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World J Psychiatry. May 19, 2026; 16(5): 117104
Published online May 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i5.117104
Published online May 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i5.117104
Correlation of objective mobile phone use time and mobile phone addiction with depressive and anxiety symptoms in young adults
Wen-Hua Wang, Lei Zhang, School of General Medicine, Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an 710077, China
Wen-Hua Wang, Xue Wang, Xiao-Xiao Yuan, Lei Zhang, Shaanxi Provincial Health Industry Association Service Center, Xi’an 710003, Shaanxi Province, China
Ming-Yang Wu, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Xiangya School of Public Health, Changsha 410078, Hunan Province, China
Xu-Kuan Zhang, Shijiazhuang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shijiazhuang 050011, Hebei Province, China
Le Ma, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China
Lu Li, Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China
Lei Zhang, Shaanxi Medical Association, Xi’an 710003, Shaanxi Province, China
Co-first authors: Wen-Hua Wang and Ming-Yang Wu.
Co-corresponding authors: Lu Li and Lei Zhang.
Author contributions: Wang WH and Wu MY contributed to the conception or design of the paper, drafted the manuscript, and they contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors; Wang WH, Wu MY, Zhang XK, Wang X, Yuan XX, Ma L, and Zhang L contributed to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; Wu MY, Li L, and Zhang L provided a critical review of the manuscript; Li L and Zhang L contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-corresponding authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript and contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Supported by Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province, China, No. S2025-YBMS-1014.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (Approval No. 2022248).
Informed consent statement: All participants gave electronic informed consent before enrolment in the study, which was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
Corresponding author: Lei Zhang, PhD, School of General Medicine, Xi’an Medical University, No. 48 Fenghao West Road, Lianhu District, Xi’an 710077, Shaanxi Province, China.
Received: November 28, 2025
Revised: January 21, 2026
Accepted: February 6, 2026
Published online: May 19, 2026
Processing time: 152 Days and 18.7 Hours
Revised: January 21, 2026
Accepted: February 6, 2026
Published online: May 19, 2026
Processing time: 152 Days and 18.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This multi-center observational study of 16668 university students reveals a U-shaped relationship between objectively measured mobile phone use time and depressive symptoms, indicating that both overly short (0-3 hours/day) and long (≥ 9 hours/day) usage increase risk. Mobile phone use time was positively associated with anxiety symptoms. Notably, mobile phone addiction, posed a substantially higher risk for both depressive and anxiety symptoms than mobile phone use time alone, underscoring the critical need for interventions targeting mobile phone use time and addiction.