Associations Among Depressive and Anxious Symptoms, Fear of Missing Out, and Problematic Smartphone Use Severity Among Chinese Adolescents: A Three-Wave Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis
Guangzhe Frank Yuan,1 Caimeng Liu,1 Wei Shi,2 Xu Ding3 1School of Education Science, Leshan Normal University, Leshan, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR), Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Nursing, Shandong First...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dove Medical Press
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Psychology Research and Behavior Management |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.dovepress.com/associations-among-depressive-and-anxious-symptoms-fear-of-missing-out-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-PRBM |
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| Summary: | Guangzhe Frank Yuan,1 Caimeng Liu,1 Wei Shi,2 Xu Ding3 1School of Education Science, Leshan Normal University, Leshan, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR), Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3School of Nursing, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xu Ding, School of Nursing, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Taian, 271000, People’s Republic of China, Email dingxu331@163.comPurpose: Previous research has documented that problematic smartphone use (PSU) is associated with various psychological symptoms among adolescents, but temporal ordering and underlying mechanisms remain unclear.Patients and Methods: This three-wave longitudinal study examined bidirectional relationships among depressive and anxious symptoms, fear of missing out (FOMO), and PSU in a sample of 402 Chinese adolescents (49.6% girls; Mage = 12.33, SD = 0.52) assessed at six-month intervals (ie, T1, T2, and T3).Results: The random-intercept cross-lagged panel modelling (RI-CLPM) results indicated a bidirectional relationship between FOMO and PSU, with each predicting subsequent increases in the other. PSU predicted increases in depressive symptoms over time (βs =0.19 − 0.21, ps < 0.001), but not vice versa (βs =0.05 − 0.06, ps > 0.05). Anxious symptoms predicted increased FOMO over time (βs =0.12 − 0.13, ps < 0.01), while FOMO did not predict anxious symptoms (βs =0.05 and.05, ps > 0.05). FOMO at T2 mediated the linkage between depressive/anxious symptoms at T1 and PSU at T3.Conclusion: These findings identify FOMO as a critical mediating mechanism linking psychological symptoms to problematic digital behaviors. Interventions targeting FOMO may help disrupt these maladaptive patterns and prevent escalation of both PSU and psychological symptoms among adolescents.Keywords: problematic smartphone use, fear of missing out, depressive and anxious symptoms, adolescents |
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| ISSN: | 1179-1578 |