The co-occurrence between depressive symptoms and smartphone addiction: a network analysis

The present study aimed to explore the co-occurrence between depression and smartphone addiction (SA) from the network perspective as well as the network invariance across different groups. A total of 8347 Chinese college students were included in the study. Network analysis was conducted to estimate the network structure of the co-occurrence between depression and SA symptoms. A network comparison test was utilized to explore sex, severity of depression and SA variations in the network structures and strengths. D18 ‘Sad’ was the central symptom for the estimated network. D5 ‘Mind’ may be the most important bridge symptom between depression and SA. Males and females differed in the distribution of edge weights (M = 0.103, p = 0.024). Students with or without depressive symptoms showed significant differences in the distribution of edge weights (M = 0.129, p = 0.001) and global strength (14.5 vs. 13.5, p = 0.006). In addition, there are variations in the distribution of edge weights for college students in different SA severity groups (M = 0.119, p < 0.001). Attention to these core and bridge symptoms may decrease the odds of co-occurrence of depressive symptoms and SA. Interventions to address the co-occurrence should also take into account sex and severity of depression and SA.