ArticleAnnals of general psychiatry2026
Association of screen time and chronotype with depression and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents.
Article in Annals of general psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDepression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents have increased in recent years, making the identification of modifiable risk factors important. Prolonged screen time (ST) and later chronotype may be independently and jointly associated with adolescent mental health. This study aimed to examine the independent and joint associations of ST and chronotype with depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents.
methodsData were drawn from the China Adolescent Health Screening Program (CAHSP), a large school-based health screening program conducted in Shenzhen, southern China, using a multistage cluster sampling design, including 10,083 adolescents (mean age: 13.7 [SD: 1. 6] years). ST was assessed using structured self-report items, while chronotype was measured using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire-5 (MEQ-5). Depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), respectively. Logistic regression models adjusted for relevant covariates were employed to examine independent and joint associations of ST and chronotype with depression and anxiety symptoms.
resultsExcessive ST and later chronotype were significantly associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. Significant interaction indicated that the association between excessive ST and mental health symptoms differed across chronotype groups. Stratified analyses confirmed that within each chronotype group, adolescents with excessive ST had higher odds of depression and anxiety, with the strongest associations observed in evening chronotype (E-type) adolescents (depression: aOR = 2.54, 95% CI: 2.01-3.22; anxiety: aOR = 2.49, 95% CI: 1.98-3.13). Joint analyses further confirmed that E-type adolescents with excessive ST showed the highest odds of screening positive for depression and anxiety symptoms (depression: aOR = 5.55, 95% CI: 4.38-7.02; anxiety: aOR = 4.71, 95% CI: 3.73-5.93) compared with the non-excessive ST and M-type group.
conclusionHigher levels of ST and later chronotype were associated with higher odds of screening positive for depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents. Public health strategies to promote adolescents' mental well-being should focus on encouraging healthy screen behaviors and promoting sleep hygiene, particularly for E-type adolescents.
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.