The co-occurrence between symptoms of internet gaming disorder, depression, and anxiety in middle and late adolescence: A cross-lagged panel network analysis

Although there is a growing awareness of the co-occurrence of internet gaming disorder (IGD) with other mental health problems, the specific patterns of how these symptoms interact over time, especially across different age groups, remain unclear. The current study utilizes cross-lagged panel network modeling (CLPN) to investigate the dynamic, longitudinal relationships among symptoms of IGD, depression and anxiety among adolescents across time, and how these connections change with different developmental stages. A total of 3296 middle and late adolescents who have finished 3-time points research were included in the present study. Significant differences were found between middle and late adolescents in the structures and strengths of the contemporaneous and longitudinal networks. For middle adolescents, symptoms tended to predict subsequent symptoms within the same disorder. However, late adolescents showed a stronger trend of symptoms being interconnected across comorbid conditions. Feelings of worthlessness & hopelessness were the most impactful symptoms for middle adolescents in the short term and they continued to significantly affect late adolescents in the long term. In addition, restless and suicide or self-harm were the most important bridge symptoms for middle and late adolescents, respectively. This study emphasizes the importance of developing targeted intervention strategies focusing on both central and bridging symptoms of the comorbid conditions of IGD, depression, and anxiety in adolescence. Recognizing distinct adolescents’ needs, interventions should be tailored to effectively address the unique challenges at different developmental stages.