Mapping the void: feeling of emptiness as a central node in an affective network

The feeling of emptiness is a clinically significant but poorly defined affective state. It remains unclear whether emptiness is reducible to a combination of these related states or exists as a distinct, central construct within a network of negative affect. This study employed network analysis to model the relationships between emptiness and five key theoretically related constructs: loneliness, dysphoria, boredom, hopelessness, and dissociation. The primary aim was to examine whether emptiness emerges as a central construct within this affective network. A community sample ( N = 396) completed validated self-report measures. We estimated a regularized partial correlation network (EBICglasso) to examine unique associations. Additionally, centrality indices were calculated to identify the most influential nodes, with stability assessed via bootstrap methods. The feeling of emptiness showed the highest strength centrality in the network (Strength = 1.18), demonstrating strong direct connections to dysphoria (edge weight = 0.37), loneliness (0.38), and boredom (0.29). Predictability values indicated that emptiness had the highest proportion of variance explained by its neighboring nodes (R² = 0.69). Bootstrapped difference tests (based on 95% bootstrap confidence intervals for pairwise differences) confirmed that the centrality of emptiness was significantly greater than all other nodes: the 95% bootstrap confidence intervals for all pairwise strength differences involving emptiness excluded zero. Findings provide empirical support for contemporary theoretical models, identifying emptiness as the most strongly connected node in this six-construct network. Its strong relationships to loneliness, dysphoria, and boredom suggest these are related features, while its weak association with hopelessness and absence of a unique direct association with dissociation suggest these constructs are less central within this network.