ArticleFrontiers in public health2022
The longitudinal association between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Internet addiction with psychiatric symptom levels and sleep disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Longitudinal associations between cybervictimization, generalized problematic internet use, anxiety, and depression: cross-lagged panel analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Risk factors for Problematic Internet Use (PIU) among Polish students: the role of loneliness, depression, and health behaviours in a predictive analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Internet Use Scale for Emotional Distress Avoidance in Adolescents (IU-EDA): Development, Psychometric Validation, and Predictive Validity of Problematic Internet Use.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2026Article
- Cross-lagged analysis of depression symptoms and internet addiction tendencies among first-year university students and the moderating effects of urban-rural background and sibling status.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The impact of perceived social support on anxiety and depression: the chain mediating effect of internet addiction and insomnia.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Association Between Internet Addiction and Mental Health Problems in Korean Adolescents: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Longitudinal Effect of Psychological Distress on Internet Addiction Symptoms Among Chinese College Students: Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Identification of emerging harms due to COVID-19 outbreak: a qualitative study in Iran.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Longitudinal network analysis of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder comorbidities among adolescents in regional China.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Symptom-level interactions between anxiety and internet addiction in Chinese adolescents: a large-scale network and residence difference analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Secular Trends in Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents in Yunnan, Southwest China From Before COVID-19 to During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal, Observational Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Observational
- Neurotransmitters crosstalk and regulation in the reward circuit of subjects with behavioral addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Do Boys and Girls Display Different Levels of Depression in Response to Mobile Phone Addiction? Examining the Longitudinal Effects of Four Types of Mobile Phone Addiction.Psychology research and behavior management · 2024Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of internet addiction among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia: A cross-sectional study.Malaysian family physician : the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia · 2024Article
- Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in adolescents: joint trajectories and predictors.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- Problematic social media use and mental health risks among first-year Chinese undergraduates: a three-wave longitudinal study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- The impact of internet adaptability on internet addiction: the serial mediation effect of meaning in life and anxiety.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and related prevention policies, such as home quarantine or online courses, could increase the risks of experiencing internet addiction and mental health problems among Chinese adolescents. There is a lack of longitudinal evidence to show the association between internet addiction symptoms and psychological consequences (e.g., depressive and anxiety symptoms). Objective: This study aimed to explore the association between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: An effective sample of 7,958 Chinese adolescents was recruited for this two-wave longitudinal survey conducted over a six-month interval. All participants completed two-wave surveys before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal cross-lagged path model was used to analyze the associations between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms after controlling for four covariates (i.e., age, sex, minority, and COVID-19 influence). Results: Higher depressive and anxiety symptoms before COVID-19 significantly predicted severe internet addiction during COVID-19. Results showed a significant bidirectional relationship between internet addiction and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the prevalence of internet addiction displayed an increasing trend over the two waves. Conversely, a reduced prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was observed over the two waves. Conclusion: This current study provided valuable evidence that psychological problems and internet addiction significantly influenced each other before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Consequently, the presence of psychological problems before and during the COVID-19 outbreak could indicate internet addiction. Thus, depression- and anxiety-related psychotherapies should be developed to prevent internet addiction among Chinese adolescents.
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