Addictive behaviorsApr 9, 2025

Key symptoms of different patterns of problematic Internet use in 27,577 adolescents over time

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 21, 2026

Abstract

A total of 27,577 adolescents participated in the study examining Problematic Internet Use (PIU) symptoms over time.

The symptom 'Reluctant to stop' predicted remission of other PIU symptoms in the resilient group.
'Uncontrollable checking' was also linked to symptom remission in the alleviating group.
In the deteriorating group, the symptom 'Empty life' was associated with worsening of other PIU symptoms.
'Feeling of missing' correlated with the persistence of dysfunction in adolescents with PIU.
Improving self-control may promote healthier Internet use among adolescents.
Enhancing social connections and exercise habits could help reduce negative emotions and additional PIU symptoms.

Simplified

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) often begins in adolescence and develops along diverse trajectories. Understanding the interaction between PIU symptoms and identifying the core PIU symptoms that drive distinct trajectories among adolescents are crucial. We employed cross-lagged panel network analyses to examine temporal relationships of PIU symptoms among Chinese adolescents across four developmental trajectories over two time points. A total of 27,577 adolescents (Mean age = 13.8, SD = 1.5) participated in this study. Demographic variables and PIU symptoms were collected from December 17 to 26, 2021 (T1) and from May 17 to June 5, 2022 (T2). The symptom "Reluctant to stop" in the resilient group and "Uncontrollable checking" in the alleviating group at T1 were most predictive of remission of other symptoms at T2, while "Empty life" in the deteriorating group and "Feeling of missing" in the persistent dysfunction group were most strongly associated with worsening of other PIU symptoms. Improving self-control is likely to promote healthy and beneficial Internet use among adolescents, while enhancing social connection and fostering exercise habits may help mitigate negative emotions and reduce the emergence of additional PIU symptoms among adolescents who have developed PIU.

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Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Key symptoms of different patterns of problematic Internet use in 27,577 adolescents over time

Abstract

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Competing interests

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Abstract

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