Connections between depression, anxiety, and mobile phone addiction in Chinese medical students near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic

A total of 553 medical students were examined for associations between depression, anxiety symptoms, and mobile phone addiction.

• Central symptoms in the depression and anxiety network included 'uncontrollable worry', 'restlessness', and 'nervousness'.
• 'Restlessness' and 'motor' symptoms served as key links between depression and anxiety.
• 'Concentration', 'anhedonia', and 'sleep' were found to have strong associations with mobile phone addiction.
• Interventions for medical students with comorbid depression and anxiety could target symptoms like 'uncontrollable worry', 'restlessness', and 'nervousness'.
• Depressive symptoms may be more significant than anxiety symptoms in the context of mobile phone addiction among medical students.

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