Depression is one of the most prevalent and disabling mental health problems in college students. Previous studies have established cross-sectional associations between negative bias in prospection e.g., increased negativity in future simulation, low self-efficacy, and depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, the temporal bidirectional associations between them are rarely examined. In the current study, we collected valid data on 276 college students at two time points within a 10 week interval. Cross-lagged panel analysis was applied to investigate the relationships between proportions of negative future events, levels of self-efficacy, and depressive symptoms. Results suggested depressive symptoms predict subsequent proportions of negative prospections and levels of self-efficacy. Inversely, neither prospection nor self-efficacy predicted depression. Temporal correlations between prospection and self-efficacy were also not significant. Since this is one of the first studies that attempts to figure out temporal links between these mutually informing factors, more longitudinal research is needed to draw a firm conclusion. This study provides new insights into the relationship between negative biases in cognitions and depressive symptoms and highlights the need to intervene early with depressive symptoms before any possible cognitive distortions in college students.

Background/Objectives: Self-construal—the extent to which the self is construed as autonomous from or connected with others—shapes cognition and social behavior, yet its system-level neural architecture remains poorly understood. This study examined whether independent and interdependent self-construal are associated with distinct patterns of nodal centrality and connectivity in the resting brain and whether these patterns covary with in-group favoritism. Methods: Graph-theoretical analyses were applied to resting-state fMRI data from 67 college students. Degree centrality (DC) was the primary analysis; seed-based static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity variability (FCV) from DC-derived seeds served as exploratory follow-ups. In-group favoritism was assessed with a minimal-group point-allocation task. Results: Independent self-construal was positively associated with DC in the left inferior occipital gyrus and right lingual gyrus; exploratory sFC linked these occipital seeds to frontal, temporal, and parietal regions, with greater exploratory FCV in their coupling with frontoparietal control areas. Interdependent self-construal was positively associated with DC in the medial prefrontal cortex and thalamus, with exploratory sFC to occipital, temporal, and insular regions but no significant FCV effects. The self-construal difference score yielded convergent DC results and was negatively associated with in-group favoritism; occipital–postcentral coupling was positively associated with in-group favoritism in an exploratory correlation. Conclusions: Independent and interdependent self-construal are associated with distinct nodal centrality profiles, linking independence to occipital perceptual hubs and interdependence to medial prefrontal–thalamic hubs. Exploratory connectivity analyses extend these findings to the coupling of these hubs with distributed brain regions and to in-group favoritism.

Mental health among college students represents a significant and growing public health concern. Negative bias in prospection is closely related to depress

Prospection bias (PB) plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of depression. However, the symptom-level mechanisms linking specific depressive symptoms to distinct PB components remain unclear, limiting the precision of targeted interventions. This study employed a network analysis approach to elucidate the intricate symptom-level relationships between depression and PB in a large sample of 1162 university students (453 males and 709 females; mean age = 19.47 years, SD = 1.45). Participants completed self-report assessments of depressive symptoms and prospection bias. The network demonstrated high stability. Central symptoms within the depression–PB framework were identified as “suicidal ideation”, “blurry future imagery”, “lack of energy”, and “catastrophic negative future thinking”. Critically, “suicidal ideation”, “future imaginations of self-harm/suicide”, and “guilt” served as the pivotal bridge symptoms connecting depression and PB. The Network Comparison Test revealed no significant gender differences in network structure. These findings highlight that current suicidal ideation and future-oriented suicidal imagery may serve as key nodes in the network of depressive symptoms and prospection bias. The results may help inform early identification and targeted intervention among at-risk university students.