Delineating temporal dynamics for the linkage between anxiety symptoms and problematic media use among Chinese adolescents

Abstract

Anxiety symptoms (AS) and problematic media use (PMU) represent two salient developmental challenges during adolescence. Although research demonstrates their comorbidity, extant findings on the temporal dynamics of their linkage remain mixed. Using three-wave longitudinal data from Chinese adolescents (N = 844, Mean_age = 13.21, SD = 0.39 at Wave 1, 53 % boys) across their junior high school years, this study conducted a Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) to delineate between- and within-person associations between two major forms of AS (i.e., anxiety symptoms in general [ASG] and social anxiety symptoms [SAS]) and two major forms of PMU (i.e., problematic internet gaming [PIG] and problematic smartphone use [PSU]). At the between-person level, there were positive associations between SAS and ASG, PIG and PSU, ASG and PIG, as well as ASG and PSU. More importantly and at the within-person level, several patterns of results emerged, including: (a) unidirectional positive associations from earlier SAS to subsequent PSU across waves; (b) a transactional interplay between ASG and SAS over time; (c) indirect effects spreading over time across media use domain and mental health domain; as well as (d) autoregressive indirect effects across waves for each of the four studied symptoms. These findings shed light on the under-delineated temporal complexity and nuance (by focusing on some specific forms of AS and PMU over time) within the link between AS and PMU during adolescence. The effectiveness of relevant practices might be enhanced by carefully considering such temporal intricacy.