Observational studyJournal of medical Internet research2025
Urban-Rural Differences in the Association Between Internet Use Trajectories and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Adolescents: Longitudinal Observational Study.
Observational study in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects of scalable, wordless, short, animated storytelling videos on hope in China: a nationwide, single-blind, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial.Journal of global health · 2025Trial
- A latent profile transition analysis of internet addiction for rural adolescents and its associations with emotional and interpersonal problems.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Association between problematic smartphone use and gaming and disruptive behavioral disorder symptoms among Korean adolescents: a nationwide representative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations of mobile internet use and depressive symptoms with cognitive performance among Chinese adolescents: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Quantifying the association between rural older adult daily internet use duration and affective disorders: an empirical study based on propensity score matching.Frontiers in public health · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInternet use exhibits diverse trajectories during adolescence, which may contribute to depressive symptoms. Currently, it remains unclear whether the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms varies between urban and rural areas.
objectiveThis study aimed to investigate the association between internet use trajectories and adolescent depressive symptoms and to explore variation in this association between urban and rural areas.
methodsThis longitudinal study used 3-wave data from the 2014-2018 China Family Panel Study. Weekly hours of internet use and depressive symptoms were measured using self-reported questionnaires. Latent class growth modeling was performed to identify the trajectories of internet use. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms, stratified by rural and urban residence.
resultsParticipants were 2237 adolescents aged 10 to 15 years at baseline (mean age 12.46, SD 1.73 years). Two latent trajectory classes of internet use were identified: the low-growth group (n=2008, 89.8%) and the high-growth group (n=229, 10.2%). The high-growth group was associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms (OR 1.486, 95% CI 1.065-2.076) compared to the low-growth group. In the stratified analysis, the association between internet use trajectories and depressive symptoms was significant solely among rural adolescents (OR 1.856, 95% CI 1.164-2.959).
conclusionsThis study elucidates urban-rural differences in the associations between trajectories of internet use and adolescent depressive symptoms. Our findings underscore the importance of prioritizing interventions for rural adolescents' internet use behaviors to mitigate negative effects on their mental health.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.