Latent Profiles of Problematic Smartphone Use Severity Are Associated With Social and Generalized Anxiety, and Fear of Missing Out, Among Chinese High School Students

Abstract

We explored problematic smartphone use (PSU) using latent profile analysis (LPA) and relationships with anxiety variables, including severity of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) in a non-clinical sample. We conducted a web-based survey (during the COVID-19 pandemic from February to March 2020) with high school students (N = 1,797; 1,164 female; ages 13–19 years) in Tianjin, China, administering the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) to assess PSU, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) Scale. Using Mplus 8.7, we conducted LPA on SAS-SV item responses to uncover latent profiles and relations with anxiety and fear measures. A three-profile PSU model fit the data according to fit indices and likelihood ratio tests. SAS-SV item responses were lowest in profile 1, moderate in profile 2, and most severe in profile 3. Individual PSU profiles modeled by LPA demonstrated significant differences in social and generalized anxiety severity and FoMO. Controlling for age and sex, adolescents with higher levels of anxiety were more likely to be classified as profiles 2 and 3 rather than profile 1. These findings will hopefully inspire future studies and treatments concerning the severity of PSU as it relates to various psychopathology constructs.