psychomotor change” was identified both as the core EI (1.26) and bEI (0.62) indicators, while “depressed mood” also served as a key bEI (0.70) indicator. Moreover, “restlessness”, “irritability”, “self-deprecation”, and “psychomotor change” were the four overlapping symptoms. Additionally, network comparison yielded mixed findings across gender groups: symptom interconnections patterns were largely comparable, while global strength differed significantly between male and female PE teachers. Collectively, symptom nodes demonstrated heterogeneous importance within the network. Nodes occupying core positions may play a crucial role in guiding prevention and intervention for anxiety and depressive symptoms.