Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms among Chinese rural left‐behind adolescents: Mediating roles of resilience and friendship quality

Abstract

BackgroundRural left‐behind adolescents are more vulnerable to Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms due to the lack of family support and parental supervision. This study was the first to investigate the longitudinal relationships between Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms and to examine the mediating roles of resilience and friendship quality in rural left‐behind adolescents.MethodsIncluded in this study, which was from a longitudinal study conducted five times over 2 years, were 1001 rural left‐behind adolescents. The internationally used scales for depressive and anxious symptoms, Internet addiction, resilience and friendship quality were administered. A structural equation model was used for analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of Internet addiction, depressive and anxious symptoms among rural left‐behind adolescents were 17.7%, 35.8% and 27.6%, respectively. Internet addiction predicted the later depressive and anxious symptoms (β = 0.200, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.116–0.274 and β = 0.263, 95% CI: 0.188–0.330). Resilience acted as an independent mediator in the relationships between Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms (β = 0.037 and 0.034, P < 0.01). Resilience and friendship quality played a chain‐mediating role on the longitudinal relationships between Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms (β = 0.011 and 0.010, P < 0.001). The mediating effects accounted for 24.0% and 16.7% of the total effects, respectively.ConclusionResilience and friendship quality play an independent or chain‐mediating role in longitudinal relationships between Internet addiction and depressive and anxious symptoms. The findings inform targeted intervention strategies to improve the mental health of left‐behind adolescents.

A latent class analysis of depressive symptoms among rural Chinese adolescents and their association with psychological resilience

“…This disparity can be attributed to the relatively lower economic development in rural areas and the paucity of accessible quality healthcare and psychoeducational resources ( Yan et al, 2021 ), resulting in an augmented risk for depressive symptoms among rural youth ( Feng et al, 2022 ). Past investigations on depressive symptoms in rural adolescent populations have been region-specific (e.g., China, Australia, India) ( Black et al, 2012 , Das et al, 2021 , Li et al, 2019a ), gender-specific ( Lai et al, 2012 , Wang et al, 2011 ), and have explored the relationships between depressive symptoms and various factors such as self-harm ( Lai et al, 2021 ), internet addiction ( Shang et al, 2023 ), and academic performance ( Feng et al, 2022 ). A majority of these studies have relied on depression scale score thresholds to classify individuals into discrete levels of depression, often overlooking individual distinctions and group heterogeneity in depression occurrence, which are pivotal for tailored prevention and intervention strategies ( Zhang et al, 2016 ).…”