Generative artificial intelligence addiction is prospectively associated with psychotic-like experiences: Evidence from a two-wave longitudinal mediation and network study
A two-wave longitudinal study of 582 adolescents and young adults testing whether self-reported generative-AI addiction at baseline predicts psychotic-like experiences one month later, and whether information overload and rumination carry the association. Baseline GAI addiction predicted follow-up psychotic-like experiences, rumination mediated the path, and a cross-lagged panel network analysis linked baseline psychotic-like experiences to rumination items at follow-up.
Publisher
Computers in Human Behavior Reports (Elsevier); Southern Medical University; Jilin University of Finance and Economics; South China Normal University
Published
9 Sept 2026
Added
1 month ago
Key Findings
- Baseline generative-AI addiction was associated with psychotic-like experiences at one-month follow-up (beta = 0.19, p < .001).
- Rumination was a significant mediator; information overload was not an independent mediator but contributed through a serial path via rumination.
- Cross-lagged panel network analysis showed baseline psychotic-like experiences relatively strongly associated with rumination-related nodes at the second wave.
- The authors present this as longitudinal evidence that cognitive processes, particularly rumination, may partly link problematic generative-AI use to psychotic-like experiences.
Methodology Notes
Two-wave longitudinal survey, n = 582 adolescents and young adults (China), one-month interval, self-report scales for GAI addiction, information overload, rumination and psychotic-like experiences; serial mediation models and cross-lagged panel network analysis. Online publication date 2026-09-09 per OpenAlex; Crossref assigns the December 2026 issue. Open access. ScienceDirect blocks automated fetching from this workspace, so the record was built from the OpenAlex deposited abstract and Crossref metadata; full text not read. Short follow-up interval and a single-country student-age sample limit inference; the measure is psychotic-like experiences, not clinical psychosis.
Topics
Authors
Siyao Tang, Miao Yu, Xianghui Zhang, Zheng Zhang
Tags
Cite This
APA
Siyao Tang et al. (2026). Generative artificial intelligence addiction is prospectively associated with psychotic-like experiences: Evidence from a two-wave longitudinal mediation and network study. Computers in Human Behavior Reports (Elsevier); Southern Medical University; Jilin University of Finance and Economics; South China Normal University. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2026.101301
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