Severity Profiles of Smartphone Addiction and Mental Health Differences from the Perspective of Adolescent Development: A Latent Profile Analysis

Introduction: In the digital age, smartphones may amplify adolescents’ developmental vulnerability, making their mental health more likely to be affected by problematic smartphone use. However, prior research has largely overlooked adolescents’ developmental characteristics and individual differences. Methods: This study employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify distinct severity profiles of smartphone addiction risk among 2158 Chinese adolescents (53.1% boys; mean age = 14.07 years). We further examined the associations of demographic variables with profile membership, and applied the BCH weighting method to compare differences in well-being, anxiety, and depression across profiles. Results: (1) adolescent smartphone addiction could be classified into three severity profiles: a well-adjusted use group (31%), a low-risk group (53%), and a high-risk group (16%); (2) age, grade, and social economic status were significantly associated with profile membership; (3) the three smartphone addiction profiles differed significantly in concurrently measured mental health outcomes, with higher addiction risk associated with lower well-being and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Conclusions: Adolescent smartphone addiction reflects categorized severity and the profiles show graded cross-sectional differences in mental health. Future research should consider adolescent developmental characteristics and employ longitudinal designs to validate these severity profiles.