A cross-lagged prospective network analysis of deviant peer affiliation and phubbing in adolescents

Prior studies examining the association between deviant peer affiliation and phubbing have predominantly relied on latent variable modeling. However, the directionality, symptom-level pathways, and sex-specific patterns of their longitudinal associations remain largely unexplored within a network-theoretical framework. To address these gaps, the present study aims to clarify how specific symptoms of deviant peer affiliation and phubbing mutually influence one another over time, while further investigating whether these temporal dynamics differ by sex. A total of 3296 adolescents who participated in two waves of a longitudinal survey were included. Cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) analysis was conducted to clarify the temporal associations between deviant peer affiliation symptoms and phubbing symptoms across a 1.5-year follow-up. Sex-stratified contemporaneous networks revealed distinct patterns in how deviant peer affiliation and phubbing were organized among male and female adolescents. Specific deviant peer behaviors such as friends steal things (DPA4) among males and friends skip class (DPA7) among females predict subsequent increases in phubbing. In addition, friend's internet addiction (DPA5) and relieving stress by focusing on phones (GSP12) were the most influential symptoms in the male network , while friend smoking (DPA1) and friend bullying others (DPA8) played similarly central roles in the female network. These findings highlight the significance of sex-sensitive interventions and valuable perspectives for addressing problematic behaviors in adolescents. By identifying symptom-level pathways linking deviant peer affiliation and phubbing, this study provides novel insights and contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying these behaviors. • CLPN shows longitudinal relations between symptoms of deviant peer affiliation and phubbing. • There are significant differences in contemporaneous networks across sex. • Specific deviant peer behaviors can predict the adolescents' phubbing development over time. • The most influential behaviors were different in the cross-lagged panel network for males and females.