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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1506721
This article is part of the Research Topic Assessment and Management of Addictive Disorders in Sexual and Racial Minorities View all articles

Network analysis of interactions of rumination and anxiety on smartphone dependence symptoms

Provisionally accepted
Zhang Sensen Zhang Sensen 1,2Yong Shaohong Yong Shaohong 1,2*Chen Jiatai Chen Jiatai 3
  • 1 Faculty of Business Administration, Guangzhou Institute Of Science And Technology, Guangzhou, China
  • 2 Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China
  • 3 Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: Rumination and anxiety have been posited as correlates of smartphone dependence (SPD). However, little is known regarding how the components of both affect SPD symptoms at subtle levels. Therefore, we used the network analysis approach to identify the connections at a micro level to provide possible interventions for reducing SPD symptoms.Methods: Using symptom-level network analysis, we used the ruminative response scale-10, the generalized anxiety disorder scale-7, and the mobile phone addiction index scale-17 to investigate Chinese preservice teachers (Mage = 21.1, N = 1160).Subsequently, we estimated a graphical lasso correlation network for these teachers, which encompassed rumination components, anxiety components, and SPD symptoms.Specifically, the central and bridge centralities within the network structure were examined for the impacts of rumination and anxiety on SPD symptoms.The three intracluster connections of rumination, anxiety, and SPD were tighter than the intercluster, with structural connections in rumination and anxiety networks closer than the triggered SPD symptoms cluster. Importantly, reflection reactions towards "write down what you are thinking and analyze it" (a component of rumination) were identified as a central and bridging node that might be a target for intervention for SPD symptoms.We identify potential edge-bridging rumination and anxiety on SPD and locate highly central components within each cluster via network analysis.

    Keywords: Network analysis, rumination, Anxiety, Smartphone dependence, Preservice teachers

    Received: 06 Oct 2024; Accepted: 06 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Sensen, Shaohong and Jiatai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yong Shaohong, Faculty of Business Administration, Guangzhou Institute Of Science And Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.