Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
School of Psychology, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Jun 4;12:1374762. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1374762. eCollection 2024.
Internet addiction and depressive symptoms are common mental health problems in adolescents. Due to the comorbidity of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms, their mutual relationship influences their developmental trajectories over time. Thus, this study aimed to identify the joint trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms, and examined the individual, family, and school antecedents of these trajectories among Chinese adolescents.
Using a battery of self-report scales, three waves of data collection were conducted in a Chinese adolescent sample ( = 1,301). The co-developmental trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms were extracted by adopting parallel-process latent class growth modeling (PPLCGM). Multinomial logistic regression was performed to assess predictive factors.
Four unique joint trajectory classes were detected: the Health Group ( = 912, 70.1%), Comorbidity-Worsening Group ( = 85, 6.5%), Asymptomatic-Comorbid Risk Group ( = 148, 11.4%), and Prominent Depressive Symptoms-Remission Group ( = 156, 12.0%). Individual, family, and school factors (e.g., gender, positive youth development, family function, academic performance) significantly predicted the membership in these distinct co-developmental trajectories.
Our findings illustrate that the joint development of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms among adolescents presents a heterogeneous distribution, which could better inform prevention and intervention strategies since each co-developmental trajectory may represent unique experience for adolescents who need targeted treatment. Various individual, family, and school factors are important predictors that play different roles in distinguishing the joint trajectories of Internet addiction and depressive symptoms during this critical developmental transition period.
网络成瘾和抑郁症状是青少年常见的心理健康问题。由于网络成瘾和抑郁症状的共病性，它们之间的相互关系会影响它们随时间的发展轨迹。因此，本研究旨在确定网络成瘾和抑郁症状的共同轨迹，并探讨中国青少年这些轨迹的个体、家庭和学校前因。
本研究采用一系列自我报告量表，对中国青少年样本（n=1301）进行了三波数据收集。通过采用平行过程潜在类别增长模型（PPLCGM），提取网络成瘾和抑郁症状的共同发展轨迹。采用多项逻辑回归来评估预测因素。
共发现四个独特的共同轨迹类别：健康组（n=912，70.1%）、共病加重组（n=85，6.5%）、无症状共病风险组（n=148，11.4%）和明显抑郁症状缓解组（n=156，12.0%）。个体、家庭和学校因素（如性别、积极的青年发展、家庭功能、学业成绩）显著预测了这些不同的共同发展轨迹的归属。
本研究结果表明，青少年网络成瘾和抑郁症状的共同发展呈现出异质分布，这可以更好地为预防和干预策略提供信息，因为每个共同发展轨迹可能代表需要针对性治疗的青少年的独特体验。各种个体、家庭和学校因素是重要的预测因素，在区分网络成瘾和抑郁症状的共同轨迹方面发挥着不同的作用，这是青少年这一关键发展过渡期的重要预测因素。
