The developmental trajectories of phubbing in Chinese adolescents: a variable-centered and person-centered perspective

Objectives From both variable-centered and person-centered perspectives, the present study aimed to examine the developmental trajectories of phubbing among Chinese adolescents and to investigate whether mobile phone usage duration was associated with overall growth patterns and heterogeneous trajectory membership. Methods Participants were 1,488 middle school students from Jiangxi Province, China. Data were collected across three waves at approximately four-month intervals. Phubbing was assessed using the Generic Scale of Phubbing, and mobile phone usage duration was measured at baseline in hours per week. Latent growth modeling was used to examine the average developmental trajectory of phubbing, and latent growth mixture modeling was conducted to identify heterogeneous trajectory subgroups. Multinomial logistic regression was further used to examine the association between mobile phone usage duration and trajectory subgroup membership. Result The latent growth model showed that adolescent phubbing increased significantly over time, with substantial individual differences in both initial levels and rates of change. The latent growth mixture model identified four distinct trajectory groups: the Low-Level—Rising Group, the Medium-Level—Stable Group, the High-Level—Declining Group, and the Very High-Level—Sharp Decline Group. Mobile phone usage duration was positively associated with the initial level of phubbing but negatively associated with the rate of change. Longer mobile phone usage duration was also associated with a greater likelihood of membership in trajectory groups characterized by higher initial levels of phubbing. Conclusion Findings revealed both an overall increase and meaningful heterogeneity in adolescent phubbing trajectories. Mobile phone usage duration appears to be an important but limited indicator of phubbing development, particularly for distinguishing adolescents with higher baseline phubbing. These findings provide a longitudinal basis for understanding adolescent phubbing and suggest the need for differentiated prevention strategies.