A network analysis of the interplay among stress-induced mental disorders, technology addiction, cognition-behavior regulation, and social cognition

Acute stress, which is omnipresent in daily life, is associated with executive function, mental disorders, and social cognition. However, the intricate relationships among these variables within a joint framework remain unknown. To address this gap, we performed a network analysis using cross-sectional data including pertinent variables. Data were collected from 1010 Chinese adult participants (mean age = 26.05 ± 5.95) who completed validated self-report scales of acute stress, problematic smartphone use, social media addiction, anxiety, depression, sense of control, intolerance of uncertainty, executive function, theory of mind, perspective taking, and empathic concern. Subsequently, a regularized partial-correlation network was estimated. Community detection analysis was then conducted and centrality and bridge centrality indices were determined. The result of community detection showed four communities in the constructed network, namely technology addiction, stress-induced mental disorders, cognition-behavior regulation, and social cognition. Nine cross-community and nine within-community connections were emphasized. Acute stress had the highest strength and bridge strength, perspective taking had the highest expected influence, and intolerance of uncertainty had the highest bridge expected influence. The findings revealed that connections were present between acute stress and relevant variables, as well as between other pairwise variables, independent of pre-existing knowledge or hypotheses. Our findings elucidate the pathways between these variables after eliminating confounding effects and highlight the important role of acute stress, which is potentially a promising and effective target for prevention and treatment of acute stress and related mental disorders.