Background: Depression and anxiety are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders worldwide, affecting individuals of all ages. The co‐occurrence of these disorders often exacerbates their negative health impacts, underscoring the necessity of understanding their comorbid mechanisms.Methods: This study employed cross‐lagged panel networks (CLPNs) to explore the longitudinal associations between depression and anxiety symptoms across three age groups and to compare the respective symptom networks. CLPNs were constructed through cross‐temporal associations between different symptoms, reflecting both the pattern of interaction and the significance of specific symptoms in comorbidity. The sample consisted of 1258 adolescents (aged 13–19 years, M = 15.98), 1118 college students (aged 17–24 years, M = 19.94), and 548 older adults (aged 60–101 years, M = 85.19) from China. Depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the subscales of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale Short Version (DASS‐21) at two time points over a 6‐month period during 2020–2021.Results: The findings revealed that the prevalence of depression and anxiety in adolescents, college students, and older adults was 25.9%/46.6%, 53.7%/61.5%, and 7.2%/22.5%, respectively. The network structure varied across age groups: adolescents and college students exhibiting a tight interconnection between depression and anxiety symptoms, while older adults showed stronger small‐world network characteristics. A key finding across all age groups was the central role of irrational fear. In addition, somatic anxiety symptoms frequently emerged as outcomes of other psychological symptoms.Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are more pronounced in college students compared to adolescents and older adults. Comparisons of the overall network structure provide insights into the lifelong trajectories of depression and anxiety symptom networks. The centrality of irrational fears and somatization symptoms is emphasized. These results offer guidance for more targeted clinical interventions.

Previous studies have found that college students with left-behind experience presented high levels of aggression, and childhood trauma may be one of the contributors. This study aimed to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and aggression in Chinese college students, and to explore the mediating role of self-compassion and the moderating role of left-behind experience. 629 Chinese college students completed the questionnaires at two time points: childhood trauma and self-compassion were assessed at baseline, and aggression was assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up. Among these participants, 391 (62.2%) had left-behind experience. Emotional neglect of college students with left-behind experience in childhood was significantly higher than that of college students without such experience. Childhood trauma predicted aggression after 3 months among college students. Self-compassion mediated the predictive effect of childhood trauma on aggression after controlling for gender, age, only-child status, and family residential status. However, no moderating effect of left-behind experience was found. These findings indicated that childhood trauma is an important predictor of aggression among Chinese college students regardless of their left-behind experience. The reason for the higher aggression of left-behind college students may be that their left-behind situation increased the possibility of childhood trauma. In addition, whether in college students with left-behind experience or without such experience, childhood trauma may increase aggression by reducing the level of self-compassion. Furthermore, interventions incorporating components to improve self-compassion could be effective in decreasing aggression of college students who perceived high childhood trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).