The more you avoid, the worse you will get: a cross-lagged panel model of shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression

Abstract

Background

The current situation of adolescent depression is relatively serious, and has aroused widespread concern. Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationship between shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression through a 12-month longitudinal survey.

Methods

A total of 1214 adolescents participated in the study. Cross-lagged models were adopted for data analysis.

Results

The results showed that significant positive relationships exist among shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression. Shyness at W2 mediated the relationship between mobile phone dependence at W1 and depression at W3. Mobile phone dependence at W2 played a mediating role between depression at W1 and depression at W3.

Conclusion

This study revealed the possible reciprocal associations between shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression in adolescents. This enlightened us that incorporating shyness and mobile phone dependence interventions into prevention designs for depression in adolescents may be beneficial.

Keywords:

• Depression
• shyness
• mobile phone dependence
• cross-lagged analysis
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

We are appreciative of the participants who participated in our study and the people who assisted in data collection.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committees of authors’ university. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. It has been confirmed that participants have given consent for their data to be used in the study. The Human Experimentation Ethics Committee of Zhejiang Normal University (D2020009) approved this project. Before data collection, we received positive consent from parents, students, and teachers.

Author contributions

The manuscript does not contain clinical studies or patient data. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of the corresponding author’s institution. All participants in this study are informed consenters who voluntarily join the study. Min Jiang: Contributed to the design of the study, collected the data, and drafted the manuscript. Ruibo Xie: Contributed to the design of the study, drafted the manuscript, and conducted a critical review of the manuscript. Wan Ding: Contributed to the design of the study, conducted the data analysis, and conducted a critical review of the manuscript. Xiaoyue Wang, Zhaoxing Sun: Contributed to the design of the study and collected the data. Weijian Li, Thi Phuong Nguyen: Contributed to the design of the study and conducted a critical review of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data of the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The study described in this report was Funded by National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number BBA220198]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors. We are appreciative of the participants who participated in our study and the people who assisted in data collection.