Parent-Adolescent Mobile Phone Addiction and Mental Health: Actor-Partner Effects in 4,633 Chinese Dyads

Xiaoxiao Mei,1 Yan Li,1– 3 Daniel Bressington,4 Mengqi Li,1 Jiaying Li,1 Wen-Yan Tan,5 Yunfei Ke,5 Ri-Hui Liu,5 Wenze Lu,1 Shi-Bin Wang5 1School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China; 2Mental Health Research Centre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China; 3Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China; 4Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand; 5Guangdong Mental Health Center, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wenze Lu, Email chriswenze.lu@polyu.edu.hk Shi-Bin Wang, Email wangshibin@gdph.org.cnBackground: Mobile phone addiction is a growing concern for mental health, especially among adolescents. Previous studies link overuse to anxiety and depression, but dyadic effects within family dynamics remain unclear.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 4,633 parent-adolescent dyads from the Guangdong Mental Health Survey. Mobile phone addiction in adolescents was assessed using three items from the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, while two items from the same scale were employed for parents. Adolescent depression was evaluated using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, whereas parent depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire. Anxiety levels in both groups were measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale. Actor-Partner Interdependence Models were used to assess the effects of mobile phone addiction on individual and dyadic symptoms.Results: The model fit for mobile phone addiction and depression was acceptable (CFI=0.970, RMSEA=0.054). Moderate actor effects were identified, indicating that mobile phone addiction was associated with depression symptoms in both groups (βadolescents=0.279, βparents=0.271, all P < 0.001). Additionally, two small partner ...