ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Depressive symptoms precede and drive problematic smartphone use in Chinese medical students: a longitudinal network analysis.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Depression and problematic smartphone use (PSU) frequently co-occur in Chinese medical students and are increasingly attracting significant attention. Although the link between PSU and depression is well recognized, patterns of longitudinal dynamic associations at the symptom level remain poorly understood, particularly in the context of Chinese medical students. Methods: A total of 584 medical graduate students (mean age = 30.47 years, SD = 3.57; 65.2% males) completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire at two time points separated by 6 months. This study examined contemporaneous networks and cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) for both waves of data. Results: Network comparison test revealed that the two contemporaneous networks including PSU and depressive symptoms were consistent in global strength and network structure, with PHQ7 ("concentration difficulties") and PHQ4 ("fatigue") identified as bridging symptoms in both networks. The CLPN results indicated that the comorbidity was primarily driven by depressive symptoms at T1 triggering the development of PSU symptoms at T2. Among these, PHQ7 and PHQ4 exerted the greatest influence on other symptoms within the network and served as critical factors in activating the progression of PSU symptoms at T2. PSU4 ("can't stand not having a phone") and PSU7 ("never give up using a phone") were the most susceptible subsequent symptoms. Conclusions: Our findings provide empirical evidence supporting the comorbidity between PSU and depression, while elucidating their directional relationships at the symptom level. Crucially, we have identified antecedent bridge symptoms as effective intervention targets for simultaneously mitigating the development of co-occurring disorders.
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.